OneOme Medical Affairs Team Presents Panel Discussion at PMLS

OneOme’s VP of Medical Affairs & Senior Medical Director, Julie England, MD, alongside Medical Affairs team members Ghada Elnashar, PharmD, MS, and Victor Tam, PharmD, shared the stage for a panel discussion with Dr. Scott Betzelos (Blue Care Network) and Michael Schuh, PharmD (Mayo) on the successful implementation of a PGx program at PMLS in Florida this week.

Panelists shared their experiences starting PGx programs at their respective organizations, building alignment and engaging physicians and pharmacists to bring programs to life. The audience was excited to hear the insurer perspective from Dr. Betzelos, who shared motivations behind the Blue Cross Blue Shield program with OneOme, early pilot results, as well as target performance metrics. Michael Schuh shared his perspective coming from Mayo Clinic, where their patient-centric culture drives organic collaboration between pharmacists and physicians using PGx.

When asked "how do you get providers on board?, Dr. Schuh said, “I had some who just said 'Mike, I ain't gonna do it,’ But I kept after them with education, and when they gave me that first referral for a test, I make sure it goes well. They might need to see for themselves.”

When Dr. Betzelos was asked what one piece of advice he'd have for someone starting a program he responded, "You need to create alignment from the top down with education. It has to be organic, able to germinate and blossom." Dr. Betzelos clarified that the ways he measured success in the OneOme/Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan program was first, “The ability of the members to access the test - so number of members tested.” Secondly – he mentioned the number of regiment changes and lastly, physician adoption.

Dr. England shared her perspective on physician education, adoption, and intention. "As a practicing physician, medications may have great benefits, cause great harm, or just not work, so I want all the information in front of me so I can make the most precise medication decision."

The panel discussion was well received by the audience. Danielle Perfetti, PharmD, BCMTMS said “I would have to say, this was my favorite part from Day 1 of the Precision Medicine Leaders’ Summit. This was such an informative panel discussion!”

Continuing to educate around the implementation of PGx programs is a goal of the Medical Affairs and Development teams at OneOme. Through precision medicine, providing pharmacogenetic solutions, population-level analyses, and clinical decision support solutions, OneOme aims to impact patient safety, reduce the overall cost of care, and improve patients' health outcomes.