Cleveland Clinic launches center for personalized healthcare

In an effort to help healthcare providers better tailor care to their patients' individual needs, the Cleveland Clinic has established the Center for Personalized Healthcare.

Initially, the center will provide physicians and nurses with the guidance needed to create personalized care plans based on their patients' unique characteristics, such as genetics, environmental exposures, cultures and beliefs, according to Kathryn Teng, MD, a primary-care physician at the Cleveland Clinic, who will lead the new center.

"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 in a press release. "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."

Among other reasons, the concept of personalized medicine is important because some estimate that half the amount spent on prescription drugs in the United States is wasted because, for various reasons, certain drugs don't have the intended effects on certain patients, notes MedCity News. As a result, the already $24 billion worldwide pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics segment of the market is growing at 10 percent a year, according to a 2010 report from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Cleveland Clinic's hope is that its center's impact will reach even deeper. "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 toward greater health."

To learn more:
- read the article in Healthcare Finance News
- check out the piece in MedCity News
- see the press release from the Cleveland Clinic

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