White House Recognizes Intermountain Healthcare and Syapse for Their Commitment to Precision Medicine

On February 25th, leaders from Intermountain Healthcare, a not-for-profit health system of 22 hospitals based in Salt Lake City and Syapse, the leading provider of precision medicine software, participated in the White House Precision Medicine Initiative Summit. The event highlighted the achievements of pioneers in bringing precision medicine into clinical practice, and the White House released the following statement describing the commitment of of Intermountain and Syapse to further the progress of precision medicine:

“Intermountain Healthcare and Syapse pledge to provide patients with direct access to their cancer genomic data, including clinical data from their medical records, tumor genomics, treatments, and outcomes, in order to empower patients in their precision medicine journey. These data will be available directly to patients via a patient portal software application that will launch this year. Intermountain and Syapse see precision medicine not just as a means to improve outcomes, but as a foundational pillar for the implementation of value-based care and key to improving the care of patients with life-threatening diseases. The collaboration leverages Intermountain’s expertise in evidence based medicine and Syapse’s expertise in data-driven clinical software.” 

The White House Precision Medicine Initiative Summit included an address by President Barack Obama and featured patients whose lives have been positively impacted as a result of advances in the use of precision medicine. Intermountain was represented by Lincoln Nadauld, MD, PhD, Executive Director of Intermountain Precision Genomics, which focuses on the treatment of cancer. Syapse was represented by Jonathan Hirsch, Founder and President of Syapse, Intermountain’s precision medicine software partner.  

Syapse Precision Medicine Platform is the software solution that supports physicians in the clinical implementation of precision medicine at Intermountain Healthcare. Using Syapse, oncologists can order molecular tests, view genomic results and molecular tumor board interpretations, make a treatment recommendation, order drugs targeted to a patient’s specific genomic makeup, and track outcomes. 

Syapse has collaborated with Intermountain to implement and systematize the practice of precision medicine as part of its industry-leading Precision Cancer Genomics program.  This program has been recognized for using molecular testing to match advanced cancer patients with medications that lengthen lifespan and improve quality of life in routine clinical practice, all without raising the total cost of care.  Intermountain is the only integrated healthcare system in the nation with a systematized precision oncology service that includes tumor sequencing, case review, clinical interpretation, and drug procurement. In addition, Intermountain is typically able to gain access to limited distribution and specialty drugs for its patients.

Nearly 80% of the patients treated at Intermountain Precision Genomics have been connected to targeted drug therapies. No other healthcare system has had comparable success. Unlike traditional chemotherapy, which focuses on destroying rapidly dividing cells, targeted therapies identify other features that are more specific to cancer cells. These medications work in individual ways, but all interfere with the ability of the cancer cell to grow, divide, repair, and/or communicate with other cells.

“Syapse and Intermountain are leading the way in the clinical implementation of precision medicine, turning the Precision Medicine Initiative’s vision of improved cancer care into a reality for patients in the community,” said Jonathan Hirsch, Syapse Founder and President. “Our work has demonstrated that precision medicine improves survival and reduces costs. We believe that precision medicine will be the core enabling technology for health systems to transform to at-risk, value-based care.”