Imagine a restaurant is about to open. First impressions are important for any new business. And for a restaurant, so many little things can go wrong. How can the owner make sure that the opening goes smoothly? How can they make sure that they are prepared for any unexpected challenges?
Well, the owner can first open the restaurant to a small group of friends and family. This way, the owner can get feedback and make small changes before opening to the public. This kind of event is called a “soft launch.” It’s used in many settings, including the All of Us Research Program.
All of Us is doing many things for the first time. It is building one of the largest and most diverse health databases in history. The program also gives participants information about their health.
We often do a soft launch before sharing new features with our more than 547,000 participants. Soft launches help us make sure everything goes smoothly. If we need to make improvements, we can make them before the full launch.
Launching Health-Related Return of Results
Right now, All of Us is doing a soft launch for giving participants their health-related DNA results.
In August, we asked 1,000 participants to take part in the soft launch. These participants were among the first to donate blood samples. They also consented to get their DNA results. These participants told us if they wanted to receive one or both of the following reports:
- Hereditary Disease Risk: These results tell participants about genes related to serious health conditions, like heart disease or certain cancers.
- Medicine and Your DNA: These results tell participants about genes that may affect how their bodies react to certain medications.
Our labs have been hard at work analyzing participants’ DNA. And All of Us staff have been setting up a system for delivering these results. The system includes a new process for making an appointment with a genetic counselor to discuss their results. These reports will be available to the 1,000 soft launch participants later this month.
What’s Happening Now?
Here are just a few of the things we’re checking during this soft launch:
- Are emails and text messages working correctly? Are participants receiving the correct messages at the right time and in the right language?
- Are reminders going out at the right time?
- Can participants easily schedule genetic counseling appointments?
- Do we have enough genetic counselors available for everyone who wants to speak with one?
- Are reports loading correctly into participant accounts?
These details are important. The soft launch helps us confirm all is well. Then, we can start sending out reports to more and more participants.
Our participants are important partners in All of Us. We thank those in the soft launch for helping us make the program better. You’re helping us learn how we can most efficiently deliver results to 155,000 eligible participants. We look forward to making this important health information available to you, if you want it.
Learn more about genomics and how to become eligible to receive DNA results from All of Us.
