Many health system leaders feel that clinician access to a patient’s heritable risks for actionable health conditions is an important step towards being able to eventually provide comprehensive precision medicine.  And yet most organizations that utilize genomics today are still only doing so with a fraction of their population and through very specific service lines  … Read more

We believe we’ve entered a new equilibrium with the pandemic, as most people have had the virus or are vaccinated by now. And that any rises in cases going forward should be driven by seasonality, waning immunity, and/or new variants. Top viral surveillance insights below: Subvariants of concern plateauing in frequency: The Omicron subvariants that  … Read more

A few notable COVID insights on the latest (sub)variants and reinfections from our viral surveillance efforts. Our top 3 takeaways: Cases are coming down across the country: While positive cases had been fluctuating the last few weeks, they are now officially down across the country, with both BA.4 and BA.5 likely having peaked. As of  … Read more

The Quadruple Aim—enhancing patient experience, increasing provider satisfaction, improving population health, and reducing costs of care—serves as a guide for optimal health system performance1. Implementing a genomics program that includes access to pharmacogenomics is critical for health systems to be able to accomplish it.   The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently lists over 300  … Read more

In the past, it’s been difficult to determine with consistency whether or not a new or rare mutation in a gene actually causes a disease and has clinical impact, even if it is well known that the gene and the disease have a clear relationship. Some prior methods have tried to find clinically impactful regions  … Read more

With Omicron BA.5 continuing to surge, here are the top 3 viral surveillance insights for this week:   Reinfections are happening more often but NOT more quickly: While many have been concerned that the average time in between infections has decreased, our data is actually showing that it has increased from 230 days in April, to  … Read more

As you gear up for the July 4th weekend, here are the top 3 viral surveillance takeaways we’re seeing from our dashboard and additional analyses: Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 are Ascending Quickly: BA.4 and BA.5 are now at ~50% of cases nationwide (up from 20% two weeks ago),while BA.2.12.1 has declined to only 27% (from  … Read more

In order to explain the concept of population genomics, it is helpful to examine (or consider) the origins of the two areas of healthcare: genomics and population health, that form its foundation. Genome.gov defines “genomics” as the study of all of a person’s genes (the genome), including interactions of those genes with each other and  … Read more

As health systems work towards providing more targeted, personalized care to patients, it is crucial that identified solutions not only enhance the patient experience but also increase provider satisfaction, reduce overall healthcare costs and improve population health. The promise of genomic-led medicine is exciting but it is critical that we understand where and how it  … Read more

We’re seeing a continuation of our last set of viral surveillance trends from the Helix dashboard. Below are our top 3 takeaways, as well as, our commentary on what this means for the trajectory of the pandemic:  The Omicron Subvariant Fight is Turning: BA.4 and BA.5 continue their upward growth, now at ~20% of cases  … Read more