TriHealth Partners with Helix to Launch the Largest Precision Population Health Initiative in Southwest Ohio
TriHealth enables population precision health for its patients -- improving health outcomes and reducing total cost of care for the community.
TriHealth, Cincinnati, Ohio’s nationally-recognized health care system for excellence in value based care delivery, and Helix, the leading precision health organization in the nation, announced a partnership today to launch a bold risk assessment and disease prevention and treatment program, DNA Discovery with TriHealth, the largest population genomics program in Southwest Ohio, all to provide greater precision and personalized care for patients.
“TriHealth knows that no two people are the same, which is why our mission to Get Health Care Right involves understanding each patient’s environment, lifestyle, health status and genetic makeup to provide them with the right care at the right place at the right time. And genetically informed and targeted care is increasingly the right care,” TriHealth President and CEO Mark C. Clement said. “Delivering a no cost, population genomics program to the Greater Cincinnati community will help tens of thousands of patients who choose to participate—and their providers--to better understand genetic predisposition to a number of diseases and to make more personalized health care decisions. This program is a fundamental step to being able to provide patients with more targeted, precision care.”
“Genetic technology in medicine has evolved to the point where it is now being used to improve care and achieve better outcomes for conditions and diseases ranging from cancer and heart disease to maternal and fetal health,” Clement said. “Collecting this genetic data at scale – meaning large populations of patients and community members – allows us to unlock DNA insights so that our physicians can proactively monitor and protect more people from diseases, as well as target therapies to improve efficacy.”
All participants and their health care providers will receive important information about their risks for serious conditions like breast and ovarian cancer, colorectal cancer and hereditary high cholesterol. By screening at scale, the program will enable TriHealth to uncover what risks might be occurring and the community better understand and actively manage their health.
TriHealth’s program aims to enroll 100,000 participants over five years, making it the largest population health program in Southwest Ohio. Support for the program also includes an investment from the Bethesda Foundation. Helix will deploy its end-to-end genomics platform and unique Sequence Once, Query OftenTM model which allows future genomic tests to be run without the need to collect an additional patient specimen. This will give providers and their patients access to ongoing genomic insights about their health throughout their lifetime.
“Genetic risk for serious, actionable health conditions is undetected using conventional medical practices,” said Dr. James Lu, M.D., Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Helix. “Community genetic screening is cost-effective because it reduces late-stage cancers and severe cardiovascular events. TriHealth is an ideal partner as we validate the cost-effectiveness of this approach. This collaboration represents a pivotal step towards a future where genomic information is an integral part of routine preventive care.”
TriHealth joins Helix’s leading group of partner health systems, including Mayo Clinic, in launching population genomics programs which span across the United States and beyond. Participation in this research program will be optional, with details to be provided to Greater Cincinnati area residents in 2025, prior to the official program launch.