Leavitt Promotes Personalized Medicine At Harvard Conference

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 03 Dec 2007 - 9:00 PDT

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HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on Thursday at a Harvard Medical School conference said personalized medicine is necessary to help transform the health care system into one that promotes value, rather than volume, the Boston Globe reports. According to Leavitt, the Human Genome Project and related research efforts can deliver on the promise of personalized medicine only through a transformation of the health care system to one that promotes improved care for patients, rather than more care for more patients. He said that the health care system should focus on four areas: electronic health records, standardized measures of quality, transparency of prices and incentives to promote higher-quality, lower-cost care.

"I am persuaded that personalized health care creates value," Leavitt said, adding, "The goal is to have better health care at lower cost for every American" (Cooney, Boston Globe, 11/29).

Framingham Heart Study To Examine Genetic Factors
In related news, researchers on Thursday celebrated the 60th anniversary of the ongoing Framingham Heart Study and said the study will begin to examine genetic factors linked with diseases as part of a program called Framingham SHARe, the AP/Los Angeles Times reports. For the study, which began in 1948, researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine have tracked the lifestyles and medical histories of more than 14,000 residents of Framingham, Mass. The study, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at NIH, has led to more than 1,200 scientific papers and has helped determine risk factors for cardiovascular disease -- such as smoking, hypertension and high cholesterol levels.

Leavitt said, "When health researchers hear the words 'Framingham study,' it's like 24-carat gold," adding, "The consistency and data that's come from that long period cannot be replaced." Christopher O'Donnell, director of Framingham SHARe, said, "When we find something in Framingham, you know you're finding something that's likely to be seen in the general population," adding, "It's a real-life laboratory, if you will, of the genetics of disease" (Lindsay, AP/Los Angeles Times, 11/30).

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