Direct-to-Consumer Lab Tests Raise Ethical Questions, Researchers Say
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) laboratory tests — for the thyroid, hormonal biomarkers, or diabetes and hemoglobin A1c, for example — often had unclear terms of sale and vague privacy policies, a qualitative study showed. Of 21 U.S. companies that offered DTC lab tests, less than half declared compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), […]
HIV Self-Tests Reached High-Risk Populations
Direct-to-consumer HIV self-testing helped to reach underserved populations in areas at high risk for HIV infection, a researcher said. In an ordering portal set up by the CDC, over 56,000 people placed an order for HIV self-tests, and according to a follow-up survey, about a quarter (26%) of those had never been tested for HIV, […]