FAQs

Your kit should arrive 7-10 business days after you complete all registration forms. Please contact us hello@jscreen.org if you have not received your kit within 10 business days. Please remember, the kit will be shipped by our lab partner, Myriad Genetics. If you ordered both the carrier and cancer kits, they will arrive separately.

According to the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), health insurance companies cannot change your coverage, eligibility, or premiums based on the results of your genetic testing or the health conditions in your family. Please visit www.ginahelp.org for more information and exceptions to the law. 

Other types of insurance, such as life, disability, or long-term care, do not have restrictions about using your genetic information to set their plans; each state has its own mandates regarding the use of genetic information. Please visit the National Human Genome Research Institute website for more information on the laws in your state.

Results are typically available within 3-4 weeks from the time the sample arrives at the lab.

The privacy of your health information is very important to us. jscreen follows federal and state privacy laws, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and regulations (HIPAA), to protect your personal health information. The entities that will have access to your medical and genetic information include: jscreen program staff and representatives, the independent testing laboratory, the ordering healthcare provider (DNAvisit or other designated provider), your reproductive partner (if applicable, and when you provide specific consent), your insurance company and any other third-party payors, if applicable, and any other people or parties to which you consent to providing your information. You will have access to your results through a secure portal once your testing is complete.

Yes, DNA extracted from blood is the same as the DNA from saliva, so the accuracy and results will be the same for both. Click here for more information.

Genetic counselors are board-certified clinical professionals trained to break down complex genetic information and provide emotional support, guidance, and resources to patients and families as they navigate genetic testing and decision making.

We recommend a genetic counseling appointment for all participants coming through jscreen to provide personalized, expert guidance on your genetic testing results and next steps. This complimentary session will help you understand your risks and offer valuable support in making informed decisions about your health and family planning. A genetic counselor will address any questions or concerns you may have, ensuring you fully understand the significance of the results for you and your family.

jscreen provides access to two types of genetic screening tests:

Hereditary cancer testing screens an individual's DNA for changes in a panel of 63 genes, including BRCA1 and BRCA2, that significantly increase the lifetime risk for more than 11 different core types of cancer, providing actionable results to inform a proactive, personalized health management plan. To view a complete list of genes on the panel, click here. To learn more, please watch our educational video.

‍Reproductive carrier screening is an expanded genetic panel for individuals who are currently pregnant or planning to have a biological child in the future; this test analyzes over 260 genes for variants that could put a couple at risk of having a child with a severe inherited disease, such as Tay-Sachs disease or Cystic Fibrosis. To view a complete list of the conditions on the panel, click here. To learn more, please watch our educational video.

Your out-of-pocket cost for any genetic screening depends on several factors, including your insurance plan, any copay or unmet deductible, and whether your personal or family history meets established medical guidelines (clinical criteria) for the specific test.

For patients who meet the criteria for testing, a large majority will pay $0 out-of-pocket through a combination of insurance coverage and financial assistance. For example, data shows that over 90% of customers tested for hereditary cancer pay nothing out-of-pocket.

Personalized Cost Estimate
The laboratory will send you a personalized cost estimate. This crucial step informs you what your insurance is likely to cover, your expected additional out-of-pocket costs, and your options before the test is processed.

Affordability Options
If you do not have insurance coverage, or you have a high unmet deductible, you can choose to forgo insurance and opt for the self-pay price of $249 for your test. Furthermore, if you cannot afford testing, financial assistance programs are available for those who qualify.

Hereditary cancer testing is a specialized look at your genes to understand if you have an inherited risk for developing certain cancers. Knowing this risk is a powerful tool that helps you and your healthcare provider make more informed choices about your future health, including screenings and preventive measures.

Anyone interested in learning more about their personal health risk can get tested, but it is especially important for:

• Individuals with a personal or family history of cancer: If you or your close relatives have had cancer, your risk of carrying an inherited mutation is higher.
  
  • If you have already been diagnosed with cancer, genetic testing can provide crucial information to help your doctors make decisions about your current treatment plan, including surgery, medications, and potential clinical trials.
• Individuals with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry: This population has a statistically higher chance of carrying mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which are associated with an increased risk for breast, ovarian, and other cancers.
• Anyone: Even without a known family history, anyone can carry a change in a cancer gene. Testing provides valuable information you can act on.

