The healthcare provider organization has an essential role in the quickly advancing precision medicine environment that consists of pharmaceutical firms, medical device fabricators, major research centers, academic hospitals, patient advocacy groups, and so on.
Precision Medicine Initiative describes precision medicine as a way of dealing with and preventing disease that takes into consideration an individual’s genetic makeup, lifestyle, and environment.
Precision and personalized medicine are usually seen as being identical, but they have slightly different implications – with the former concentrating more on genomics in a medical environment, while the latter takes a broader scope and regards social and mental health.
Both these opportunities are likely to create major improvements in healthcare, but at the same time they will require the introduction of intricate and difficult technical systems, alterations in medical work processes, and instruction to medical personnel and those they treat.
Dan Kinsella, managing director at consulting giant Deloitte, pointed out the importance of the provider CIO while navigating a new world. He suggested that existing technologies should be improved upon, and new, ground-breaking technologies should be taken into account when planning out several years’ worth of capital funding.
The most crucial concern for the average Chief Information Officer of a health service provider is how to make precision medicine a reality in patient treatment. No single approach is effective for all healthcare providers, but there are recommended practices to bear in mind regardless of whether you are an academic medical center, an integrated delivery network, or a community hospital.
Many Benefits of Targeted Disease Treatment
The immense perks of precision medicines, both to the people developing them and the people using them, explain why so many pharmaceutical products in the pipeline are precision medicines.
Pharmaceutical companies are now utilizing access to different types of data, such as genomic and traditional, along with artificial intelligence and machine learning software to more quickly and cost-effectively assess the mechanisms and genetics of diseases, allowing for the development of more efficient targeted treatments.
Besides speeding up the process of discovering and creating drugs, precision medicine which includes classifying patients into different groups has potential to lower the financial and temporal costs of clinical trials together with improving the achievement ratio via combined production of medications and diagnostics for therapeutic treatments in the future.
Medications specifically tailored towards a condition caused by genetic elements are more effective in treating the intended patients, making them more appealing to consumers, and making the brand stronger.
7-Step Implementation Process
Certain procedures for enhancing the accuracy of precision medicine technologies can be done at the time of system installation. Ian McCrae, the CEO of Orion Health, which is a company specializing in healthcare IT, declared that employing precision medicine technology is no different from any other type of IT implementation endeavor.
McCrae suggested that healthcare CIOs and other health IT chiefs make sure to do seven things in the right order to master change management.
He suggested starting off by identifying what issue one is attempting to resolve. “Have this clearly defined from the outset. Do not err by attempting to use the technology without first knowing what purpose it is intended for. Make sure the solution simplifies life and brings about a better result.
If either of the areas the project centers on is unsuccessful, the entire endeavor will not be successful. If the precision medicine technology does not improve the experience for health care professionals or provide more positive health outcomes for patients, why are you introducing it?
Create a precise outline of duties including overseeing data, implementing governance and ethical standards. He highlighted the need for proper data governance and stewardship for the success of any project.
He inquired about what the rules were for managing the information that was to be obtained. The goals of your organization should be consistent with the objectives and principles set forth in the guidelines. The moral implications of data utilization are another hugely important facet to consider: gaining the agreement of patients, their right to opt out, keeping information secure, and being impartial and impartial… the list of necessary conditions is extensive.
A Recipe for Frustration
McCrae suggested that CIOs should carefully link-up precision medicine technologies.
He warned that giving a more accurate forecast with no possible action to take in response would result in disappointment. Will you have the capability to put the information that is found from the advanced prediction technologies to use? If you can’t generate a better result for people receiving medical care, the probability of your project not succeeding is high. Fifth, remember accuracy isn’t necessarily the most important thing.
He also stated that often times solutions are judged solely on accuracy, without considering the purpose behind the answer. The speed and action taken upon discovering the statistical probability of someone contracting cancer matters more than the difference between 61.3% and 59.8%.
He emphasized the need to stay focused on the plan, even in the face of any disappointments experienced on the journey.
He stated that it appears formidable to keep working on a project when the initial phase was not as prosperous as envisioned. If the initial attempt of utilizing precision medicine in various disciplines is unsuccessful, that still does not mean the purpose of making it a ‘gold standard’ should be abandoned.
McCrae suggested beginning with fields of expertise for which the use is apparent. Rather than attempting to utilize the technology across multiple fields, pick one or two regions where the advantages of precision medicine are obvious. Learn from those before expanding into new areas.”
Establish Foundational Infrastructure
Dr. Charles Bell, the top medical official at CereCore, a healthcare IT consulting agency, said that having a good base infrastructure in place lastly prior to utilizing precision medicine utilizing the EHR is one ideal way to get the most out of the technology.
He noted that precision medicine is heavily dependent on genomics, and that both genomics (including pharmacogenomics) and the emergence of electronic health records have generated vast quantities of data.
The success in developing technology further depends on the genomic information stored in a database that the EHR can readily give access to. For precision medicine to leverage EHR platforms, it is essential to establish a strong base of infrastructure first.
Genomic medicine is currently informing clinical care. Examples of noteworthy treatment can be seen in cancers, cystic fibrosis and heart conditions.
Bell stressed that it is important to tie together the electronic health record, data store, and genomic medicine platform in order to effectively utilize data for precision medicine. It is essential to create an efficient procedure that permits health care providers to offer suitable treatment through the EHR system using genetics and targeted therapies.
Integrating Genomic Data Across Systems
Jody Ranck, a senior analyst at Chilmark Research, a company that does research and consulting for healthcare IT, stated that the combination of genomic data across different electronic healthcare record systems and between various laboratory and precision medicine systems is both essential and difficult for the majority of companies.
