Yes! This is handled a few different ways, depending on the state in which you are located and whether or not you have an established relationship with a physician who is easy to communicate with.

If you are located in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Montana, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, South Dakota, or Virginia, laws and/or regulations specifically allow your genetic counselor to order testing for you (without involving your physician). In all states, we can order genetic testing for you in collaboration with your healthcare provider. This means we order testing under your healthcare provider’s name, with their permission, but handle all of the logistics of test ordering. Typically, this involves a saliva kit sent directly to your home address. Your genetic counselor is also available to discuss results with your healthcare provider if they have questions.

Often, a genetic test requisition form asks for both an Ordering Healthcare Provider and another clinical contact person (Receiving Provider, Genetic Counselor, Primary Clinical Contact, etc). Grey Genetics can be listed as this second clinical contact if you have had pre-test counseling through Grey Genetics or through prior arrangement between your healthcare provider and Grey Genetics.

As of February 2023, Grey Genetics is also able to facilitate genetic testing for other clients through an independent physician group. The cost for this service is $25 and is passed on directly to clients. This can be purchased at the time of scheduling your genetic counseling appointment, or after you meet with your genetic counselor. Some restrictions may apply. If you questions about your specific situation, you can send an inquiry to info@greygenetics.com.

Genetic counseling can also help you understand if and how genetic testing might be useful to you. In many cases, review and discussion of family health history may be as or more helpful than any genetic testing results.

At this time we are a direct patient billing service which allows us to eliminate administrative costs and pass those savings on to you. We are happy to provide you with a receipt to send to your insurance company for possible reimbursement after services are rendered. Most insurers do reimburse for genetic counseling using the CPT code 96040. We accept all major credit cards and HSA.

Medicare does not currently reimburse for genetic counseling services provided by certified genetic counselors. This will change if a recently re-introduced bill, H.R. 2144, is passed. The bill has bipartisan support! You can help improve access to genetic counseling services by contacting your Congressional Representative and asking them to support this bill. 

Grey Genetics is dedicated to provide high quality genetic counseling services. For us, this means that your genetic counselor is able to take the time to be thorough in gathering and reviewing your personal and family medical history. This context is essential for making personalized recommendations related to genetic testing and for understanding any genetic testing results.

Depending on the reason for the appointment or what questions come up during an appointment, your genetic counselor may also need to do additional research to provide you with the most informed and up-to-date information. This can be a significant investment of time on the part of the genetic counselor.

After your appointment, you will receive a detailed consult note and pedigree (picture of your family history) which summarizes your personal and family medical history, your discussion with the genetic counselor, and any related recommendations. This is an important document for your own records and can be important to share with your physician/s as well as your family members. Writing these detailed consult notes also represents a significant investment of time on the part of the genetic counselor. 

Although appointments are typically scheduled for one hour, our rates are flat, per-patient rates. This means that after the appointment, if you review your consult note and have questions or think of something you wish you had asked—you can email your genetic counselor and ask! 

If you choose to share your information with your doctor/s and your doctor has questions, your genetic counselor will also be available to discuss your care with your doctor. 

All of the above services are built in to our prices. 

Genetic counselors are healthcare professionals with specialized training in genetics. When you see a genetic counselor at Grey Genetics, we take the time to make sure that we are providing you with the most thorough and up-to-date information that is personalized to you. To learn more about genetic counselors’ training and qualifications, visit our page Why Genetic Counseling? 

No, you do not need a referral. While we welcome referrals from physicians and other healthcare providers and can also contract with HCPs to provide genetics consulting and counseling services, we also welcome self-referrals.

If you’re not ready to book a genetic counseling appointment but are wondering if your healthcare provider should be referring you to genetic counseling based on your family history or just want a few questions answered before possibly booking, you can also schedule a free 10-minute phone call.

While Grey Genetics does not accept insurance, we are happy to provide a receipt that you can submit to your insurer for possible reimbursement. If you plan to do this, you may want to check with your insurer as to whether or not a referral would influence possibility of reimbursement.

Gather information about your family health history. It’s helpful to know specific diagnoses and ages at diagnosis. No one has perfect knowledge of their family health history. Diagnoses from past generations or those made in other countries are often hard to confirm. Even knowing what is not known and cannot be found out is also helpful!

If you or someone in your family had genetic testing done, provide a copy of genetic testing results in advance of your appointment. You will have an option to upload test results when booking your appointment. You can also send us test results or other records through secure email by using this link. (Click here to learn more about e-mail security and encryption.)

With your explicit permission, we are happy to discuss your case your case with your healthcare provider. We recommend that you first share with them a copy of your consult note. We can answer any questions they may have as well as the potential benefits, risks, and limitations of any genetic testing you are interested in having ordered. If genetic testing is ordered, we are happy to review the results with them and discuss the implications for your personalized plan of care.

There is no extra charge for time that may be spent talking with your healthcare provider about your case. We do ask, however, that you have your healthcare reach out to us directly. This keeps us from playing phone tag with office staff.

There is no extra charge if you would like family members (or friends) to join your appointment. Depending on the reason for your appointment, including family members is often ideal. Being able to include multiple family members in a genetics appointment, even if you live far apart from one another, is one key advantage of telemedicine and telegenetics.

Information you share with Grey Genetics is kept private. Since Grey Genetics does not accept insurance, we are not obligated to share any information with your insurer. Consult notes are sent to you by secure, HIPAA-compliant email and can be shared by you with your healthcare provider/s only at your discretion. Grey Genetics will only discuss your case with your healthcare provider/s if you give us explicit permission. Whether you are a public figure looking for more discretion than is possible with an in-person consult at a hospital or just an individual who values privacy, your information is treated with same respect. For more details on how we keep your information private and secure, see our Privacy Practices and Terms of Service.

Yes! Although English is Eleanor’s native language, she also speaks and has previously counseled patients in French and Spanish (and Portuñol). N’hésitez pas à lui écrire en français. No dudar en escribirle en español.

If you have requests for other languages, let us know! We are currently growing our Network of Genetic Counselors and may be able to connect you with a genetic counselor who speaks your language, even if you don’t see them currently listed on the site.

If you are a board certified genetic counselor—and you have a strong, secure, internet connection—the answer is Yes! All genetic counselors working with Grey Genetics are independent contractors. We provide you with HIPAA-compliant tools to allow you to counsel patients within your area/s of expertise. You set your availability and manage your own calendar. There’s no need to commit to a set schedule or a set number of hours; you can block out or open up times on your calendar on your own. To get an idea of what your profile and personal scheduling link would look like, check out our growing Network of Genetic Counselors. It will take you all of 30 seconds to begin the registration process.