Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Aug;21(8):1874-1877.
doi: 10.1038/s41436-018-0417-6. Epub 2019 Jan 28.

Current conditions in medical genetics practice

Deborah R Maiese  1 , Alisha Keehn  2 , Megan Lyon  2 , David Flannery  2 , Michael Watson  2 ; Working Groups of the National Coordinating Center for Seven Regional Genetics Service Collaboratives
Affiliations

Current conditions in medical genetics practice

Deborah R Maiese et al. Genet Med. 2019 Aug.

Abstract

Purpose: This study of current conditions in medical genetics practice is designed to inform public policy development and present possible solutions for improving access to genetic services.

Methods: Using the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics Member Directory, membership directories from regional collaborative partners, listservs from national partners, and social media, a 16-question survey was electronically distributed in 2015.

Results: The responses of 924 genetics professionals and related providers present a snapshot of current practice and an assessment of workforce needs. More than 92% of the respondents (837/910) are involved in clinical care. Among geneticists, 60% spend more than 51% of their time in clinical care. Geneticists reported an average of 10.2 new patients per week and 7.8 follow-up visits per week. More than 62% of geneticists said that their practices were nearly full; 9.4% said that they were not taking new patients. The survey identified more than 100 geneticists and 200 genetic counselor job vacancies. Fewer than 18% of respondents reported use of telemedicine.

Conclusion: When compared with previously published workforce studies, these data show that wait times and average new patient caseloads have increased, while the number of geneticists has not.

Keywords: genetics workforce; access to care; telemedicine, National Coordinating Center for seven Regional Genetics Service Collaboratives; wait times.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Cooksey Judith A, Forte Gaetano, Benkendorf Judith, Blitzer Miriam G. The state of the medical geneticist workforce: Findings of the 2003 survey of American Board of Medical Genetics certified geneticists. Genetics in Medicine. 2005;7(6):439–443. doi: 10.1097/01.GIM.0000172416.35285.9F. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kaye C. National Coordinating Center for the Regional Genetic Service Collaboratives. Regional genetic service models recommendation brief. 31 March 2016. http://www.nccrcg.org/docs/NCC/RSSM/NCC_RSSM_Recommendation_Final_Brief.pdf.
    1. Green ED, Guyer MS. Charting a course for genomic medicine from base pairs to bedside. Nature. 2011;470:204–213. doi: 10.1038/nature09764. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cooksey JA, Forte G, Flanagan PA, et al. The medical genetics workforce: an analysis of clinical geneticist subgroups. Genet Med. 2006;8:603–614. doi: 10.1097/01.gim.0000242307.83900.77. - DOI - PubMed
    1. American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics. Number of ABMGG certified specialists in medical genetics and genomics. January 2018. http://abmgg.org/pdf/Statistics%20for%20Webpage.pdf. Accessed 5 September 2018.

Publication types