News
PGx Medical is Proud to Partner with Cordell Christian Home
As part of our ongoing relationship with our partners, PGx Medical loves to share what they are saying about us and our program.
PGx Medical Metabolic Validation Program
Interview with:
Karen White, Director of Nursing
Cordell Christian Home
Q: As a DON and/or Administrator, do you find the PGx Medical Metabolic Validation Program to be easy to administer?
DON: Yes it is very easy.
Q: How much time do you and your staff allow to test your residents?
DON: I haven’t actually given that a lot of thought. We wait until we have a few residents that need the test, then obtain a buccal sample and send it off.
Q: Do you find the test results to be helpful when dosing or treating your residents?
DON: Yes! We are able to understand our residents’ needs better.
Q: Tell us why your home chose to implement Metabolic Validation testing?
DON: We thought the testing would improve how we care for our residents and it did. Also, our OSDH survey team was really impressed with our steps to help keep the psychotropic drug use at a minimal amount.
Q: How has metabolic validation (aka pharmacogenomics) changed the culture of your home and med review for patients in your home?
DON: We are able to provide even more individualized care to our people.
Q: What % of residents on average do you see, after testing, are in need of a dose change or med change or discontinuing of a medication?
DON: We have made a few changes in medications. But I have a peaceful mind that we are doing everything we should be doing for our residents to perform at their highest practicable.
Q: Has metabolic validation played a role in avoiding F-tags in your home?
DON: I think it helps in our defense as to why someone requires a larger dose of a certain medication, or why someone needs a medication more often than others. 2014 was the first year that we did not get the ‘unnecessary drug’ tag!
For more information on how you can schedule Metabolic Validation Testing, contact:
PGx Medical
Individualized Care – Personalized Medicine
Info@pgxmed.com
405-509-5112
PGx Medical Partners with Parks Edge Nursing & Rehab!
PGx Medical is proud to partner with Parks Edge Nursing & Rehab!
Once Parks Edge Nursing & Rehab learned about Pharmogenetic Testing, we did not hesitate to offer this benefit to our residents. The process was very easy from beginning to results. The PGx Medical consultant met with us at our facility and walked us through the process of getting the testing started. Their process is called Metabolic Validation (pharmacogenomic testings). PGX Medical even took care of most of the paperwork. We only had to provide the resident’s information, medications, and diagnosis to complete the paperwork.
The testing is as simple as swabbing the inner cheek. Parks Edge was able to test 75% of our eligible residents in a few hours. PGX Medical also makes sending the swabs off to their lab an easy process. They provide all the tools needed to complete the testing. The testing results are available online usually with 48 – 72 hours. Again PGX Medical provides a consultant to help the facility understand the test results.
Parks Edge and our Medical Director decided to take the test results and triage the residents needs. The Director of Nursing took the test results and compared them to the residents medications. The residents current medications were highlighted indicating whether the medication was properly metabolized or if the physician needed to consider a change. This made the process of reviewing the results easier. We started with our resident with “behaviors”. Next the medications that indicated “Avoid use” were addressed. This process took less than 30 minutes of the physician’s time each week. We were able to address the test result of approximately 50 residents in just a few weeks.
Most of our residents had medications that needed to be changed. The physician was able to reduce the amount of medications that some residents receive. We look forward to seeing the long term benefits of this testing.
Tonya Mitchell, RN, DON
Parks Edge Nursing Center
For more information on the PGx Medical Metabolic Validation Test, contact:
PGx Medical
Individualized Care – Personalized Medicine
info@pgxmed.com / www.pgxmed.com
405-509-5112
Personalized Medicine: One Size Doesn’t Fit All
Physicians have long relied on a range of resources—including medical literature, their own research and experience, and pure gut feelings to treat patients. But that one-size-fits all approach doesn’t take into account a patients unique characteristics.
With personalized medicine available now, patients can receive individualized care according to their own genomic make-up.
Medicine as we know it revolves around “standards of care,” the best courses of treatment for the general population.
A growing number of healthcare clinicians are calling for a more personalized approach tailoring medicine to fit each individual; Right Drug, Right Dose, Right Person.
It is important to remember that genes can provide information that can lead us to make more informed decisions about our healthcare and medication therapy.
Education is the key. Consider patient’s with depression, 38 percent of whom do not respond to the first drug they are prescribed. With personalized medicine, or metabolic validation testing, healthcare professonals don’t have to prescribe medications on a “trial-and-error” basis. They will be provided a guide for dosing depending on that individuals genetic makeup.
“One day, patients will say, ‘I’m not an average patient. I am who I am. You need to understand who I am before you prescribe whatever treatment you plan to prescribe,'” says Edward Abrahams, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Personalized Medicine Coalition.
