Epic, Guardant Health team up for precision oncology

Guardant Health, which develops technologies for precision oncology, announced a new collaboration with Epic to integrate its portfolio of cancer tests within the Epic electronic health record.

Why it matters
Company officials say the new partnership will make it easier for health systems, community providers and retail clinics to provide direct ordering, access and delivery of Guardant Health blood tests. The integration will give physicians access to test results within their clinical workflows so that they can quickly make informed treatment decisions for patients.

The collaboration will enable providers to “easily order Guardant Health tests and access results quickly, giving them more time to focus on their patients,” said Helmy Eltoukhy, Guardant Health co-CEO. “The integration of our tests with Epic, which will include Guardant SHIELD, our blood test to screen for early signs of colorectal cancer, will help to increase the scale and adoption of our offerings in both community practices and large health systems.”

The integration is expected to be complete in the second half of this year.

When it is, providers can order tests – also including Guardant360 CDx, a liquid biopsy that can detect genetic mutations found in circulating cell-free DNA, and Guardant360 Response, a blood test that detects changes in circulating tumor DNA – electronically for the 250 million patients with Epic charts.

The larger trend
Epic has been busy recently, with announcements at HIMSS22 including new SaaS-based shared environment, aimed at independent medical groups, called Garden Plot; a new customer relationship management system, called Cheers; and a new tool, known as Best Care for My Patient, that can help clinicians benchmark effective best practices compared with peers around the country.

This isn’t the first precision medicine collaboration for Epic either. This past summer, Foundation Medicine announced a new partnership with the company to integrate its genomic profiling and testing services into the EHR.

This is good news, as disciplines such as precision oncology and pharmacogenomics make big strides, but challenges with data management and EHR workflow sometimes hamper forward momentum. Click here to read our interview with UPMC Chief Medical Information Officer Dr Robert Bart on that topic and others. And click here to gain insights into other CIOs’ five-year plans for precision medicine and genomics.

On the record
“Our shared commitment to healthcare innovation makes this partnership a natural fit that will benefit clinicians and patients alike,” added Alan Hutchison, vice president of population health at Epic. “Guardant Health’s integration with Epic will provide an easier and more efficient workflow for clinicians to order cancer tests and access real-time results, giving providers the information they need to make the best care decision for their patients.” Healthcare IT News