HHS releases department-wide report on personalized medicine

Secretary of Health & Human Services Michael Leavitt has released a report on personalized medicine that presents a long-term plan for reaching the goal of individualized treatment for patients. The report emphasizes the importance of using both health information technology (IT) and genetic information in order to give clinicians the data they need when choosing appropriate therapies for patients. The report, entitled Personalized Health Care: Opportunities, Pathways, Resources, also describes how health IT can be used confidentially and securely to support high-quality care as well as how further attention is required to ensure that the genetic information generated is not misused. Also highlighted in the document are related activities currently taking place at agencies within HHS. The report can be accessed on-line at