* Insurance coverage for hereditary cancer testing is generally based on medical necessity. Please note that without a personal or strong family history of cancer, it is less likely that your insurance will cover the full cost. 

Note: please contact us here prior to registration if you have a current or past diagnosis of a hematological malignancy (blood cancer) or have ever received a stem cell or bone marrow transplant.

The test is available for anyone age 18 or older.

However, we often recommend waiting until age 25 to take the test. This recommendation is based on a few factors:

• Medical Care: For many types of hereditary cancer, changes to medical monitoring (like starting extra screenings) typically don't begin until age 25 or later.
• Personal Impact: Testing at a younger age can have significant emotional, social, and even financial implications (such as affecting eligibility for future life or disability insurance).

Some individuals find the results helpful even if they are under 25. Reasons include:

• Family Planning: Using the information when making decisions about having children.
• Early-Onset Cancers: Screening for certain cancers that might be known to occur at younger ages in their family.
• Informing Relatives: Sharing results with older family members so they can seek testing sooner.

Ultimately, your decision is personal and should take into account your specific family history (including the ages at which cancer has occurred) or if a genetic mutation is already known in your family. If you’d like to speak with a jscreen genetic counselor, please contact us here.

Hereditary cancer testing is a specialized look at your genes to understand if you have an inherited risk for developing certain cancers. The panel looks for mutations in 63 genes, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, that are related to more than 11 different core cancer types. Each cancer gene on the panel is associated with specific cancer types and varying degrees of risk. It is important to note that this test does not screen for or diagnose cancer. To view a complete list of genes on the panel, click here. To learn more, please watch our educational video.

Yes, testing is often still important because:

1. Testing technology has advanced: Previous genetic tests may have only looked at a few genes or limited number of gene changes. Our current panel is comprehensive, looking for mutations in 63 genes (like BRCA1 and BRCA2) that are tied to over 11 core cancer types.
2. Unique genetic profile: You and your family members inherit unique combinations of genes from your parents. Even if a parent or sibling tested negative, you could still have inherited a different mutation or one that their prior test missed.

If you have questions about your family member(s) genetic testing, please contact a jscreen genetic counselor here.

Receiving a positive result means you have inherited a specific gene change (mutation) that increases your lifetime risk for certain cancers. Knowing this risk is a powerful tool that helps you and your healthcare provider make more informed choices about your future health, including screenings and preventive measures. 

A genetic counselor will walk you through your personalized report and discuss your next steps. Depending on your specific results, your options may include:

• Increased screening: Starting cancer screenings (like mammograms, colonoscopies, or prostate exams) at an earlier age, or having them done more frequently.
• Risk-reducing surgery: Discussing risk-reducing surgical options, such as removal of the ovaries or bilateral mastectomy.
• Family planning: Understanding risks for passing on the mutation(s); exploring options like in vitro fertilization (IVF) with preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), adoption, or gamete donation which can help avoid passing the mutation to future children.
• Lifestyle Changes: Making health adjustments, like reducing alcohol consumption or modifying diet, to further lower your overall risk.

If you test positive, this information is highly relevant to your biological family members, including your parents, siblings, and children. They may also be at risk and could benefit from getting tested themselves. Your genetic counselor can guide you on how to share this information.

Carrier screening is important for individuals and their partners who wish to know if they are at an increased risk of having a child with a genetic condition. This is important even in the following situations:

• No family history: Even if there's no known family history of the conditions on the panel, you can still be a carrier. Most genetic conditions screened for are recessive, meaning a child must inherit a faulty gene from both parents to be affected. Anyone can be a carrier.
• Previous negative tests in relatives: A previous negative test in family members (like siblings) does not guarantee you're not a carrier.
  
