Modernization of the regulatory underpinnings of the genomic research infrastructure is needed to enable large-scale data sharing for the next phase of genomic understanding, according to the whitepaper From Evolution To Revolution: Building the 21st Century Genomic Infrastructure, released by the Center for Data Innovation and Health IT Now. The report calls for public sector leadership to address barriers to building the population-scale genomic research infrastructure required for President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative including addressing system-wide interoperability, consent standardization, and privacy issues. While federal reforms to the regulatory system are needed to improve "the productivity of research," cooperation between the public and private sectors will be needed to create a "functional and broad-based data-sharing model," the organizations say. The paper, the organizations believe, can steer policymakers addressing practical issues associated with genomic data, including the National Institutes of Health, which is currently developing an implementation plan for the president’s Precision Medicine Initiative. "As the technical limits to genomic research recede, institutional barriers are looming larger," the organizations write in the paper. "Federal and state rules govern … every facet of the transfer, analysis, and communication of health data. These strictures lock in place paper-era practices and shield medicine from the…
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