Send to printer »  Insight & Intelligence™ : Oct 8, 2009  The
Underappreciated Cost-Saving Potential of Personalized Medicine
in Health Reform Debate  The current draft includes comparative
effectiveness research but does not provide nearly as much
funding as is needed for CER.   • Harry Glorikian  From the
headlines over the past few months, it appears that Washington
is overlooking the value of personalized medicine in reducing
healthcare costs. This is quite unfortunate, as the potential
for savings is significant. Here are three examples of cost-
saving diagnostics and some thoughts on how personalized
medicine relates to health reform legislation under
consideration, and what it may mean for stakeholders.  Genomic
Health’s Oncotype Dx is a test with compelling cost-saving
potential. It is used to predict chemotherapy benefit for
patients who have node-negative, estrogen receptor positive
(node-, ER+) breast cancer. By averting unnecessary
chemotherapy, the test has been shown to save about $2,000 per
pati