Personalized Medicine is changing the world of healthcare.
For more information on Metabolic Validation testing (Pharmacogenomics), contact:
PGx Medical
Individualized Care – Personalized Medicine
info@pgxmed.com
405-509-5112
Pharmacogenomic Testing
Genes play an important role in determining the right drug, right dose for the right person.
A treatment or dosage that works for one individual may not work, or may cause severe side effects for another. Pharmacogencomics provides healthcare professionals with a tool that will allow them to “personalize” medicine for each individual patient. Reducing hospital visits, adverse drug reactions and unnecessary medications.
At PGx Medical, our Metabolic Validation tests (pharmacogenomics) will help:
- Decrease adverse drug events: More than 770,000 injuries and deaths every year are caused by adverse drug events.
- Cost-Saving: Pharmacogenomics helps reduce the overall cost for experimenting with drugs “trial-and-error” and adverse drug events cost up to $35 billion annually in hospital admissions.
- Trial and Error: You can now have more accurate information on what an individual can metabolize so you can avoid the “trial-and-error” process that cost money and delays recovery. Pharmacogenomics will help patients/residents live a better quality of life.
If your pharmacy, clinic or home is interested in pharmacogenomic testing, contact us at: info@pgxmed.com or call 405-509-5112.
PGx Medical
Individualized Care / Personalized Medicine
www.pgxmed.com
Top 5 Questions Asked about Metabolic Validation
Recently while speaking and educating across the country, we came up with the Top 5 Questions asked about our PGx Metabolic Validation Program. We hope these will answer any question you might have regarding our tool.
Q: Who pays for the metabolic validation test?
PGx: Metabolic Validation (Pharmacogenomics) is available to patients/residents with any of the following coverages:
- Medicare B (100% covered) PGx Medical does not balane bill and there is no co-pay.
- Medicaid is available in select states (100% covered) PGx Medical does not balance bill and there is no co-pay in select states.
- Private Insurance. We believe that every patient should have access to the Metabolic Validation testing. So with the PGx Medical MVT, you are eligible for our Financial Assistance Program.
Q: How do I get tested?
PGx: A doctor must order the metabolic validation test. If your home, clinic or family physician isn’t already testing patients, just tell them you would like to request it and they can request test kits at info@pgxmed.com or call us 405-509-5112. We’ll be happy to coordinate everything for them.
Q: What is the science behind Metabolic Validation/Pharmacogenomics?
PGx: The body of scientific studies and research from the FDA, NIH, drug manufacturers and the molecular genetic community continues to highlight pharmacogenomic values for the use of a metabolic validation tool. Some of the key highlights of the clinical application of this science:
- Over 150 medications have FDA guidance surrounding pharmacogenomics and how medications should be used based on genetic variants. (1)
- FDA has given clear recommendations on how pharmacogenomic information can be incorporated into new medication labeling. (2)
- The National Institute of Health has a list of over 80 medications that they recommend changing the medication or the dosage based on pharmacogenomic information. (3)
Q: Do all patients metabolize mediciation the same way?
PGx: Over 50% of patients have gene variants that alter the rate at which they metabolize medications.
Q: Why am I just now hearing about Metabolic Validation?PGx: Metabolic Validation testing (pharmacogenomics) isn’t new. It has been around for decades. The only difference is medicare has made it affordable and now more available to you. Along with the age of technology which has brought awareness to the general public with unlimited information and education available via the internet so more people are hearing about and understanding the value of metabolic validation. PGx Medical has also made an aggressive effort to bring it to the forefront by partnering with state agencies and speaking/educating across the country regarding the benefits of this once in a lifetime test. Our tool helps healthcare professionals determine the right drug, right dose for the right patient making it easy to incorporate personalized medicine into their patient care.
For more information on the PGx Medical Metabolic Validation Test:
PGx Medical
405-509-5112
info@pgxmed.com
www.pgxmed.com
Source:
http://www.fda.gov/drugs/scienceresearch/researchareas/pharmacogenetics/ucm083378.htm (1)
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/UCM337169.pdf) (2)
http://www.pharmgkb.org/cpic/pairs (3)
Metabolic Validation your key to Personalized Medicine
Personalized medicine will allow physicians to deliver health care based on a person’s genotype.
An individual’s genetics can suggest optimal dosing levels as well as cause some medications to be more or less effective. In some cases it may also cause adverse drug reactions leading to personal harm.
Metabolic Validation testing helps in determining which medications are optimal for a person based on his or her genetics.
With a simple buccal swab, healthcare professionals will receive a validation report to help guide medication treatment based on that person’s individual genetics.
Right Drug, Right Dose, Right Person
For more information:
PGx Medical
Individulaized Care – Personalized Medicine
info@pgxmed.com
405-509-5112