Not all patients follow their health providers’ treatment recommendations, to their detriment, but they may be doing the best they can under circumstances. Some people live and work in environments that work against efforts to improve health. Care and treatment of patients is expected to be more successful when the patient’s environment is considered as part of the equation but this current trend is not always used by physicians.

The IU School of Medicine’s Precision Health Grand Challenge Initiative (PHI)–which aims to transform biomedical research, health care innovations, and the delivery of health interventions in Indiana—features the creation of the Health Data Commons. This data resource provides clinical investigators and healthcare providers practical ways in which to access, view, and use contextual information to better treat patients. It helps them measure and monitor the totality of patient environmental (i.e. non-genetic) exposures, called the Exposome. Polis’ role in the project was to develop a proof-of concept API that delivers data about a patient’s social and physical environment from the SAVI community information system, based on a submitted patient address.

To learn more, contact Karen Comer.