Foundation Medicine and Epic are partnering to enable clinicians to access genomic profiling and other testing services directly through their EHR system.
Announced Thursday, the partnership aims to improve clinical workflow efficiency and offer providers, including oncology practices, access to clinical and genomic information in one system, said Kathleen Kaa, interim chief commercial officer at Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Foundation Medicine, in an email.
Foundation Medicine’s genomic tests will be available through the Epic EHRs, allowing clinicians to place orders and view results within their existing workflow. This means clinicians will not have to log into different portals and perform repetitive data entry to gain genomic information on their patients.
“Providers within today’s health ecosystem face mounting pressures to achieve a balance between quality patient care and operational efficiencies that support a business model heavily driven by cost savings,” Kaa said. “Technology that delivers in-practice time-saving capabilities leaves more time for clinicians to focus on patient care.”
For Epic, the partnership will enable it to deliver vital clinical decision support to its healthcare organization customers.
“Genomic information…provide[s] additional insights throughout the care delivery process with providers and patients,” said Alan Hutchison, vice president for population health at Verona, Wisconsin-based Epic, in an email.
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Once implemented, Foundation Medicine’s test ordering and results viewing services will be accessible through Epic’s Care Everywhere platform, which enables users to share patient data with Epic and non-Epic systems. There will be a new version of the Epic EHR that incorporates the Foundation Medicine services, which customers will be able to opt into using, Kaa explained. The integration is expected to be available next year.
“These customers will not need an additional log-in, system or technology to access data-driven insights,” she said. “The update will seamlessly integrate within existing oncology practice workflows.”
Epic is not the only EMR company that Foundation Medicine is partnering with. In June, it became the first comprehensive genomic profiling provider to integrate with Flatiron Health’s OncoEMR platform.
“Integration of our tests into leading EMR systems is just one way we’re improving our offerings to fuel precision medicine for all patients,” Kaa said.
Photo: Dmitrii_Guzhanin, Getty Images
