Current Issues, Challenges, and Future Perspectives of Genetic Counseling in Korea

Abstract

Genetic testing has become increasingly integrated into all areas of healthcare, and complex genetic testing usage continues to grow; thus, the demand for genetic counseling (GC) is likely to increase. However, it is unclear whether the current clinical GC capacity is sufficient for meeting the existing demand. This review describes the current issues, challenges, and future perspectives of GC in Korea based on a professional survey conducted among laboratory physicians. In view of the growing GC demand in the clinical setting, participants expressed a concern about the lack of support from the national healthcare insurance policy and legal requirements, such as certification, for GC practice. The implementation of genetic testing in the overall healthcare system in Korea is in an early phase. Proper implementation can be achieved through education and training of specialists, collaboration among healthcare personnel, proper regulatory oversight, genomic policies, and public awareness. Understanding the current GC capacity, issues, and challenges is a prerequisite for effective strategic planning by healthcare systems considering the expected growth in the demand for clinical genetic services over the next few decades.

Keywords: Genetic counseling; Genetic services; Healthcare system; Policy; Specialists.

Fig. 1

Growing trend in genetic testing. (A) Number of patients who underwent germline genetic testing in Korea between 2016 and 2019. (B) KNHIS reimbursement for genetic testing for inherited disorders between 2016 and 2019. The karyotyping and microarray were categorized as chromosome tests, whereas special chromosome analysis for fragile X and chromosome breakage were categorized as other chromosome tests. The data were retrieved using the Electronical Data Interchange code from http://opendata.hira.or.kr/. Abbreviations: KNHIS, Korean National Health Insurance System; NGS, next-generation sequencing; CMA, chromosomal microarray analysis.