Medication guidance built around your residents.
A turnkey PGx program for skilled nursing facilities. We help your consultant pharmacist and attending physicians identify residents whose medications have actionable gene-drug guidance, collect samples on a scheduled testing day and return results your clinicians can act on.
Four signs a resident may benefit from testing
Most residents take several medications, and many are managing side effects or treatments that aren't working as expected. These are the residents PGx can help most.
Experiencing side effects
Nausea, fatigue, headaches, dizziness or other unwanted reactions.
Starting new medications
Especially for mental health, pain, cardiology or long-term therapy.
Medications not working well
Current medications aren't giving the expected results or relief.
Multiple prescriptions
Residents on several medications who need safer, better-informed decisions.
From census to results in five steps
Your clinicians decide who is tested. We coordinate everything around them.
- Step 1
Send your census
Resident demographics and medication data.
Facility - Step 2
Identify candidates
Medications are reviewed for gene-based guidance. The attending physician decides.
Program team - Step 3
Sign requisitions
Including ICD-10 codes and medication details.
Physician - Step 4
Testing day
Our team swabs each resident whose test was ordered.
Program team - Step 5
Results
Delivered by encrypted email or fax.
5–10 business days
What we coordinate for your team
We coordinate the testing logistics. Your attending physicians decide who is tested and order each test.
- Candidate review support from your census and medication data, for your physicians to decide on
- Coverage verified before any resident is tested
- On-site testing day scheduled around your facility
- Shipping set up for you, with a UPS label or on-site pickup
- Recollections handled. If a sample comes back short on DNA, we return and redo it.
- Family-ready materials that explain PGx to residents' loved ones
- Ongoing support for coordination and result questions
What it means for each role in your building
Administrators
A clinical service to support medication decisions for residents, with no lab setup or equipment.
Directors of nursing
Our trained collectors obtain specimens for AchieveDx testing on a scheduled day.
Medical directors
Clear, guideline-based recommendations for the medications residents take today and the ones they'll start next.
Consultant pharmacists
Genetic data to strengthen monthly medication regimen reviews and psychotropic decisions.
Help families understand what to expect
When someone you love takes several medicines, even a small change can raise questions. We give your team clear, family-friendly materials for those conversations.
What PGx testing is
It looks at inherited differences in DNA that affect how a loved one processes certain medicines. A one-time cheek swab provides the sample.
How results guide care
The care team reviews findings alongside current medicines, health history and symptoms. The test can't predict exactly how someone will respond.
- 1
Discuss a specific medicine
Ask which medication or dose decision the result could inform.
- 2
Confirm consent and coverage
The team explains who can consent and checks expected cost.
- 3
Collect a cheek swab
Quick and painless, done at the facility.
- 4
Review results together
The care team explains what the findings mean for the care plan.
- Which medication is being reviewed, and what would the test add?
- Could other health factors or medicines explain the concern?
- Who receives the results, and how will they be used later?
- What will my loved one owe, if anything, before we agree?
Coverage varies by plan, test and clinical situation. Medicare covers PGx when a treating clinician is considering or using a specific medicine and needs the result for that decision. We confirm coverage and any cost before collection.
PGx results support clinical judgment. Never change or stop a medicine without the treating clinician.
Why it matters in skilled nursing
Older adults in skilled nursing often have several conditions and many prescriptions. Medications can also work differently as kidney function, liver function and other treatments change.
PGx results show which medications a resident's genes may not handle well, before the next side effect, fall or hospital transfer.
fewer rehospitalizations at 60 days in a pilot trial of home health patients4
Elliott LS, et al. 2017fewer hospital admissions with PGx-guided care (11.5% vs 20.1%), pooled across five studies7
David V, et al. 2021Figures come from published studies of PGx-guided care in other programs and populations. They are not results of AchieveDx's test. See references.