Direct-to-Consumer Testing (DTC): Destined to Connect or Disrupt. Buyer Be Aware (An Infectious Disease Perspective)

Abstract

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) testing continues to be a subject of debate throughout the medical community. DTC testing may be viewed as expanding access to health care. Additionally, caution is needed in defining the role of DTC testing in the overall health care continuum of the consumer, particularly with limited provider resources. The recent COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a shift of consumer health care expectations and triggered providers to restructure their health care delivery services to create a more consolidated care model. There are several benefits from DTC testing that can help address this new restructure of health care, such as easy access to an available product and decreased person-to-person contact. However, there have been controversies regarding ethical considerations, appropriate specimen sampling, and evidence-based practices. This article provides an overview of DTC testing, advantages and concerns, considerations around infectious disease, and the potential role of the clinical laboratory to ensure safe and effective DTC testing services.