Imagenetics Medical/Economic ImpacT and Behavioral Responses to Integrating the Sanford Chip Study (METRICS)
Genetic testing has the potential to revolutionize primary care by helping health care providers tailor medication choices to their patients’ genetic information and by identifying inherited risk factors for disease before patients develop symptoms. Few health systems have integrated genetic testing into general patient care to date and even fewer have developed the infrastructure to support it properly.
Sanford Health is one of the few health systems that has tackled these challenges. In 2014, Sanford’s “Imagenetics Initiative” began developing the testing, informatics, and educational foundations to support population genetic testing. These efforts culminated in 2018 with the launch of the Sanford Chip. This clinical test, offered to adult primary care patients, provides important pharmacogenomic information to inform dosing and medication choice, and identifies genetic predispositions for serious conditions that could be prevented or mitigated if the risk were known.
Sanford Health has partnered with the Genomes2People Research Program and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care to launch the Imagenetics Medical/Economic ImpacT and Behavioral Responses to Integrating the Sanford Chip Study (METRICS). Imagenetics METRICS examines the impact of the Sanford Chip on medical, behavioral, and economic outcomes by focusing on four key topics: provider preparedness, pharmacogenomic testing, discovery of genetic predispositions, and uninformative findings. The goal of METRICS is to analyze data from a health system with a robust genomics infrastructure to provide critical real-world evidence about the benefits, risks, and challenges of integrating genetic testing into general patient care.
Scientific Team:
- Principal Investigators: Catherine Hajek, MD (PI); Kurt Christensen, PhD (HPHCI site PI); Robert Green, MD, MPH (BWH site PI)
- Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute: Ann Wu, MD; Christine Lu, PhD; Emilie Zoltick, ScD, MPH; Jessica LeBlanc, MA; Lauren Galbraith; Ryan Walsh; Kelly Horan, MPH; Leila Jamal, ScM, PhD, CGC (Consultant)
- Brigham and Women’s Hospital: Carrie Blout Zawatsky, MS, CGC; Erin Drake, MA; Charlene Preys; Sophia Adelson
- Sanford Health Team: Elizabeth Wheeler, MPH; Allison Hutchinson, MS, GCG; April Schultz, PharmD; Lisa Mullineaux, MS, CGC; Megan Bell, ScM, CGC; Benjamin Forred, MBA; Colette Free, MPH; Joel Van Heukelom, PharmD; Amanda Massmann, PharmD; Michelle Moore, MS, CGC; Ryne Lees; Jordan Baye, PharmD, MA, BCPS; Bethany Tucker, MS, CGC, MBA; Dylan Platt, MS, CGC; Jennifer Leonhard, MS, CGC; Natasha Petry, PharmD, MPH; Kristen Deberg, MS, CGC; Murat Sincan, MD; Emily Griese, PhD; Erin Royer, MS, CGC; Ashley Hopp; Amy Mroch, MS, CGC
