Geisinger rolls out clinical DNA sequencing program

Leo Vartorella -

Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger will launch a program July 10 that will make it the first healthcare system in the U.S. to include DNA screening as a part of routine patient exams.

Geisinger President and CEO David Feinberg, MD, announced the program May 6 at the HLTH Conference in Las Vegas. DNA tests will initially be offered to Geisinger employees covered by Geisinger Health Plan and the first 1,000 patients who enroll in the program. Results from the genetic testing will be included in patients' medical records.

Dr. Feinberg, who will offer the first blood sample for the clinical DNA sequencing program, hopes it will soon expand to all 3 million patients across the system's facilities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The program will expand upon Geisinger's MyCode Community Health Initiative, which used over 200,000 participants to build a bank of DNA samples to help study the relationships between genomic data and disease.

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