Practice Transformation
In the new era of precision medicine in cancer treatment, many clinicians use patient tumor genomic data as part of routine clinical practice. But what are the ethical considerations around testing? Achieving the goals of precision medicine requires appropriate counseling and support, personnel resources and deployment of relevant expertise. This 10-minute video lecture touches on the considerations, drawing on a recent piece in JAMA Oncology, coauthored by one of the presenters. (UroToday; JAMA Oncology)
To help increase hospital bed capacity, CVS Health will provide in-home nursing to support moving some IV-therapy patients out of the hospital. Nurses will provide and coordinate a range of care, including daily visits, monitoring and medication administration. (Fierce Healthcare)
Evidence & Innovation
In the largest-ever whole genome sequencing (WGS) study of schizophrenia, researchers discovered that rare structural genetic variants could play a role in the development of the disorder. The findings, published in Nature Communications, could help develop precision medicine therapies that may improve schizophrenia patient outcomes. (Nature Communications; UNC Healthcare News)
Mathematica has released a COVID-19 primer. It is designed to help researchers, data scientists and others who analyze health care claims or administrative data quickly join the effort to better understand, track and contain COVID-19. This primer can help users assess data on health care use and costs linked to COVID-19, create models for risk identification and pinpoint complications that may follow a COVID-19 diagnosis. (Mathematica)
Policy Solutions
The Department of Health and Human Services last week announced plans to delay enforcement of the two recently released rules on interoperability and data blocking. CMS will give providers an additional six months to comply with rules to improve data sharing. Meanwhile, the ONC will give vendors an extra three months to comply with its health IT certification program. “[I]n a pandemic of this magnitude, flexibility is paramount for a healthcare system under siege by COVID-19,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a prepared statement. (Modern Healthcare; CMS statement)
The FDA, long at odds with compounding pharmacies, will temporarily allow hospitals to source hard-to-find drugs from them to treat certain patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19. “Additional flexibility is temporarily needed to help ensure that treatment options are available when hospitals are unable to obtain FDA-approved drugs used for hospitalized patients with COVID-19,” the FDA said in a release. (Fierce Pharma)
Tune In!
Remarks from the GTMRx / Bipartisan Policy Center Feb 6 keynote address by Gregory Downing, D.O.,(page 10-13) “Get the Medications Right: Innovations in Team-Based Care,” in the latest edition of the Personalized Medicine Coalition’s Personalized Medicine in Brief. Read it here.
Guest: Paul Grundy, MD, Chief Transformation Officer, Innovaccer; Interim President, GTMRx Institute
Hosted by the GTMRx Institute’s executive director and co-founder, Katherine H. Capps, Voices of Change features leaders who have knowledge, experience and ideas to solve this urgent need to get the medications right.
