Foundation Medicine, Epic Partner on Access to Genomic Profiling in EHRs

Foundation Medicine announced a partnership to integrate its comprehensive genomic profiling and other testing services with Epic’s electronic health record (EHR) system, allowing for providers to electronically order genomic testing for patients within the Epic network.

The integration will be optimized to support oncology practices, academic medical centers, and other health systems by organizing clinical and genomic information in a single place, allowing for providers to make more streamlined clinical decisions, Foundation said.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, Epic is used by more than 450 health care organizations nationwide and 62% of the US population has their medical records in an Epic system.

“In order to bring the reality of precision medicine to more cancer patients, we need to simplify the process for getting oncologists access to the genomic insights they need for targeted treatment planning,” Kathleen Kaa, interim chief commercial officer at Foundation Medicine, said in a statement.

According to a report from Fortune Business Insights, the US genetic testing market size is expected to grow from $4.38 billion in 2020 to $10.29 billion in 2027 at a compound annual growth rate of 13.0% during the 2020-2017 period.

The partnership will enable clinical teams to place orders for comprehensive genomic profiling tests electronically and will be able to receive and review the results directly within their existing workflow using the Epic EHR platform. Foundation Medicine says that the integration, which is expected to be available in 2022, will reduce data entry and provide accelerated delivery of actionable insights to providers to aid them with treatment planning.

"This relationship will help provider organizations on Epic share information more easily. Orders and results from Foundation Medicine will be shared directly in workflow for providers on Epic – without the need for traditional interfaces. Genomic information will power clinical decision support and provide additional insights throughout the care delivery process with providers and patients," said Alan Hutchison, vice president for population health at Epic, in a comment to The American Journal of Managed Care®.

Other diagnostic companies integrated into Epic's EHR systems include Exact Sciences and Tempus.

Foundation Medicine is a molecular information company aimed at improving cancer care by providing a better understanding of the genomic changes that contribute to patients’ individual cancer cases. In addition to its new partnership with Epic, the company is also partnering with several other institutions that use EHR systems as a way to allow practices to have customized EHR solutions.

In June 2021, Foundation Medicine announced that it was going to become the first comprehensive genomic profiling provider to integrate with Flatiron Health’s OncoEMR platform.

Additionally, Foundation Medicine partnered with OneOncology, a network of nearly 170 community oncology care sites, in August 2020 to provide patients and physicians access to genomic profiling tools and expanded research opportunities.

“This integration with Epic is one of our key efforts to improve the process for ordering our tests so care teams can focus on providing the best treatment for their patients,” said Kaa.