Integrating Genetics into the Clinical Workflow

As mentioned in an earlier blog post, the Genetic Health Information Network Summit convenes leading from voices across healthcare to share practical challenges and actionable solutions to enable precision medicine. An issue frequently discussed in past Summits (summarized here) is the difficulty of integrating genetics into the clinical workflow.

A dizzying array of genetic tests in the market creates challenges on many fronts. There are too many tests for clinicians—many with limited training in genetics—to navigate. The untrained eye could never hope to pick the right test at the right time. In addition, these tests lead to voluminous amounts of genetic data landing in healthcare systems unprepared to handle this information. As the volume of genetic tests flowing through a healthcare system rises, so does avoidable cost and unnecessary complexity. The result? Genetics, increasingly relevant across medical specialties, remains “exceptionalized” and isolated from the clinical workflow. This limits the potential of genomic medicine.

With the goal of deeply understanding this problem and identifying practical solutions, Concert worked with fellow Summit organizers to host a webinar featuring leading experts. Summarized here are key observations from the event and updates about cross-stakeholder solutions emerging from events like it.