What Do Physicians Do With Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Reports?

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing has developed rapidly. There is limited data regarding the number of patients that present DTC genetic test results to their primary care physicians and if they incorporate the test results into their clinical decisions.

The web-based Health Professionals' Genetics Education Needs Exploration (HP GENE) Survey a 91 item survey developed and administered as a component of mixed method “Physicians Understanding of Human Genetic Variation” Study. Phase I developed the survey instrument; Phase II pilot tested the survey instrument; and Phase III administered the survey to a national random sample of general internists. The survey explores how physicians understand and integrate genomics into patient care. This analysis will report physicians' experiences with patients presenting DTC genetic test results and what the physicians do with the information.

National survey response rate was 45.3% (n= 787). Of the survey respondents, 18.8 % had at least one patient bring DTC genetic test results to the clinical encounter within the previous year. The vast majority (95.2 %) of these general internists responded to the test results: 58.6% discussed the results with the patients, 45.5% reviewed and placed the results in the patients' medical records, and 10.3% incorporated the results into their treatment plans. We will report how physicians' participatory decision making style is associated with their use of the DTC reports.

This presentation will explore physicians' responses to patients presenting DTC genetic test results and will provide insight into how such tests may influence health care in the future.