STEP 1:

Go to our COST AND PAYMENT page to learn about:

1. insurance coverage for our telephone genetic counseling services, and/or
2. the cost of our services if you cannot or do not want to use your health insurance.

STEP 2:

Enter your DETAILED PERSONAL AND FAMILY MEDICAL HISTORY using Informed’s secure and confidential online collection tool. 

You will be asked to enter specific information about the cancers in you and/or your family including:

• Who in your family has had a diagnosis of cancer or a pre-cancer, and
• The type of cancer or pre-cancer diagnosed, and
• The age at which the cancer or pre-cancer was diagnosed.

Certain information is required before you can schedule a telephone appointment.  If you don’t know some of the required information (such as type of cancer or age at diagnosis):

• Take your most educated guess (about the type of cancer and the age of diagnosis) and we will discuss the history in more detail during your telephone call.

We understand that getting this detailed information from family members may be difficult and we do not expect that you will know every detail of your family history. 

Once all of the required information is completed, you can schedule a telephone appointment using Informed Medical Decisions online appointment scheduling tool.

STEP 3:

SCHEDULE A TELEPHONE CALL WITH A GENETIC COUNSELOR online.

TAKE NOTE:

Do not schedule a telephone call until you have completed all of the required personal and family history information in Informed's online family history tool.

You will enter your insurance and/or billing information through this secure online tool.

STEP 4:

Review information about hereditary cancer, genetic counseling, and genetic testing on Informed Medical Decisions “ABOUT HEREDITARY CANCER” page.

Please review this information before your appointment with your genetic counselor.  There are links to more in-depth information on this page as well.   

STEP 5:

Your Informed Medical Decisions genetic counselor will call you at your specified contact number on the date and at the time of your scheduled telephone call. 

The discussion will include:

• A review of your personal and family cancer history (as provided by you).
• The chance that the cancer in your family is due to a genetic mutation.
• Your genetic testing options.
• Your estimated cancer risks based on your personal and family history of cancer.
• Cancer screening and prevention recommendations and options based on your cancer risks, with or without genetic testing.
• Research opportunities.

At the end of the initial call, you will decide whether or not to have genetic testing. 

TAKE NOTE:

• You should take this call on a land line (no cell phones) to ensure a good connection.
• You should take this call in a quiet, private setting with the least chance of interruption.
• You can include at least one other person in your telephone calls. 
  • We recommend that you invite a relative who has had a cancer diagnosis if you have not had a cancer diagnosis yourself.

STEP 5A:  If you decide not to have a genetic test, a summary letter is written to you and your doctors summarizing the information discussed in your telephone call.  

STEP 5B: If you decide to have a genetic test, we will mail a genetic test kit to you for sample collection (i.e. blood draw or a swab of cells from inside your cheek).  Informed Medical Decisions will contact your doctor by letter and telephone to ask them to participate in the genetic testing process by acting as the ordering doctor for your laboratory test.  Specific instructions for completing the test kit paperwork will be included for you and your doctor.  Go to STEP 6.

STEP 6:

Schedule an appointment with your doctor. You will go to your doctor's office with your genetic test kit to complete the kit for mailing to the laboratory.

STEP 7

Informed will contact you by e-mail when your genetic test results are available. You will provide us with some dates and times you are available for a result disclosure telephone call.  

Most test results will be available within 3-4 weeks of your blood draw.

STEP 8:

Your genetic counselor will call you at your specified contact number on the date and at the time scheduled for the result discussion.  

The discussion will include:

• Your genetic test results.
• Your cancer risks.
• Cancer screening and prevention recommendations and options that you should discuss with your doctors.
• The meaning of the genetic test results for your relatives (children, siblings, etc.) including information about what they can do to reduce their risks or detect cancer as early as possible.

STEP 8A:  A summary letter is mailed to you and your doctors which details all of the information discussed during your telephone call.