An Evolving Relationship Between Medical Oncologists and Genetic Counselors in Prostate Cancer

ABSTRACT

Important to the success of this model would likely be the degree of clinician experience (ie, how comprehensive their genetic counseling training has been), the clinician's comfort level, and the supporting staff or resources available to the clinician to operate a provider-led germline testing model.4 Members of a consensus panel discussing germline testing have pointed out that clinicians who lack genetics training may experience numerous obstacles when counseling patients, in particular obstacles related to limited knowledge of the downstream impact of genetic testing, such as health insurance coverage, implications for life insurance, and protections afforded by the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.5 Discussions about the importance and management of variants of unknown significance could be confusing for the patient even in the posttesting stage without appropriate knowledge and training on the clinician's part. Mauer et al have described the value of virtual counseling and technological adaptations, including billing practices and coordination of education and outreach opportunities, that have been made during the pandemic and have helped genetic counselors.6 Such adaptations represent only a few of the evolving strategies that we as medical oncologists, in conjunction with our health care team, must seek out and implement to help our genetic counseling colleagues reach an expanding population of prostate cancer patients in need of evidence-based germline testing. Inherited DNA-repair gene mutations in men with metastatic prostate cancer.