MeTree&You to work with Arkansas Department of Health and the University of Arkansas Health Sciences to drive improved health outcomes and consumer wellness
DURHAM, N.C. (PRWEB) June 20, 2023 -- MeTree&You (http://www.metreeandyou.com) is pleased to announce that it has been selected to incorporate family health history clinical support programming into well-patient appointments to assist healthcare providers. The University of Arkansas Health Sciences will utilize the MeTree&You (MeTree) family health history tool in conjunction with the Arkansas Department of Health’s State Health Alliance for Records Exchange (SHARE) to identify patients at increased risk for genetically influenced diseases. The results will provide guidance to healthcare providers through evidence-based algorithms on appropriate genetic screening, further testing and referrals matched to the patient’s level of risk.
“I am really excited for the opportunity to have the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences partner with MeTree to demonstrate a new use of their clinical support software program with our state-wide health information exchange, SHARE. Arkansas has many beautiful rural regions, earning it the nickname “the Natural State.” Unfortunately, we also have access barriers to genetic services in those same beautiful rural regions, as well as high numbers of genetically influenced chronic conditions in the Arkansans that call them home,” said Laura Hays, PHD, APRN. Hays further stated; “Integrating a family health history clinical support program like MeTree into patient appointments to help healthcare providers identify patients at increased risk for genetically influenced disease will undoubtedly help us to address some of these disparities and to improve the overall health and wellness of Arkansans.” The deployment of MeTree will seamlessly allow patient and family history to be available to multiple healthcare providers, eliminating time-intensive paperwork and updates, enhancing the care experience, and resulting in quality outcomes and symptom management.
Arkansas ranks among the top ten states in the United States for highest rates of death due to heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and kidney disease. These conditions are all influenced by genetic variation; however, Arkansas’ genetics services are clustered in the central and northwestern regions, making it difficult for rural providers to offer genetic risk assessment and to access these services. The implementation of MeTree will have monumental implications in driving the improved health and wellness of Arkansans through access to individualized risk assessment, family history, and data sharing.
This will represent the first public health collaboration with a health information exchange for MeTree. The organization came about through the Genomedical Connection, a collaboration of Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Cone Health system which was funded by the Department of Defense to develop a model for bringing genomic medicine into primary care. To date Over 9,000 patients and their providers in 18 health systems across 3 countries have used MeTree. Studies showed that by using MeTree health systems realized a 71% reduction in overutilization of services in those who do not meet guideline criteria and a 73% increase in test ordering for patients who meet criteria for enhanced screening. Dr. Lori Orlando, Professor of Medicine at Duke University, and president of MeTree&You noted that “This is an exciting opportunity for the entire field of risk assessment. Family histories are critical to assessing disease risk but difficult to collect. Tools like MeTree are designed to optimize collection and analysis of family history data; but leveraging a health information exchange opens new doors for scaling the access to and impact of risk assessment.”
About MeTree&You
MeTree&You, Inc. has developed a proven technology that addresses the need to gather health information vital to risk assessment and planning for the future health care needs of individuals and populations. MeTree has more evidence supporting its clinical value and ease of implementation than any other family history, risk assessment platform on the market. No other risk assessment platform is as comprehensive in scope or as adaptable to different market segments. Most competitors focus on cancer risk and are designed for genetic counsellors or as an adjunct to genetic testing. Learn more at http://www.metreeandyou.com
MeTree&You, MeTree&You, https://metreeandyou.com/, 1 614-441-7706, [email protected]
Share this article