U.S. & Germany Push for Precision Medicine, Emphasizing Interoperability
The Precision Medicine Initiative, a key priority for the U.S. government, is driving efforts to improve interoperability and data exchange in healthcare. President Barack Obama launched the initiative in 2015, emphasizing the need for public and private sector collaboration to overcome institutional challenges. While political leadership in Germany is working on similar goals, specific names and proposals remain unclear.
In the U.S., the Precision Medicine Initiative aims to understand individual variability in disease onset, progression, prevention, and treatment. A symposium co-hosted by Health IT Now and the Center for Data Innovation in 2014 examined the role of big data in genomic research, highlighting the need for modernizing the regulatory system to enable big data analytics. Engaging patients is crucial to incentivize standard setting and save lives in precision medicine.
In Germany, the Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung (KBV) has emphasized the importance of interoperability and security standards for the success of digital health infrastructure, particularly regarding the electronic patient record (ePA). However, concrete proposals and named individuals are not available. Dr. Paul Arora, co-founder of Inka Health, has publicly discussed the central challenge in oncology, stressing the need for trust, interoperability, and intelligence in data to improve care, but his statements are from an industry perspective, not as a political decision-maker.
The Precision Medicine Initiative, with its focus on individual variability and big data, is a significant step towards personalized healthcare. In Germany, while the government and the Federal Ministry of Health are responsible for legislation in this area, specific names and proposals remain unclear. Both countries agree on the importance of interoperability and data exchange, but further concrete steps and named individuals are needed to drive progress.
