PartnerMD is pleased to announce a partnership with VCU Health System to provide comprehensive genetics counseling and testing to PartnerMD members and corporate executive physical patients. The genetics program will focus on the most critical health and disease areas of hereditary cancers, cardiovascular and cognitive risk, and pharmacogenetics. It will also provide full exome sequencing which covers approximately 85 percent of genetic mutations causing disease.
PartnerMD believes that the purposeful case of genetic testing fits into its model of care that addresses all aspects of health and vitality. A partnership with VCU Health’s genetics team provides PartnerMD with yet another way to deliver truly personalized health and wellness to its members. A VCU Health accredited genetics counselor will be onsite at PartnerMD to serve patients first in the metro area from their Richmond and Midlothian practices. It will then be expanded via telemedicine to all PartnerMD patients across the mid-Atlantic.
“Genetic testing has significant consequences and needs to be a thoughtful personalized process,” said Dr. Jim Mumper, Chief Medical Officer at PartnerMD. “We strive to ensure that our members have the most cutting edge information and care available to make the right choices for them. Genetic testing isn’t for everyone, and we are pleased to provide our members with the expertise of VCU Health’s best-in-class genetics team to determine if a patient is a good candidate.”
“While the decoding of the human genome is wonderful, it has also created a market for direct-to-consumer genetic testing. It may be difficult for patients to decide on their own if the available direct-to-consumer options are personalized, reliable or even needed. Our partnership allows patients to be well informed about their testing options and work with accredited experts to get their testing done,” said Dr. Raymond Lewandowski, chief of Clinical Genetics Services at VCU Health.
If a patient decides to proceed with genetic testing, all testing will be facilitated at an accredited lab and analyzed by VCU Health. Additional genetic counseling will be provided once test results are available. Counseling and clinical care will be supervised by the patient’s PartnerMD physician.
Virginia Commonwealth University is a major, urban public research university with national and international rankings in sponsored research. Located in downtown Richmond, VCU enrolls more than 31,000 students in 217 degree and certificate programs in the arts, sciences and humanities. Thirty-eight of the programs are unique in Virginia, many of them crossing the disciplines of VCU’s 11 schools and three colleges. The VCU Health brand represents the VCU health sciences academic programs, the VCU Massey Cancer Center and the VCU Health System, which comprises VCU Medical Center (the only academic medical center and Level I trauma center in the region), Community Memorial Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, MCV Physicians and Virginia Premier Health Plan. For more, please visit www.vcu.edu and vcuhealth.org.
Kristin Richardson
804.672.4942
krichardson@partnermd.com