Providers and precision medicine: Are you ready?
The promise of personalizing care is enormous but it will also require hefty investments to turn it into a reality.
Precision medicine offers providers the possibility of making personalized medicine actionable, improving individual and population health and, in turn, ultimately reducing costs.
That's why we at Healthcare Finance News are focusing on precision medicine during May.
Eight out of ten healthcare leaders rate it as a priority for their organization, according to original research HIMSS Media conducted in 2018.
The road to making precision medicine a part of everyday healthcare, however, will require a keen investment in technology, notably big data and analytics, our research found.
Are hospitals ready?
With all of the other priorities of healthcare executives, less than half, 45 percent, said they would invest in solutions to combine genomic data with clinical and lifestyle data over the next two years.
Healthcare organizations also run up against the top barriers: integration and getting paid for innovative care that has no guarantee of success.
Yet, it's a start, and the push is on. Sixty percent of payers are working with providers and other stakeholders on research for precision medicine tests and drug trials.
Consider: Identifying missed opportunities in patient care, such as finding a cure for a specific patient's cancer by analyzing that individual's genetic code, could save a life -- and, not just science-fiction, it's happening more and more.
That makes now an ideal time for us to delve into precision medicine and look at how health systems are meeting reimbursement, tech and other challenges to make precision medicine a practical reality.
Check back here for frequent updates.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com
