Connecting the Dots Between Patient-Completed Family Health History and the Electronic Health Record

Excerpt

Family health history (FHH) is an important tool for detecting and managing chronic health conditions, as well as for the detection and diagnosis of rare single gene disorders.1,2 Despite this, there is considerable evidence that a complete FHH is rarely collected in primary care settings.3 Numerous barriers have been cited in the collection and use of FHH, including the time required to collect the information, the accuracy of the information collected, the lack of ability to store the information in electronic health record systems, patient confidentiality concerns, and insufficient provider training to interpret the information. A 2009 National Institutes of Health State of the Science Conference concluded that studies examining methods for more efficiently collecting FHH in primary care settings were desperately needed.4 Family health history is likely to remain important as an aid to assessing the potential risk associated with genetic markers; for example, a recent study suggests a synergistic increase in colorectal cancer risk in individuals with both a high burden of risk variants and a FHH of colorectal cancer.5 Additionally, many of the gold standard guidelines developed by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) can only be properly applied to patients for whom a FHH has been collected. …