Chapter 12 - Electronic Medical Records in Genomic Medicine Practice and Research

Abstract

The disciplines of medical informatics and biological informatics have both evolved to address the needs of genomic medicine practice and research. This chapter discusses the role of electronic medical records (EMRs) in the practice of genomic medicine and their use for genomic research. The need of digital approaches to storing, processing, and using information is driven by the growing density of genomic data, whether derived from gene expression profiling, single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping, or DNA sequencing, and from the pace of discovery. Differences between the two communities have resulted in an attempt to integrate the approaches. The complexity of clinical decision-making changes as genetic data relevant to diagnosis and therapeutic interventions increases. The large health systems that are adopting EMRs are becoming increasingly integrated, especially in adopting and implementing practice standards. The major factors driving the development of EMRs, such as quality measures, efficiency, and reimbursement, are not directly related to genomic medicine. Thus, health care organizations should be more proactive in collaborating with other public and private sector organizations in the development of an EMR containing both clinical and genomic data.