PHARMACOGENOMICS

Background on Pharmacogenomics

The pharmacogenomics module provides information about medications and human DNA variants that impact a person’s ability to safely and adequately metabolize certain drugs. Drugs may require dose adjustment, discontinuation, and substitution or other action depending on whether a member has received the appropriate genetic testing.

THE CHALLENGE

The focus of the measure here was dependent on ordering a test for the member that can tell the physician immediately if the member needs to continue or discontinue the medication. The unique challenge of this project for me was the fact that I was not familiar with the subject. I needed learn quickly in order to serve as a UI subject matter expert to translate what the doctors needed into a visualization that can be used in a practical way.

HOW DID I CONTRIBUTE

Before I spent time trying to solve a problem regarding pharmacogenomics, I needed to understand the subject first. I spent many hours working with the doctors and geneticists. As a solution, I provided guidance on the design of the tool for ordering appropriate genetic tests and trained our physicians on how to use it. Additionally, we added a feature to demonstrate the approximate cost of continuing drug therapy for non-compliance with the genomic alert.