Clinical Support - Provider FAQs

What is a continuing education unit (CEU)?

A CEU is a standard unit of measurement for continuing education and training. It is awarded for participation in an organized continuing education program. 1 CEU is equivalent to 10 educational contact hours. CEUs earned through NSGC-approved educational opportunities will be accepted by the American Board of Genetic Counseling for purposes of genetic counselor recertification. Newly certified Diplomates can start earning CEUs towards recertification as soon as the month after the examination is successfully completed.

Who is the awarding organization for the CEUs in this webinar series?

The National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC). NSGC is an authorized provider of continuing education for genetic counselors. CEUs earned through NSGC-approved educational opportunities will be accepted by the American Board of Genetic Counseling for purposes of genetic counselor recertification.

Who is eligible for the Invitae 2021 NSGC-approved CEU webinar series?

Anyone who attends a live Invitae 2021 NSGC-approved CEU webinar series webinar can claim CEUs. In order to do so, you must have an NSGC User ID and therefore an NSGC account. It does not have to be a paid account, it can be a free guest account.

Can I receive these CEUs if I am not a genetic counselor?

Yes, but the only type of credits NSGC is authorized to offer are genetic counselor CEUs. If genetic counselor CEUs are a valid type of transfer credits for your profession, then you can claim them. However, it is your responsibility to ensure that genetic counselor CEUs are valid for the type of continuing education credit you need.

Can Canadian genetic counselors receive these CEUs?

Yes, anyone who attends a live Invitae 2021 NSGC-approved CEU webinar series webinar can claim CEUs. In order to do so, you must have an NSGC User ID and therefore an NSGC account. It does not have to be a paid account, it can be a free guest account. It is your responsibility to ensure that NSGC genetic counselor CEUs are valid for the type of continuing education credit you need.

What is an NSGC User ID?

Your NSGC User ID is a 4 or 5 digit number. It is not the same as your NSGC username, ABGC number, license number, remote ID, email address or any other identifier. Make sure you know and report the correct number. You can locate this number in the ‘My Profile’ section when you are logged into your NSGC account online.

Why must I include my NSGC User ID in order to claim CEUs?

Your NSGC User ID is required for certificate issuance through the NSGC CEU Portal.

Do I have to complete a post-webinar evaluation form in order to claim CEUs?

Yes, you must complete a post-webinar evaluation form in order to claim CEUs.

How do I access the post-webinar evaluation form?

Ideally, you will complete the evaluation form immediately following the webinar. It will automatically appear on your screen when the webinar ends.

If you cannot complete the survey immediately, you will be sent a link embedded in a follow-up email 24 hours after the webinar. This email will come to the email address you registered for the webinar with and will come from Invitae Corp (customercare@gotowebinar.com). Please check your spam folder if you did not receive the follow up email. You may also want to add this email address to your contacts as a known sender.

Please note that the evaluation link is unique to you so we are unable to send you a link to it if you did not receive it directly from Invitae Corp.

Can I claim CEUs for watching the recording of the webinar?

No. The Invitae 2021 NSGC-approved CEU webinar series is only authorized to provide CEUs for live attendance. Please note that GoToWebinar provides us with a report of who attended live and we are required to submit this to NSGC for confirmation of attendance. If your name does not appear on this attendance report, we will not be able to provide your name to NSGC for CEUs, nor will you receive the post-webinar evaluation form link.

When will Invitae submit my CEUs to NSGC?

As Invitae received NSGC approval for a webinar ‘series’, we will be submitting CEU information to NSGC at the end of the series in December 2021. As such, all CEUs will be awarded at the end of the calendar year (even if you attended an approved webinar earlier in the year).

How will I receive my CEU certificate?

Your CEU certificate will be issued by NSGC through the CEU Portal. Certificates will not be emailed/mailed and are handled exclusively by NSGC (not Invitae). To locate your certificate at the end of the year, please log in to your NSGC member or guest account, and navigate to the CEU Approval Page: https://www.nsgc.org/page/ceuapproval. From here, select the “Access the NSGC CEU Portal” button. Then select the orange “View my CEU Certificates” button.

Do I need to submit anything directly to NSGC to receive CEUs for attending a live Invitae 2021 NSGC-approved CEU webinar series webinar?

No, you do not need to submit anything directly to NSGC. Invitae will submit your CEU claims on your behalf along with the required post-webinar evaluation form(s). As this is a webinar series, you will not be issued a certificate until after the conclusion of the full series in December 2021. NSGC typically issues certificates within 2 weeks after receiving post-activity documentation and filing fees.

As a reminder, each individual genetic counselor’s portal-issued certificates are stored in their CEU Portal account. This is why your NSGC User ID is required, as this is what links your certificates to your individual account. It is the responsibility of each genetic counselor to track their own CEUs at all times.

How do I know if the webinar I attended was approved for CEUs?

The webinar email invitation and registration page will state if the webinar was approved for CEUs. You can also check the webinar description on Invitae’s webinar page. If it is approved for CEUs, it will say so in the description.

What do I do if I have additional questions?

Simply email us at genetics@invitae.com!

Yes, Invitae’s team of board-certified and experienced genetic counselors trained in medical genetics is available to assist clinicians. Our genetic counselors are available throughout the testing process to:

• review patient cases that may benefit from genetic testing
• differentiate between genetic tests to select the one that is most suitable for your patient
• aid in interpreting results
• provide result-specific background regarding variants, genes, and conditions
• identify gene-specific information including relevant literature and studies, published management guidelines, and patient resources

If you're ready to consult with one of Invitae's genetic counselors, please email clinconsult@invitae.com or contact Client Services.

