An Interview With Ido Rabiner, Chief Operating Officer At FDNA Telehealth

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Below is our recent interview with Ido Rabiner, Chief Operating Officer of FDNA Telehealth:

Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to FDNA Telehealth?

A: FDNA was founded in 2011 to help clinicians, researchers, and genetic testing labs find answers and treatments for the over 400 million patients globally living with a rare disease.

With a unique decision-support tool and AI technology, FDNA further develops genomic analysis as the clinical standard in genetic analysis and genetic diagnosis.

FDNA Telehealth brings this advanced genetic analysis technology directly to patients, together with a full telehealth platform for online genetic counseling meetings that eliminate the obstacles that make it difficult for rare disease patients to receive an accurate diagnosis.

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Q: What do you see as main challenges around online genetic counseling?

A: Limited technology, no access to qualified geneticists and relevant testing, very long waiting times, and high costs are the main challenges around online genetic counseling.

1. Accessibility – Online genetic counseling improves the accessibility of such services to rare disease patients and their families. The challenges, however, include finding a licensed local or remote genetic counselor you can trust and can help your family. Being able to rely on a network of licensed, registered, and most importantly, vetted counselors is very important.
2. Time – Online genetic counseling should save rare disease patients time. It is a service that can be accessed from the comfort of their own homes, and so there is no need to spend time traveling to in-person appointments. Saving time is one of its significant benefits.
3. Cost – The cost of genetic counseling can sometimes be prohibitively expensive for some rare disease patients and their families. However, online genetic counseling can offer more affordable services for consultations.
4. Technology – The advancement of telehealth technologies and solutions makes it possible for genetic counseling to move online. Anyone with a WIFI connection, and a device with video capabilities, can access genetic counseling virtually. Another obstacle to access to a genetic counselor is a lack of availability in a specific area, but online counseling also allows genetic counselors to reach more people in less time.

Q: Can you give us a few examples of current and future use cases?

A: FDNA Telehealth helps patients and their families throughout the entire diagnostic journey, from learning more about their symptoms or genetic syndromes to saving valuable time and money by connecting them with genetic counselors and geneticists in a few days.

Our goal is to give them the best genetic screening technology and the biggest genetic counseling network and provide answers and help them understand their health risks.

Some examples of recent patients we’ve helped:

One couple contacted us with unknown concerns they had for their daughter. They were worried she was late developing and behind other children. They had sought help locally but felt she was not moving forward in the right direction.

Within a week, they had an online appointment scheduled with one of our genetic counselors who spoke with them in their language. Within this period of time, they received recommendations for genetic testing to move forward and investigate their daughter’s case in more detail.

Another recent case is of a mother who contacted us as she really needed a second opinion. Her daughter had been diagnosed as having hypermobility syndrome, yet she did not feel this was correct. Call it is mother’s intuition, but she knew other issues lay in her family history and wanted to explore further genetic testing to rule out other conditions. We were able to schedule n online session with a genetic counselor who put together a detailed report of the personal and family history and then made recommendations for testing. For testing, an online session with a geneticist was required within her state, and she was able to move forward and have those conversations that were needed so much for peace of mind.

Q: Can you give us more insights into your products?

A: Our telegenetic platform helps patients at any stage of their diagnosis, whether they are just starting it, looking for a second opinion, or understanding more about their condition.

Our main products are all connected to bring our patients closer to a diagnosis.

1. Online genetic counseling – With the largest global clinical genetics community, we connect rare-disease patients with genetic experts for online genetic counseling, genetic analysis, and genetic testing. Genetic counseling is a crucial part of the genetic analysis and diagnosis process, as it helps educate and support patients both throughout their analysis and after their genetic diagnosis.
2. Facial Image Analysis – Our facial image analysis provides an advanced, accurate, and fast genetic diagnosis. It is simple to use and requires nothing more complicated than for individuals to upload images of their child’s face (or theirs). It is also incredibly accurate at identifying the risk of developing a rare disease, with its ability to scan and compare syndrome markers against our database of thousands of genetic syndromes.
3. Shortening the diagnostic odyssey – The journey to a genetic diagnosis can be a long and frustrating one, involving many different steps and processes along the way. FDNA Telehealth supports rare disease patients from the very early stages of an initial genetic diagnosis through virtual genetic counseling appointments, and finally to connecting them with geneticists from our network who can arrange genetic tests to secure a diagnosis.

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Q: What can we expect from FDNA Telehealth in the next 6 months? What are your plans?

A: We are working extremely hard to improve our platform and offer more services and solutions to patients globally. Here are some of the main items we are currently focused on:

1. We are working closely with insurance companies to provide reimbursement for patients who use our platform.
2. Expanding the platform to include additional languages, ensuring it is more accessible to rare disease patients worldwide.
3. Adding more worldwide genetic counselors, geneticists, and labs for genetic testing, to be able to expand our reach to more patients around the world.
4. Building communities around rare diseases for better support to families.

At the end of the day, we are here to help patients and families deal better with their rare genetic disease diagnosis. We are not here just for the initial genetic counseling session, but we are here to provide guidance and in-depth analysis so they can understand their health risks. And we are here to help them save valuable time, get diagnosed faster, and shorten their diagnostic odyssey.