Versiti - Versiti Hematology Genetics Laboratory
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Hematology GeneticsTesting Lab

Your hematology diagnostic partner, from functional testing through genetic analysis and beyond.

Versiti’s Hematology Genetics lab provides integrated genetic lab services that include functional diagnostics and disease-focused genetic analysis to guide superior care for patients with hematologic disorders.  

Contact Hematology Genetics Laboratory

Versiti’s Hematology Genetics portfolio has been designed to ensure:  

  • Thoughtful gene-disease curation, gene selection and panel design  
  • Utilization management and laboratory stewardship to support you in receiving the most tailored, cost-effective option for each unique patient  
  • Clinically actionable results that explain molecular findings specific to each patient’s case

Genetic Counseling

Genetic counselors play an important role in patient care, in both clinic and laboratory settings. Versiti’s certified genetic counselors work with patients and families at Versiti Comprehensive Center for Bleeding Disorders to integrate genetic testing results into clinical care and help patients better understand their disease and their treatment options. In addition, our team of genetic counselors is integral to Versiti Diagnostic Laboratories. There, they review patient clinical history information and work with healthcare providers to ensure that the best test is selected for each patient, then support laboratory scientists in the interpretation and reporting of genetic test results. 

Hematology Genetics Machinery

Versiti Genetic Counselors

Versiti’s genetic counselors contribute locally and nationally to laboratory stewardship initiatives and hematology genetics consortia, including through the National Society of Genetic Counselors, PLUGS, Clinical Genome Resource Working Groups (ClinGen), International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH), and others. Versiti also serves as a clinical rotation site for the Master of Genetic Counseling training program at the Medical College of Wisconsin. 

 

Dominika Bajguz, MS, CGC

Dominika Bajguz is a certified genetic counselor for Versiti Diagnostic Labs. She works with patients who have benign hematologic disorders.
 

Elizabeth L. Palmer, MS, CGC

Elizabeth Palmer provides clinical genetic counseling services at Versiti’s CCBD to families with inherited bleeding/clotting disorders.
 

Jacquelyn Riley, MS, CGC

Jacquelyn Riley is a laboratory genetic counselor for Versiti Diagnostic Labs, where she helps develop tests and support genetic variant interpretation and reporting.

Hematology Genetic Tests

Integrated Genetic Lab Services

Supported by a multidisciplinary team and a robust laboratory stewardship program, Versiti's Integrated Genetic Lab Services delivers a focused, disease-specific approach to hematology diagnostics. Each test is thoughtfully reviewed to ensure the most appropriate, cost-effective approach to help clinicians achieve precise diagnoses while minimizing unnecessary testing and uncertainty.

Multidisciplinary Team

Our unique approach features a multidisciplinary expert hematology team, including pathologists, scientists, practicing physicians, genetic counselors and laboratorians dedicated to the interpretation of genetic test results to support a specific, dedicated hematology diagnosis for each patient. Our team of experts is available for clinical consulting and interpretation of your test results as needed.

Disease-Focused Approach

With Versiti, you can feel confident knowing that each panel is specifically designed for hematology diagnosis, with careful gene-by-gene selection for clinical validity and utility, with comprehensive coverage of relevant regions. By comparison, panels built upon an exome or genome platform to analyze data across the entire set of human genes typically scale back data analysis to cover only designated genes. In this approach, breadth is offered at the expense of depth, resulting in gaps in coverage of potentially relevant genes.

Our NGS panels are custom-built and designed to cover every clinically relevant part of each gene expertly selected for analysis. Supplemental Sanger sequencing is included in our panel design to optimize reliable and accurate detection of relevant variants. This approach to panel design maximizes diagnostic utility and minimizes the risk of off-target results or incidental findings more likely to be identified by a broader testing platform designed for a less specific purpose.

Large deletions and duplications, also referred to as copy number variation (CNV), are a known cause of genetic disorders, but can escape detection by standard sequence analysis. Depending on the gene of interest, deletions and duplications have been shown to be responsible for approximately 10% of genetic disease. Array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) has proven to be a highly sensitive and accurate tool in detection of these deletions and duplications. High-resolution aCGH complements DNA sequencing and provides comprehensive mutation analysis.

Specifically designed panels:

  • Clarification and/or confirmation of diagnosis in a patient with clinical and laboratory findings of a hematologic disorder when patient’s history suggests multiple disorders
  • Identification of carriers with family history of unspecified bleeding disorders to provide accurate reproductive risk assessment and genetic counseling

Sample report available upon request.

Collaborative Lab Stewardship

An integral component of Versiti's hematology genetics services is an active laboratory stewardship and utilization guidance program to improve the value of laboratory services for providers and patients. Our multidisciplinary team reviews 100% of genetic testing requisitions, resulting in modifications for optimized testing or cost savings in 8.7% of all cases.* Our laboratory genetic counselors are always available for clinical consultation, and our multidisciplinary team of practicing hematologists, laboratory geneticists, and genetic counselors actively review patient clinical history, contacts the provider with clarifying questions as necessary, and works with clinicians to optimize orders as appropriate.

Our primary goals through our services are to:

  • Reduce unnecessary testing and help ensure the most appropriate genetic test is ordered
  • Avoid excess financial liability for providers and their patients

Learn more about Lab Stewardship.

Membership in PLUGS®

We are proud to be a member and sponsor of PLUGS (Patient-centered Laboratory Utilization Guidance Services), in its national mission to increase the value of testing to patients through laboratory test stewardship.

"The proper ordering and interpretation of advanced next generation sequencing panels requires a client-focused utilization management (UM) effort. [Versiti] is a leader in combining the most advanced specialty testing with superb UM support."

Mike Astion, MD, PhD
Medical Director, Department of Laboratories
Senior Vice President, PLUGS
Seattle Children’s Hospital

*Based on prior data analysis

Contact us to learn about the wide variety of laboratory services and blood components.
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