CAP TODAY Pathology/Laboratory Medicine/Laboratory Management
Kaiser Permanente and Geisinger come together to launch Risant Health
May 2023—Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Geisinger Health announced the launch of Risant Health and a definitive agreement to make Geisinger the first health system to join Risant Health to expand access to value-based care in more communities across the country. Upon regulatory approval, Geisinger becomes part of the new organization through acquisition.
Risant Health is a new nonprofit organization, created by Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, to expand and accelerate the adoption of value-based care in diverse, multi-payer, multi-provider, community-based health system environments. Risant’s vision is to improve the health of millions of people by increasing access to value-based care and coverage and raising the bar for value-based approaches that prioritize patient quality outcomes.
Risant Health will build its impact by acquiring and connecting a portfolio of nonprofit, value-oriented, community-based health systems anchored in their respective communities. Risant will be headquartered in the Washington, DC, metro area.
Health systems that become part of Risant Health will continue to operate as regional or community-based health systems serving the needs of their communities, providers, and health plans while gaining expertise, resources, and support through Risant Health’s value-based platform. Risant Health will operate separately and distinctly from Kaiser Permanente’s core integrated care and coverage model while building on Kaiser Permanente’s 80 years of expertise in value-based care.
In becoming part of Risant Health, Geisinger, headquartered in Danville, Pa., says it will be better able to enhance its services to its patients, members, and communities across Pennsylvania, while expanding its impact on health care broadly. Geisinger will maintain its name and mission, and will continue to work with other health plans, employed physicians, and independent providers.
As the first health system to become part of Risant Health, Geisinger will participate in developing the organization’s strategy and operational model.
FDA clears BioFire SpotFire Respiratory Panel Mini
BioMérieux received FDA 510(k) clearance for its multiplex PCR-based BioFire SpotFire Respiratory Panel Mini.
The Panel Mini is the second multiplex PCR-based test cleared for use on the BioFire SpotFire. This system and the 15-target SpotFire Respiratory Panel received FDA clearance and CLIA waiver in February. The company has applied for a CLIA waiver for the Panel Mini.
The new Panel Mini detects SARS-CoV-2, influenza A and B, RSV, and rhinovirus in about 15 minutes.
Illumina, Henry Ford to study impact of genomic testing in CVD
Illumina and Henry Ford Health launched a partnership to assess the impact of comprehensive genomic testing in cardiovascular disease.
The first study under this new partnership, CardioSeq, launched April 11 and will include 1,500 patients receiving care from the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Henry Ford.
The Lisa and Christopher Jeffries Center for Precision Medicine and the Center for Individualized and Genomic Medicine Research at Henry Ford Health, in the Detroit metro area, will conduct a series of implementation and clinical studies that will investigate the use of next-generation sequencing tests, including whole-genome sequencing, to assess their impact on clinical care.
David Lanfear, MD, VP of clinical and translational research at Henry Ford Health, said in a news release, “What we’re initially most interested in is the rate of the change in medical management due to the genetic information, but eventually we will be looking at differences in cost and clinical outcomes as well.”
AMP releases resource on inherited disorder testing
The Association for Molecular Pathology patient engagement subcommittee released in April its inherited disorder webpage to provide patients with information about molecular diagnostics (https://outreach.amp.org/resources/inherited-disorders).
Patients, family members, students, and others can find answers to two questions: What is an inherited disorder? What is germline testing? And they can find explanations of diagnostic testing, screening tests, variants of uncertain significance, and types of inherited disorders.
The subcommittee behind the project is a 19-person group. The chair is Jill Murrell, PhD, director of the genomic diagnostics laboratory, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.