The future of precision medicine depends on genomic data being available in the electronic health record (EHR). With that data integrated and stored in the EHR, physicians can generate analytical reports in order to create treatment plans specific to the patient. Just as important, having genetic-sequencing results within the EHR could enable the ability to trigger alerts or flags in the system for the physician.

Currently, EHR vendors are working to eliminate the barriers to EHRs collecting the volumes of genomic data and being able to give clinicians access to usable information in a timely manner. They will also need to enable the patient data to follow the patient throughout their lives. Vendors are looking to the cloud to address the volume and performance issues. The Institute of Medicine has gathered a group of stakeholders to work on scalability, privacy, security and storage issues. And others are coming up with innovative solutions such as developing apps that plug into the EHR. While the challenges are daunting, a collective effort is underway to collaboratively tear down the barriers so that precision medicine becomes a reality in the healthcare industry.

Join Jennifer Girka, healthcare strategist within Dell’s Healthcare & Life Sciences division, as she discusses how precision medicine can become a reality. Girka is responsible for providing strategic insight to help Dell advance its support of healthcare organizations, medical professionals and patients through information-enabled healthcare. With more than 20 years helping to advance the healthcare industry with new opportunities and emerging technology, she works closely with healthcare customers and practitioners to bring them the right mix of technology innovation and solutions that will help them navigate through the ever-changing and increasingly complex world of healthcare.