Experts: Health System Presents Obstacles to Revolutionizing Health Care Through P4 Medicine

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Scientists are on the cusp of discoveries that will revolutionize health care, according to pioneers in personalized medicine at today's annual Ohio State University Medical Center Personalized Health Care National Conference. They described advances in bioscience, medicine and information technology that will transform the practice of medicine from sick care to well care. Other speakers noted, however, that hurdles imposed by the complex and chaotic U.S. healthcare delivery system must be overcome before the promise of P4 Medicine – which is predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory – can become reality.

"I predict that in less than five years we will be able to sequence an individual's genome for under $1,000," said Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., president of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Wash. "Your genome sequence will become a vital part of your medical record, thereby providing critical information about how to optimize your wellness."

Realizing the promise of these new technologies will require flipping the entire health-care system around, said Dr. Ralph Snyderman, director of the Duke Center for Research on Prospective Health Care. "Instead of asking patients what their chief complaint is when they come in for an appointment, we need to focus on assessing their current health status, their risk assessment and what we can do to track either wellness or disease prevention," he said.

However promising the theory, the development and deployment of these tools must take place in today's complex and chaotic healthcare environment, said Gregory Downing, D.O., Ph.D., project director for the Personalized Health Care Initiative, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Participants agreed that consumer empowerment is key to achieving the promise of personalized medicine. "We can improve health outcomes significantly if consumers are engaged and take a more active role in their health care," said Clay Marsh, M.D., executive director of OSU's Center for Personalized Health Care. He said that pilot projects between The Ohio State University Medical Center and the Institute for Systems Biology will provide support for the power of P4 Medicine to improve health and reduce costs.

Complete information about the conference, keynote speakers and P4 Medicine is available at the Medical Center's Personalized Health Care blog at: http://phc.osumc.edu/.

SOURCE The Ohio State University Medical Center