The
coming decades will see a continued shift from a focus on contemporary medicine
practices to preventive medicine, predictive medicine, and regenerative
medicine.
Predictive medicine is the emerging field of medicine that entails
predicting the probability of disease and taking proactive steps to either
prevent the disease altogether or significantly decrease its impact upon the
patient. This proactive stance involves the use of new tools in bio-science to
identify potential health risks, predict potential consequences, track treatment
provided, measure progress, and report on health outcomes.
The following are examples of just a few types of predictive
medical testing already in place that are being conducted by healthcare professionals:
·
Preconception
testing
·
Prenatal
testing
·
Diagnostic
testing
|
·
Carrier
testing
·
Health Risk
Assessments
·
Prognostic modeling
|
The health
information technology (IT) industry is already in the process of developing
the first generation of predictive health
IT systems. These new systems gather
and analyze a range of information from electronic health record (EHR) systems,
various medical tests, health assessment instruments, genomic information
systems, and other sources. A personalized predictive health profile is then
generated to assist patients and their healthcare providers work together to
improve an individual's health and help prevent the onset of certain diseases
whenever possible.
Many of these
new, cutting edge predictive health IT tools are coming out of the
collaborative, 'open source' health IT community. Check out the following links
to a few of the emerging predictive health IT projects, open source tools, organizations,
and activities:
- Active Health Management
- Allostatix LLC
- AnnualPredictive Health Symposium
- Center for Health Discovery & Well Being
- Elsevier / MEDai
- European Association for Predictive, Preventive & Personalized Medicine Journal
- National Predictive Health Modeling Summit
- Open Source Electronic Health Record Agent (OSEHRA)
- Optimal Health & Prevention Research Foundation (OHPRF)
- NIH Genomic Information & Resources
- Predictive Health Institute
- Predictive Health LLC
- SimpleCare
Information on other open source EHR, PHR and
Genomic information systems can be found on the COSI
Open Health or the Open Health
News (OHN) web sites.
Right now the
health IT industry is focused on the acquisition, development, and deployment
of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems, Health Information Exchange (HIE)
networks, and Personal Health Records (PHR). But coming rapidly down the pike
are next generation Genomic Information and Predictive Medicine modules that will
be integrated into future EHR systems. Here are some key management observations
and recommendations to consider:
- Predictive medicine and associated predictive health IT solutions offer great potential to improve care, reduce costs, and prevent disease.
- Predictive medicine will require a fundamental realignment of many health care delivery processes. Individuals must be trained to take greater responsibility for their personal health.
- Collaboration and sharing of 'open' solutions will lead to continuous innovation and rapid advancements in the field of predictive medicine in the coming decades.
Finally, according
to a recent national
survey conducted by researchers at Tufts Medical Center, consumers placed a
high value on information to predict their future health and indicated they
were willing to pay for it.
Predictive
healthcare is becoming a reality. Please share with us any new advances in
predictive health IT systems that you know about.
