Visit us in the exhibit hall at booth #127 to learn more about how we can support you with the development of defensible, transparent coverage policies, as well as care management protocols and best practice guidelines.

Dr. Diane Allingham-Hawkins, Hayes Director of the Genetic Test Evaluation program, will be making a presentation on Friday, April 15, from 1:30 – 2:30 pm entitled, “Evidence-based Evaluation of Genetic & Genomic Tests as a Foundation for Coverage Policy”.

Presentation Overview:
Description: Advances in our knowledge of the genetic basis for various diseases have resulted in a rapid increase in the availability of genetic and genomic tests. There are currently nearly 2000 inherited genetic disorders for which tests are available and this number grows at an estimated rate of 25% annually. Several hundred more tests are available for disorders such as cancer and coronary artery disease and for pharmacogenetic purposes (i.e. to predict efficacy of, or adverse response to drugs). These tests, designed to provide healthcare providers and patients with information about a specific gene that has been implicated in a particular disease, are usually brought to market without evidence of clinical validity or utility. Insufficient information about false-positive or false-negative rates and relative risk could lead to unnecessary treatment and or mental anguish. In addition, the use of these expensive tests, in the absence of good evidence of positive impacts on health outcomes, has the potential to drive up healthcare costs unnecessarily. Therefore, evidence-based evaluation of genetic and genomic tests will be reviewed in the context of using evidence to make informed coverage determinations. Issues around making informed coverage decisions while managing costs and managing genetic and genomic test requests with the current coding challenges will be discussed. Finally recommendations for policy development in this rapidly growing field of medicine will be provided.

Objective(s): Upon completion of this activity participants should be able to:

1. Identify latest trends regarding genetic and genomic testing
2. Describe the methodology used to evaluate the evidence behind genetic and genomic tests
3. Discuss current available resources of evidence-based evaluation of genetic and genomic tests
4. Understand the importance of evidence in making informed coverage determinations for genetic and
   genomic tests

March 24-25, 2011
Washington, DC

Dr. Diane Allingham-Hawkins, Director of the Hayes Genetic Test Evaluation Program, will be speaking on “Effectively Connecting Technology to Improve Outcomes.” With so many emerging technologies as a result of the increasing use of genomic testing in medical care, payers are faced with the challenge of assessing the impact of each new technology on patient outcomes and determining its cost-effectiveness. During this session, learn the best practices for reconciling the comparative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of new tests and how evidence can be used to determine coverage policies.

For more information on this meeting, or to register, click here.