More than 500 Geisinger MyCode participants receive clinical results from exome sequencing; most risks previously unknown
Thousands more family members may be affected
These risks were reported to patients through the MyCode Genomic Screening and Counseling Program. This screening allows the provision of clinically actionable results and genomic counseling to enrolled patients and their physicians and care teams. Results include risks for diseases ranging from cancers to heart disease, all of which can be treated, managed and in some cases, prevented.
Perhaps most strikingly, MyCode results are demonstrating a prevalence of BRCA mutations in the population, double the results found in published literature. Most risks were previously unknown to patients.
“This is what we call ‘anticipatory medicine’,” said Geisinger President and Chief Executive Officer David T. Feinberg, M.D. “It means we’re anticipating the medical needs of our patients. We’re finding medically actionable conditions and giving that information back to our patients.”
In several cases documented to date, MyCode results led to the detection of early-stage cancers that were not picked up by normal standards of care. In at least one of those cases, the MyCode result likely saved the patient’s life. *
If each of those 500-plus Geisinger patients informed just one at-risk relative who shares the risk for the same genetic condition, then at least 1,000 people would have benefited from MyCode. These numbers will continue to grow into the many thousands as the program continues.
“Most of these people would never have learned of their genetic risk and what they could do about it, except through MyCode, Geisinger’s unique genomics/precision health program,” said David H. Ledbetter, Ph.D., Geisinger executive vice president and chief scientific officer.
“We are years ahead of any other health care system in implementing genomic screening and we are already establishing some clinical utility,” Dr. Ledbetter said. “Population screening programs, such as MyCode, are identifying a much greater prevalence of almost any Mendelian (inherited) disease than was thought before.”
“Geisinger, more than anywhere else, is helping to move genomic screening into mainstream clinical care,” said Huntington F. Willard, Ph.D., director of the newly launched Geisinger National Precision Health Initiative. “As we take the MyCode genetics model to a national audience, we will build on the foundations laid by Geisinger.”
*These cases are documented in a paper published in Genetics in Medicine and available at this link: https://www.nature.com/articles/gim2017145
About Geisinger
Geisinger is among the nation’s leading providers of value-based care, serving 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across Pennsylvania. Founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger, the nonprofit system generates $10 billion in annual revenues across 126 care sites — including 10 hospital campuses — and Geisinger Health Plan, with more than half a million members in commercial and government plans. Geisinger College of Health Sciences educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually and conducts more than 1,400 clinical research studies. With 26,000 employees, including 1,700 employed physicians, Geisinger is among Pennsylvania’s largest employers with an estimated economic impact of $15 billion to the state’s economy. On March 31, 2024, Geisinger became the first member of Risant Health, a new nonprofit charitable organization created to expand and accelerate value-based care across the country. Learn more at geisinger.org or follow on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.
