A 2023 survey found that 70% of Americans feel let down by the healthcare system, leading 44% to skip or delay needed care. To rebuild trust and deliver more effective healthcare, providers must connect more deeply with their patients’ needs. Healthcare policy is one factor influencing a greater adoption of value-based care. But when it comes to healthcare approaches, nothing gets providers closer to patient needs than personalized medicine.
A personalized approach to medicine encompasses everything from genetic tests to learning about cultural preferences. Gathering this data guides providers towards the most effective medical treatment for each individual patient. This is especially important for brain health, where early intervention can put dementia patients in a better position to make informed decisions about their care.
In this blog post, we will explore the best tools and strategies for integrating personalized medicine into a primary care practice.
Personalized medicine is a healthcare approach that tailors treatment to each patient's unique needs. Patient health needs are identified by considering genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors, along with personal beliefs and preferences.
Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach to treatment, personalized medicine customizes interventions to match varying aspects of a patient's health. This could range from identifying a gene that’s associated with a drug allergy to seeking oral medications for a patient who isn’t comfortable self-injecting a medication at home.
There are several reasons why personalized medicine is becoming more mainstream:
Precision medicine and personalized medicine are often used interchangeably. Some healthcare professionals prefer one over the other, such as in this example from the National Cancer Institute.
Some definitions differentiate the two this way:
Taking a personalized approach to medical treatment has benefits for both patients and providers, including:
In healthcare settings, personalized medicine has a few defining elements:
Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a well-established care model that prioritizes using the best available research evidence for clinical decision making and medical treatment. Healthcare providers seek out credible, peer-reviewed research, and use it alongside their clinical expertise and patient preferences.
For example, if research on genetic testing suggests that a commonly prescribed medical treatment may not work for certain patients, that evidence would be applied to a provider’s own patients. From there, the provider would explore other options to identify the right drug for each patient’s health.
Personalized medical treatments can be informed by the results of next-generation sequencing (NGS) tests, which map how a person’s genes affect their health. While genotyping is becoming more accessible, it is still a new technology, and it’s important to stay up to date with the latest biomedical research—and how it is being presented to a general audience of patients.
According to the 2022 Health Care Insights Study from CVS Health, most consumers believe that healthcare should encompass physical, social, emotional, and mental health. They want more meaningful patient-provider relationships that take a holistic, personalized approach to care.
Whole person care aligns with these values, and in personalized medicine, includes conversations about:
With a full view of patient needs, doctors can create treatment plans that address all aspects of an individual patient’s health.
As we mentioned earlier, a 2023 survey found that 70% of Americans feel let down by the healthcare system, with 19% citing subpar focus on preventive care and wellness as a major issue. Preventative care is beneficial across all areas of patient care, but aligns particularly well with personalized medicine.
By learning about a patient’s lifestyle and family history, providers can anticipate disease risks and possible barriers to treatment, such as high healthcare costs. This information helps doctors to recommend preventative care that best suits each patient.
In a three-year study, researchers found that personalized preventative care led to significantly lower rates of ER and urgent care visits.
In the 2022 Health Care Insights Study from CVS Health, 81% of consumers said it is very important that their primary care provider was aware of their overall happiness and how they manage painful emotions.
Creating trust between patients and providers is the first step in any medical treatment, and a key part of that is listening. In fact, studies have shown that physicians have changed their approach to communication over time: Nearly 30% consider consultations to be psychosocial, focusing more on task-oriented communication and less on empathetic statements.
Relationship building is a key element of personalized medicine because it allows providers to fully understand each individual patient’s health and offer the best possible care.
While personalization has the potential to deliver clearer diagnoses and better outcomes for patients, there are several risks to consider.
Less invasive technologies such as Creyos cognitive assessments can offer robust health data, support confident diagnosis and treatment, and deliver personalization—without the costs associated with genetic testing.
With over ten million new cases of dementia emerging worldwide each year, implementing personalized medicine into brain health is more important than ever. While dementia has many hallmark symptoms, they can vary widely among patients, requiring different treatments.
A few strategies for taking a personalized approach to cognitive care include:
By combining healthcare technology with strong patient relationships, doctors can monitor patients’ brain health more effectively and recommend ideal medical treatments.
Here are a few examples of how a personal approach to cognitive and mental health care can be applied:
Cognitive health assessments provide a real-time snapshot of patients’ cognitive health status. Assessment tools should be user-friendly, scientifically validated, and generate detailed reports that integrate into patients’ electronic health records.
There are a few testing options depending on the patients’ current cognitive capacity. For example, while the popular MoCA test works for patients in advanced stages of cognitive decline, Creyos cognitive protocols are designed to identify both early and advanced signs of cognitive impairment.
Several genetic variations can predict susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease. There are also rare forms of Alzheimer’s almost entirely determined by three familial genes. Patients with mutations in any of these genes will almost certainly develop early-onset familial Alzheimer’s disease. Knowing this genetic information enables providers, patients, and families to consider care plans before cognitive decline begins.
Social well-being plays a major role in elder care and can have a significant impact on cognitive health. When recommending community activities or companion services for elderly patients, knowing their individual preferences and interests can help create more meaningful and fulfilling social connections.
With the right tools and resources, delivering personalized brain health care doesn’t have to be difficult. At Creyos, we offer healthcare providers a comprehensive suite of mental and cognitive health solutions, including behavioral health questionnaires, online cognitive tasks, and condition-specific protocols backed by a team of researchers.
Our assessments provide meaningful data to aid in diagnosing and managing disorders, including:
When it comes to taking a personalized approach to medicine, our solutions help:
When Medcan began working with Creyos to deliver personalized health care, they included 15-minute mental and cognitive health assessments in patients’ annual wellness visits. With the data they collected, providers could initiate conversations with patients and learn more about their health experiences. From there, it became easy to address concerns, suggest lifestyle changes, and make referrals as necessary.
Reach out to us to learn about how our tools can help you take a personalized approach in your clinic.
By combining biomedical research and patient-centered care, personalized medicine helps clinicians deliver the best treatment for every patient. Genomic sequencing can identify a patient’s risk for certain diseases, while strong patient-provider relationships reduce the stress of making medical decisions.
When it comes to mental and cognitive health, gathering patient data is the first step to making effective personalized treatment plans. Connect with Creyos today to learn about how our healthcare solutions can help you get to know your patients better.