Invitae's genetic counselors are available by telephone to answer patients’ brief questions about genetic testing and genetic test results.

In addition, patients being tested for diagnostic cancer, cardiology, and ophthalmology, proactive health screens, and reproductive health testing also have the option to schedule a more comprehensive post-test genetic counseling session specific to their own medical and family histories, if desired.

For more information, please visit the Clinical Support Services page on the clinician site or direct your patient to the Genetic Counseling Resources page on the patient site.

If your patient is being tested for indications related to hereditary cancer, cardiology, ophthalmology, reproductive health, or proactive health screens and chooses to schedule a comprehensive post-test genetic counseling session, the genetic counselor will briefly review your patient’s medical history, ask questions about family medical history, review information about the genetic test results and what those results may mean for your patient and their family. A detailed consult note and pedigree will be made available to both you and your patient after the post-test genetic counseling session is complete.

Learn more on the Genetic Counseling Resources page on the patient site.

Patients being tested for indications related to hereditary cancer, cardiology, or proactive health screens may call Invitae's genetic counselors at 800-436-3037 anytime during business hours to:

• ask general questions about the genetic testing process
• briefly review their genetic test results (after receiving the results from the ordering healthcare provider)
• schedule a comprehensive post-test genetic counseling session

Learn more on the Genetic Counseling Resources page on our patient site.

With Invitae’s Family History Tool you can quickly, easily, and securely draw a complete picture of your patient’s health:

• Draw complex family pedigrees via an intuitive, customizable interface
• Send an electronic questionnaire to a patient that automatically creates their pedigree
• Share and collaboratively edit pedigrees with colleagues
• Export, download, and print pedigrees as PDF, PNG, XML, and CSV files
• Order tests from Invitae with patient information and pedigree already attached
• Automatically sync pedigrees across devices
• HIPAA-compliant cloud-based storage

Users can do one of two things:

1) Set up a generic shared email address that all users log into to view the same set of pedigrees.

2) Each have their own account and "share" individual pedigrees with each other. They can share the pedigrees with each other by selecting "Share Pedigree" and entering the email address that the other GC's use to log into their FHT accounts. This allows them to both view and collaboratively edit pedigrees.

Yes. When using the Family History Tool iPad app offline, all pedigrees that are created offline are stored locally on the iPad. The next time you connect to a wifi network and log into your account on the same iPad, the pedigrees created while offline will be saved to a HIPAA-compliant cloud server synced between devices.

In order to prevent unauthorized access to patient information, you are only allowed to log in offline within 5 days of the last time you logged in online. After 5 days of logging in offline, you will be asked to log back into your account while online.

The patient questionnaire covers first, second, and third degree blood relatives, including:

• First degree relatives: parents, full siblings, half-siblings, children
• Second degree relatives: grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces/nephews
• Third degree relatives: cousins

The iPad version supports:

iPad 2 and later (optimized for retina displays, including iPad Air) iPad mini 1 and later iOS 6.0 and later

Invitae’s web version of the Family History Tool is compatible with:

Firefox ver 22 and later Chrome ver 28 and later Safari ver 5 and later Internet Explorer ver 10 and later IE6-9 runs with IE plugin called Chrome Frame, which essentially uses Chrome rendering engine for specific sites, otherwise not changing IE behavior. If a user logs into the Family History Tool in IE6-9, he/she would be asked to install Chrome Frame.

Invitae’s Family History Tool is fully HIPAA-compliant. All protected health information is encrypted in storage and communication.

When it comes to security, we follow the HIPAA regulations as required of a Covered Entity. This means that data is encrypted in motion and at rest, we restrict access to servers housing the data as needed, the servers are locked and protected by armed guards, and we keep access logs, among many other features.

Currently all user management and audit capabilities are on the Invitae side. FHT has extensive audit logging: every time a user accesses or changes any pedigree, the access and changes are logged. We also log exporting, printing and sharing events.

While we can provide reports for particular users, there is no user interface to do this without programmatic effort. Termination of users accounts is also currently under Invitae control.

For the iPad app:

• Every change is saved immediately to the internal iPad database, therefore if the iPad battery fully drains or the app crashes, nothing is lost.
• The full list of pedigrees currently syncs from the iPad to the server every 10 minutes if the app is actively being used.
• The full list of pedigrees syncs immediately once the user goes back from a pedigree to pedigree list.
• The full list of pedigrees currently syncs from the server to the iPad on user login.
• If there is no Internet connection when a sync is attempted, it skips that particular sync and tries next time.
• Finally, we sync from an iPad to the server at user login as well (to account for the situation where user makes some changes to the pedigree, and then locks the iPad, without going back to the pedigree list).

For the web app: All changes made via the web app are saved immediately.

Both the web and the mobile version of the Family History Tool sync seamlessly (when connected to wifi) so you can access the same information on both your iPad and your computer.

The information in the Family History Tool is stored in the cloud, so both versions of the application work with the same data. A single account is used to work in the web app and in the iPad app. All of your account's data is available from anywhere. Please keep in mind that if you are using the iPad app in offline mode, you need to go online for the changes to be synced.