Testing the Impact of Personalized Medicine

The goal of personalized medicine is to implement advances in biomarker pharmacology, molecular diagnostics and genomics to improve the health of patients afflicted by a wide range of medical conditions. Dramatic advances in genomics have identified numerous disease/therapeutic associations now placing this goal within sight. Yet such advances often bypass underserved populations, resulting in significant inequalities of care.

IU School of Medicine’s Institute for Personalized Medicine, in collaboration with Eskenazi Health and Indiana University Health, is conducting a study to evaluate the economic and clinical outcomes associated with embedding a pharmacogenomics program in a system that serves as a health care safety net in Indianapolis.

Eskenazi Health

Eskenazi Health handles more than 1.2 million outpatient visits a year through the hospital and network of 10 community health centers. With more than 990,000 outpatient visits and 15,000 adult admissions annually, the payor mix includes approximately 45 percent uninsured, 26 percent Medicaid and 18 percent Medicare patients. This health care system has more than 40 years of experience in digital medical record implementation and a proven track record of innovation in medical informatics that is based in the Regenstrief Institute.

Indiana University Health

Indiana University Health (IU Health) is a nonprofit healthcare system located in Indianapolis. It is the largest and most comprehensive health system in the state. With 16 hospitals and almost 30,000 employees, IU Health provides access to a full range of specialty and primary care services for adults and children. A unique partnership with Indiana University School of Medicine—one of the nation’s leading medical schools—gives patients access to groundbreaking research and innovative treatments to complement high-quality care. 

Clinical Research

The National Institutes of Health/Nationals Human Genomic Research Institute has granted the Indiana Institute for Personalized Medicine $4.5 million to test the impact of genetic testing used to guide 24 widely used drugs on health care utilization and adverse drug events. A second grant of $8.3 million is currently enrolling patients to determine the effectiveness of genetic testing used to guide drug therapies used for hypertension, depression, and pain. These studies aim to be inclusive of patients typically underrepresented in clinical trials; they include those of racial and ethnic minorities and those from medically underserved areas and populations. Thus, they should provide results that are extrapolatable to a wide variety of diverse populations.