If it weren't for EHRs, precision medicine would not be possible, according to National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, MD.
Dr. Collins testified before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education that EHRs provide the big data that is imperative to the recently announced Precision Medicine Initiative, according to Health Data Management.
EHRs, alongside environmental sensors and affordable DNA analysis, make a project such as this precision medicine initiative possible, Dr. Collins said.
"Historically, doctors have been forced to base their recommendations for treatment on the expected response of the average patient, but recent advancements including the plummeting costs of DNA sequencing, now make possible a more precise approach to disease management and prevention that takes into account individual differences in genes, environments and lifestyles," Dr. Collins said.
Of the Precision Medicine Initiative's $215 million budget, the ONC claims $5 million to develop technology and define standards and criteria to exchange genomic data, according to the report. NIH will receive $200 million and the FDA will receive $10 million.
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