The news: Labcorp will launch the Marker by Labcorp Genetic Health Panel on August 3, a direct-to-consumer (D2C) genetic testing kit that analyzes 163 genes linked to more than 100 medically actionable conditions spanning hereditary cancer, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic disorders.

Consumers buy the panel through Labcorp’s website, schedule a blood draw at a Labcorp service center, and can then share their results with their physician and consult a Labcorp genetic counselor to help interpret the findings.

Why it matters: Consumers are willing to purchase lab tests without a physician's referral. Nearly one in five (19%) consumers say they've purchased a lab test online in the past year, up from 16% a year earlier, per EMARKETER's January 2026 Digital Health survey.

A separate survey showed that 27% of US patients sought blood testing from a lab provider independent of a doctor's recommendation, per YouGov and Siemens Healthineers. And 22% took a lab test like a genetic or DNA test out of curiosity, per the survey.

However, many physicians are reluctant to interpret lab results ordered outside their own workflow because they lack critical clinical context like a patient's medical history. Most consumer-facing early detection tests also lack FDA approval or clearance and trigger false positives, which physicians say can result in unnecessary anxiety, follow-up testing, and higher patient costs, according to a January STAT article. Still, about two-thirds of physicians say patients have brought D2C test results to appointments, per a recent Doximity survey cited by STAT, leaving doctors to manage the downstream consequences.

Implications for healthcare brands and marketers: More healthcare players, including Hims & Hers, Function Health, Labcorp, and Quest, are pushing further into the consumer-ordered lab testing market. While these tests can help detect health risks not typically screened for during routine checkups, many operate outside the traditional physician-patient relationship, and some are even marketed around the idea that consumers don't need to see a doctor first. That increases the risk that consumers order tests without understanding whether they're appropriate for their personal health circumstances.

Companies in this space should be transparent about when a consumer-ordered test is warranted and encourage customers to discuss testing decisions with doctors who have access to their complete medical history. That approach may sacrifice some near-term sales by prioritizing appropriate test use over maximizing test volume, but the full value of consumer-ordered testing will only be realized when consumers and their physicians work together to determine which tests make the most sense.