Panel calls for massive overhaul of disease classification system

Science : The International Classification of Diseases has served for more than 100 years as a standard for the World Health Organization, physicians, and the healthcare industry to track disease incidence, make diagnoses, and determine reimbursement for care. Last year, however, the National Institutes of Health decided it was time to update it. What the resulting National Research Council panel has proposed is a massive data network that would combine cutting-edge genomic and molecular data on patients’ diseases with their routine medical records, writes Jocelyn Kaiser for Science. That system would be used to develop a new disease taxonomy and personalize medical care, according to the 108-page report, titled Toward Precision Medicine: Building a Knowledge Network for Biomedical Research and a New Taxonomy of Disease. Creating such a network of data is expected to take a decade or two, and it will require a change in the public’s attitude toward patient privacy and the use of personal medical data for research.