  • Genetic uniqueness: Every individual's genetic makeup is unique; you may carry a gene variant that your siblings or other relatives do not.
  • Panel differences: Relatives may not have been tested for the same set of conditions included in your current panel.
• Already having healthy children: Having healthy children already does not eliminate the risk for future pregnancies. The chance of having an affected child is reset with each pregnancy. If both parents are carriers of the same recessive condition, there is a 25% chance with every pregnancy that the child will be affected.
• No Symptoms: Being a carrier usually means you have one copy of the gene variant, which is typically not enough to cause the disease; therefore, carriers are usually asymptomatic. You wouldn't know your carrier status without testing.
• No specific population risk: While some conditions are more prevalent in specific ethnic groups (such as Ashkenazi Jewish), anyone can carry a genetic condition. Screening panels test for a wide range of conditions that cross all populations.
• Adoption or donor-conception: If you or your partner are adopted or donor-conceived, carrier screening may be especially valuable. It provides crucial information about your genetic risks when family health history is unknown or unavailable.

The screening is most informative when both partners are tested. Females (sex assigned at birth) should always be screened prior to pregnancy so they can be tested for X-linked conditions, which can impact their offspring regardless of a male partner’s results.

Reproductive carrier screening is a genetic test for individuals planning to have a biological child in the future or who are currently pregnant. It is designed to assess the risk of having a child with a serious inherited condition. The comprehensive test offered through jscreen evaluates more than 260 conditions including Tay Sachs disease, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell disease that are inherited in an autosomal recessive or X-linked pattern.

• Autosomal recessive conditions: When two individuals are carriers for the same recessive disease, there is a 1 in 4 chance that each pregnancy will be affected with the genetic condition.

• X-linked conditions: A child may have symptoms if they inherit the disease-causing gene from only one (typically female) parent. Thus, we recommended that all females have screening, regardless of their partner’s results.

To view a complete list of the conditions on the panel, click here. To learn more, please watch our educational video.

Please note that this screening is specifically intended for reproductive planning and is not meant to provide a diagnosis for personal health concerns or information regarding ancestry or chromosome abnormalities. While the primary goal is to determine carrier status of an individual, it is possible to incidentally discover a previously undiagnosed genetic condition in the person being tested.

If you are not sure if this is the appropriate testing for you, please contact a jscreen genetic counselor here.

Yes. Over time, more genes are being added to genetic testing panels. If you were tested with jscreen prior to October 2024 and you plan to grow your family, you may want to retest with the current larger panel. If you have a specific question about your previous screening, contact a jscreen genetic counselor here.

Testing positive on carrier screening means a genetic variant was detected, but this result is very common and rarely indicates an immediate, high risk for your future children. Most people (often over 75%) will test positive for at least one condition on a comprehensive panel, but only a small percentage of couples will discover they have a significantly increased risk of having an affected child (typically 2-4%).

If you test positive, your reproductive partner should also be tested. Most conditions on the panel are recessive and have an increased risk only if both partners are carriers of the same recessive condition.

A genetic counselor can walk you through your specific results, help you understand the report, and discuss your chance of having a child with the condition and options to manage those risks.

If you have a high reproductive risk, your genetic counselor can review options including:

• Prenatal Diagnosis: Testing during pregnancy (e.g., chorionic villus sampling or amniocentesis) to determine if the fetus is affected.
• Preimplantation genetic testing (PGT): Using in vitro fertilization (IVF) to test embryos for the condition before transfer.
• Donor gametes: Using an egg or sperm donor who is not a carrier for that condition.

Education: Learning about a condition to prepare for a child who may be affected.

Carrier screening is highly accurate, however, it is important to understand that no test is 100% perfect. The accuracy can vary slightly depending on the specific condition being tested and the method used. Most carrier screening tests have a detection rate of over 90% for the conditions they assess. False positives and false negatives, while rare, can occur. When both partners have tested negative for a condition, risk to offspring remains extremely low.

Yes, a doctor's order is required for this medical-grade genetic testing through Myriad Genetics. However, you do not need to secure the order yourself. jscreen works with DNAvisit, a network of medical providers that handles all necessary test ordering to streamline the process for you. The results report you receive will include the name of the ordering physician. Every participant also receives a clinical summary from a board-certified genetic counselor at DNAvisit and is offered a complimentary consultation after their results are complete through Myriad Genetics.