Endeavor Health is proving that precision medicine isn’t just for academic centers or rare-disease clinics. it can be In this episode, Rome talks with Justin Brueck, Vice President of Innovation and Research at Endeavor Health, about how their system has hardwired population genetics into everyday primary care for hundreds of thousands of patients.
Justin walks through the evolution of Endeavor’s genomics program from its roots in a 1980s vision for medical genetics to today’s scaled “Genetic and Wellness Assessment” embedded in Epic. He explains how they designed guideline-based workflows that allow primary care clinicians—not geneticists—to safely order testing, and how new roles like Genetic Counseling Assistants and dedicated consult clinics keep the system from getting clogged while ensuring patients get appropriate follow-up.
The conversation also dives into what the data show: high patient acceptance, manageable anxiety, meaningful detection rates, and strong health-economic signals that routine genetic testing can reduce the costs of late-stage cancer and other chronic diseases.
Justin ends with practical advice for health systems that want to build similar programs, and guidance for patients who want genetic screening but haven’t been offered it by their current providers.
Key Takeaways for Health System Leaders
- Guideline-based survey questions and decision support in Epic automatically surface who should be offered genetic testing.
- The program is designed to be equitable, with targeted outreach to communities (e.g., safety net hospital and the Vietnamese patient population) using trusted local messengers.
- Routine genetic testing supports earlier detection, guideline-based prevention, and reduced downstream costs, especially as systems move toward value-based care.
