In a show of bipartisanship and further support of precision medicine and health care innovation—including genomics and other diagnostic innovations, the 21st Century Cures Act has become law. After the House of Representatives and Senate overwhelmingly voted to approve the legislation, President Obama signed it into law on Dec. 13, 2016. Billions of dollars of funding will support precision medicine initiatives and other efforts to discover, develop and deliver treatments and cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s and rare diseases. As the American Clinical Laboratory Association pointed out in a 2014 letter to the Energy and Commerce Committee supporting the 21st Century Cures legislation, diagnostics "are an essential component to providing the most effective and highest quality care" with laboratory testing innovations helping physicians by "providing more accurate diagnoses, quicker; allowing physicians and patients to choose the best treatment, first and sooner." There are four main parts to the legislation: Part I addresses discovery, innovation and opioid abuse; Part II addresses research and development, patient access to new products, protection for human research subjects, and data sharing; Part III addresses health care delivery, interoperability and telehealth; and Part IV addresses Medicare and Medicaid reforms. Here are some highlights of the legislation: $4.8 […]