How Consumer Lab Testing is Changing Primary Care

Morgan Stanley's April 2026 report 'Testing Longevity' valued the consumer health testing market at $2.4 billion, growing 15% annually. Function Health alone has crossed 200,000 members, each getting 100+ biomarkers tested quarterly.

This isn't a fad. It's a structural shift in how patients engage with their health data. And it's creating a new category of clinical encounter that most physicians aren't trained for.

The New Patient Conversation

The traditional flow — patient presents symptoms, physician orders tests, physician interprets results — is being disrupted. Now patients arrive with a 40-page lab report they ordered themselves, annotated with Function Health's AI-generated insights.

Some of these results are clinically significant. Most are noise. The challenge is efficiently separating the two while managing patient expectations and protecting yourself legally.

What Physicians Need to Know

You are not obligated to review unsolicited lab results. But once you do — even casually — you may have created a duty to act. Document your decision to review or not review. If you review, document your clinical reasoning.