The Cleveland Clinic announced Monday it plans to launch an innovative center to focus on patient-physician collaboration with the use of healthcare IT.

In an effort to provide a more targeted approach to patient care, Cleveland Clinic has established the Center for Personalized Healthcare, which will offer healthcare providers the tools they need to tailor care plans to the individual characteristics of each patient.

The new center will operate as the Cleveland Clinic's focal point for the identification, analysis, adoption and integration of select new services and technologies that will allow for personalized care of patients.

Kathryn Teng, MD, a primary-care physician at Cleveland Clinic, will lead the new center and its efforts to incorporate personalized healthcare across all facets of patient care within Cleveland Clinic.

 "In the first year, we plan to create awareness of, and supply physicians with, additional resources that allow collection and analysis of family medical history," Teng said. "Ultimately, our goal is to help clinicians offer a wider range of considerations and options for patients, while also providing patients with resources that encourage proactive behavior and empower them to be active partners in their health plan."

In its initial phase, the center will provide physicians and nurses with the guidance and resources needed to create personalized care plans based on their patients' unique characteristics, such as genetics, environmental exposures, cultures and beliefs, Teng said.

Teng specializes in comprehensive and preventive care for adult patients, and is an assistant professor at Lerner College of Medicine. She has served as Director of General Internal Medicine Grand Rounds at Cleveland Clinic since 2007 and Patient Experience Officer for the Medicine Institute of Cleveland Clinic since 2008.

"This new center will build on our efforts to create evidence-based personalized health plans for our patients by incorporating new technologies and innovations which will allow us to truly focus upon each individual," Teng said. "There will be a greater emphasis on the physician-patient relationship as we team together to develop more accurate and personalized care plans. Our ultimate goal is to empower our patients and our community towards greater health."