The growing use of sequencing approaches will not only increase the volume of variants identified but also those that will be subsequently reclassified and may warrant patient recontact. However, there is limited guidance on if or when patients should be recontacted. Inconsistencies persist in how recontacting is carried out within and across jurisdictions. These are compounded by an overall lack of clarity about which professionals are responsible for recontacting and concerns about the resources and infrastructure required to achieve recontacting in a sustainable manner [1, 2]. Thus, Carrieri et al.’s [3] recommendations for recontacting patients offer a timely set of evidence-based [1, 2, 4] principles that address a critical gap in practice and policy.

Carrieri et al. conclude that recontacting is a shared responsibility between laboratories, patients, and providers, desirable in situations where findings have clinical or personal utility, though there is no clinical “duty” to do so. The recommendations state that each country should determine its own methods to operationalize recontacting, cautioning that recontacting should be equitable, and sustainable for the healthcare system. These recommendations are an important contribution to the field. Nonetheless, the latter caveats raise some significant challenges that ought to be considered.

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