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Insights for Confident Care & Trusted Diagnostics

Dr. Marcus Ide

May 14, 2026 · 6 min read

Genetics

Bringing Pharmacogenomics into Primary Care

Pharmacogenomic testing is moving beyond specialty clinics. Here's how primary care providers can start using it to guide prescribing decisions.

From specialty clinics to everyday visits

Pharmacogenomic testing analyzes how a patient's genetics affect their metabolism of common medications, informing safer, more effective prescribing.

What was once ordered mainly by oncologists and psychiatrists is now finding a place in routine primary care visits, particularly ahead of long-term prescriptions.

A single panel, ordered once, can inform prescribing decisions across a patient's lifetime — not just the medication in front of you today.

Where it fits first

Primary care providers are increasingly ordering pharmacogenomic panels ahead of starting patients on psychiatric or pain management medications, where metabolizer status has an outsized effect on both efficacy and side-effect risk.

Making results usable

Clear, actionable reporting is critical to making this testing usable in a busy primary care workflow — a report is only as good as how quickly a provider can translate it into a prescribing decision at the point of care.

Dr. Marcus Ide

MD, Clinical Genetics

Dr. Ide advises primary care networks on integrating genomic testing into everyday prescribing workflows.

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