Survey: Genetic Counseling Leads Some Patients to Cheaper BRCA Tests

Excerpt from GenomeWeb:

When patients seeking BRCA testing are counseled by certified genetic healthcare providers (GHP) they may be more likely to receive cheaper testing procedures, thereby avoiding expensive comprehensive sequencing tests, according to a new study.

The research, conducted by investigators at the Moffitt Cancer Center and published yesterday in Genetics in Medicine, found that patients seeking to find out their BRCA1 and BRCA2 status who met with GHPs, or genetic counselors and geneticists, also were more likely to recall having pre-test counseling that fit into nationally recommended guidelines.

"Our results suggest that genetic healthcare providers are less likely to order more expensive comprehensive genetic testing, when less expensive testing may be appropriate," lead study author Deborah Cragun, a post-doctoral fellow at Moffitt, said in a statement.

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