He mentioned that the genetic test results usually have such large files that it is tough to input them into an electronic health record. It is imperative to plan ahead extensively and identify which clinical areas will be affected the most by a precision medicine program in the upcoming years.
Having a road map for this is a must. Because of the current COVID-19 pandemic, alterations in oncology may be needed due to high patient numbers recovering from cancer treatment and the increased understanding of the virus.
The ramifications of the pandemic on precision medicine could possibly have far-reaching effects on optimal procedures.
A change in the typical health characteristics of the population across datasets used to create machine learning algorithms might happen, as well as new characteristics that could be relevant to certain precision medicine programs.
Numerous Challenges to Overcome
There exists an obstacle to broadening precision medicine which is the shortage of access to leading diagnostic methods, such as NGS and liquid biopsies, for patients, considering the gap in how many individuals could receive precision therapies and how many do actually get them.
Insurance companies must be informed about the advantages of genomic testing and precision treatments, while physicians must be educated on how to implement genomic testing and how to analyze the outcome. Patient interaction should also be augmented. Furthermore, NGS/genomic sequencing panel (GSP) biomarker testing must be made better in terms of the quantity of sample required, the speed at which the tests are completed and the cost.
The repercussions of precision medicine that need to be taken into account include moral, legal, and societal aspects; for instance, the intricacies of voluntary agreement; unfairness in medical care caused by financial capacity, availability, and lack of representation of marginalized demographics in research studies; and the individual and communal security and privacy of hereditary info being disclosed.
Disseminating information in various styles and platforms is an additional obstacle. Data has yet to be collected and utilized in a standardized way. The only way to get around these worries is by having the right policies in place and close supervision, something that is currently missing.
Problems that arise include the requirement of massive data storage and the presence of intricate supply lines, like those used for autologous cell therapies. Together with inadequate oversight procedures, these issues are forming hindrances and delays, which just adds to the unjust distribution of precision medicines.
Clinical trials that are large-scale and use placebos are not suitable for medicines that only target a small number of patients, meaning that new methods need to be developed in order to demonstrate the long-term safety, effectiveness, and sustainability of treatments meant for precision medicine.
According to some onlookers, a responsive governing process is necessary to foster collaboration among public and private entities and make the most of customized medical care while avoiding increasing inequality in access to healthcare.
Policy makers and governments need to cooperate with technology research workers and inventors to make the most of the insight of the private sector and universities, thus helping regulators deal with the introduction of new technologies better.
Numerous Initiatives Support Precision Medicine
Accurately taking into account data highly influences precision medicine, which is why many organizations have been developed to support and assemble data which can be employed in precision medicine procedures.
The Personalized Medicine Coalition joins together representatives from the pharmaceutical business, medical professionals, insurance companies, and individuals to educate people on the benefits of personalized medicine services and products so that it can help those who are being treated and the health care system.
The US government’s Precision Medicine Initiative wants to start by concentrating on precision medicine in oncology, with the goal of eventually introducing this approach to other aspects of health and medical care.
The National Institutes of Health has begun a campaign, entitled the All of Us Research Program, with the aim of obtaining genetic info, biological samples, and other health related knowledge from at least one million volunteers.
Other nations have also set up individual genomics-medicine programs. At the same time, the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, the IRDiRC, and the PPRL Task Force are striving to create approaches which would make it possible to share genomic and medical records worldwide in a secure manner.
The International Consortium for Personalized Medicine (ICPerMed) has established five aspects of precision medicine as essential to being successful: patient and population participation, engagement of healthcare professionals, implementation of precision medicine into healthcare system, data pertaining to health and wellness, and the production of economic models that generate improved remedies, diagnostics, and preventative measures.
ICPerMed holds that progressions in the biomedical, social, and economic sciences, as well as technological advances, are the impetus for precision medicine. With a focus on five major angles, they trust they will eventually come to precision medicine – a medical technique concentrated on the person’s details, prompting improved accuracy of diagnostics, treatment, and aversion, increased economic value, and reasonable access for all individuals.
Moving Toward Translational Precision Medicine
Digital and analytical technologies are enabling the emergence of precision medicine, which is having a major influence on all parts of drug research and production along with altering customary ideas encompassing patient care.
Medicine is in the process of changing from being based on luck to being based on data. The use of specialized digital technologies and drug development centered around the patient’s needs, in combination with a transition away from a “one size fits all” medical approach to a more precise form of medicine (which focuses on providing the right medication, dosage, and time for each patient), necessitates both translation and accuracy, creating an updated Translational Precision Medicine system for the discovery and production of drugs.
Establishing the transition to precision medicine on a translation basis will not be a straightforward or uncomplicated process. There are obstacles in the realms of technology, morality, laws, society, and culture that need to be surpassed. A substantial change in approach will necessitate the development of improved sensing, comprehension, transmission, and cloud/fog computing technologies that use low energy, along with novel modeling and computation approaches to reap the benefits of immense data, like AI and neuromorphic systems, such as the design and manufacture of parts of a certain information network referred to as the Internet of Healthcare (IoH).
The need is also for the planned collection and harmonization of medical and research data on a large scale, potentially across institutions and nations, making discovering dependable apparatuses for the integration of datasets one of the most difficult obstacles for the field.
The impact of the outbreak of COVID-19 has revealed how quickly and efficiently new techniques can be put into action to secure treatments which are secure and successful when everyone involved in the business joins together.
Promising breakthroughs like gene and gene-altered cell treatments, RNA-based cures, organoids created from patients’ cells, and medicines made from targeted antibodies offer great potential if advancements in molecular and digital technology can be taken advantage of. It is hoped that researchers, businesses, government agencies, financial providers, and people seeking medical care are prepared to create and accept plans for collecting, sharing and studying data in order to make more precise medicine a reality.