Epic EHR Integration Aims to Boost Clinical Decision Support, CGP

Epic has partnered with health IT vendor Foundation Medicine on a new clinical decision support EHR integration that supports precision medicine.

The EHR integration aims to support oncology practices, academic medical centers, and other health systems through streamlined access to clinical and genomic data for enhanced clinical decision support.

Once the integration is completed, providers who use the most updated version of Epic will be able to electronically order Foundation Medicine tests, such as comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP), within the EHR system. Clinical teams will also receive and view test results directly within their existing workflow.

The partnership aims to provide clinicians with easy access to precision medicine pathways while reducing manual data entry to accelerate the delivery of actionable data insights.

“In order to bring the reality of precision medicine to more cancer patients, we need to simplify the process for getting oncologists access to the genomic insights they need for targeted treatment planning,” Kathleen Kaa, interim chief commercial officer at Foundation Medicine, said in a public statement.

“This integration with Epic is one of our key efforts to improve the process for ordering our tests so care teams can focus on providing the best treatment for their patients,” Kaa continued.

The integration is expected to be available next year.

Foundation Medicine is also partnering with several institutions using EHR systems other than Epic’s to expand its footprint to other practices looking to enhance clinical decision support.

To achieve precision medicine, healthcare stakeholders must enhance and address health IT data, health IT infrastructure, EHR integration, and policy development, according to a recent blog post from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC).

Precision medicine aims to improve healthcare by customizing patient care to specific patient needs.

Advancing precision medicine requires establishing an evidence base through extensive research built on genomic data at a unique scale. As precision medicine data becomes increasingly complex and available, health IT and EHRs must evolve to integrate, interpret, and deliver this data, the ONC authors explained.

ONC outlined four critical health IT needs to advance precision medicine: determining data requirements, building robust health IT infrastructure, integrating precision medicine data into the EHR, and developing relevant policies.

“ONC is advancing high-priority health data standards and developing a better understanding of the current API and app ecosystem,” wrote the agency. “ONC’s 21st Century Cures Act Final Rule requires the adoption of the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) standard, which will help improve standardized data sharing needed for precision medicine.”