Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives Team Up to Launch the Largest Community-Based Precision Medicine Program in the U.S.

Alliance will offer advanced technologies and genomic profiling to
nearly 150 hospitals

SAN FRANCISCO & ENGLEWOOD, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dignity
Health and Catholic
Health Initiatives (CHI), two of the nation’s largest health
systems, announced today the launch of the Precision Medicine Alliance
LLC that will offer patients from both health care systems faster and
more accurate diagnostic and treatment protocols based on their genetic
and molecular profile information. The program will be available at
nearly 150 hospitals and care centers across the U.S., serving
approximately 12 million patients annually, creating the largest
community-based precision medicine program in the country.

The Alliance will initially focus on advanced diagnostic tumor profiling
in cancer treatment and will later expand into other areas such as
cancer and cardiovascular risk, and pharmacogenomics. The program will
also support oncology research by populating a database that will become
the largest collection of clinical cancer data ever compiled by a single
organization.

“The Precision Medicine Alliance will provide community physicians with
access to a wide range of diagnostic technology that is currently only
available in academic medical centers. This will provide more accurate
diagnoses, with personalized therapies tailored to each patient through
community providers, where the vast majority of care happens,” said
Lloyd Dean, president and CEO of Dignity Health. “Through our
partnership with CHI, we are using the latest technology,
especially in genomic sequencing, to deliver the right care, to the
right patients, quickly and efficiently.”

Added Kevin E. Lofton, CEO of Catholic Health Initiatives, “Conventional
wisdom suggests patients suffering from the same condition should be
treated with the same therapy. Science now tells us that the efficacy of
one-size fits all for medications and therapies varies by patient
because each person has a unique DNA profile that responds differently
to prevailing treatments. Through the new Precision Medicine Alliance,
use of genomics for diagnosis and treatments enables a new degree of
precision for identifying the most effective treatment and/or clinical
trial for each patient, as well as those treatments that would
potentially be ineffective or harmful. Through the program we will
partner with laboratories and data solution companies nationwide to
promote new clinical trial development and molecular tests to meet
specific patient needs.”

The Precision Medicine Alliance will also integrate electronic medical
records into a robust data-management infrastructure that will allow
quick access to the right clinical expertise and clinical trial
information. The two health systems will partner with laboratories and
bioinformatics companies nationwide to develop molecular tests specific
to meet the needs of patients and clinicians. By combining the data from
highly sensitive diagnostic tests with an individual’s medical history,
health care providers will be able to develop individualized treatment
and prevention plans.

Additionally, the Precision Medicine Alliance is aligned with the
national Precision Medicine Initiative^®, which is a $215
million investment from the White House to accelerate biomedical
research and provide clinicians with new tools to select the therapies
that will work best in individual patients.

“Current treatment programs largely focus on the best course of
treatment for the general population,” said Edward Abrahams, president
of the Personalized Medicine Coalition. “However, with recent
advancements in science and technology, the ability of personalized
medicine to improve health outcomes for individuals and reduce toxicity
due to adverse drug responses is great. Partnerships such as the one
between Dignity Health and CHI that will bring this targeted approach
directly to the communities is thrilling and will have a significant
impact on patient lives and improving overall community health.”

About Precision Medicine Alliance, LLC.

The Precision Medicine Alliance is a partnership between Dignity Health
and Catholic Health Initiatives, two of the nation’s largest health
systems. The Alliance represents the largest community-based
precision-medicine program in the nation, offering patients faster and
more accurate genomic diagnostic and treatment protocols. The Precision
Medicine Alliance platform will ultimately be available at more than 150
hospitals and care centers across the U.S., serving a potential patient
population of approximately 12 million patients annually.

About Dignity Health

Dignity Health, one of the nation’s largest health care systems, is a
21-state network of nearly 9,000 physicians, 59,000 employees, and more
than 400 care centers, including hospitals, urgent and occupational
care, imaging centers, home health, and primary care clinics.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Dignity Health is dedicated to providing
compassionate, high-quality and affordable patient-centered care with
special attention to the poor and underserved. In FY15, Dignity Health
provided $1.7 billion in charitable care and services. For more
information, please visit our website at www.dignityhealth.org.
You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

About Catholic Health Initiatives

Catholic Health Initiatives, a nonprofit, faith-based health system
formed in 1996 through the consolidation of four Catholic health
systems, expresses its mission each day by creating and nurturing
healthy communities in the hundreds of sites across the nation where it
provides care. The nation’s second-largest nonprofit health system,
Englewood, Colorado-based CHI operates in 18 states and comprises 103
hospitals, including four academic health centers and major teaching
hospitals as well as 30 critical-access facilities; community
health-services organizations; accredited nursing colleges; home health
agencies; living communities; and other facilities and services that
span the inpatient and outpatient continuum of care. In fiscal year
2015, CHI provided almost $970 million in financial assistance and
community benefit – an 8% increase over the previous year – or programs
and services for the poor, free clinics, education and research.
Financial assistance and community benefit totaled more than $1.6
billion with the inclusion of the unpaid costs of Medicare. The health
system, which generated operating revenues of $15.2 billion in fiscal
year 2015, has total assets of approximately $23 billion. For more
information, please visit www.catholichealthinitiatives.org.

Contacts

Dignity Health
Lauren Davis, 415-438-5650
or
Edelman
Aaron
Murphy, 415-229-3331
or
Catholic Health Initiatives
Mary
Elise Biegert, 502-558-4451
Mike Romano, 303-383-2720