Non-Invasive Prenatal Screening
AKA NIPS AKA NIPT AT MINT
How much does a NIPS test cost?
The cost for a NIPS appointment at Mint is $150 + $15 LifeLabs document fee. After your appointment, we send the sample to LifeLabs. The cost of the test starts at $550 depending on specific panel option chosen. The blood draw is taken Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday by one of our naturopathic physicians. The admin fee is often covered by your extended health plan if you have one. The results are forwarded directly to your primary healthcare provider GP, Midwife or Obstetrician – whoever the referring professional is. Many midwifery offices, obstetricians and GPs now refer to Mint for this service.
What is a NIPS test?
NIPS is a relatively new non-invasive blood test that measures the amount of cell-free fetal DNA circulating in maternal serum. It provides a screen risk for Down syndrome (trisomy 21), trisomy 18, and trisomy 13. The Down syndrome detection rate is >99% with a false positive rate of 0.1%.
It also reveals fetal sex with high confidence, which means you can learn the sex of your baby as early as 10 weeks.
NIPS is currently funded by the government for women who meet one of the following criteria:
- A positive screen result from other screening tests like ips, sips, or quad;
- A previous trisomy 13, 18, or 21 pregnancy; or
- A risk of Down syndrome greater than one in 300 based on results of screening and ultrasound marker(s) of extra chromosomes.
- It’s not funded for anyone else.
Other important things you need to know about NIPS testing
You must be at least 10 weeks gestation age at time of the appointment for the blood draw.
You should consult with your pregnancy health care provider if you would like more information about NIPS including risks, limitations, performance data, error rates, descriptions of the conditions being screened, and what these results may mean to your pregnancy.
Wishing you the best in your pregnancy.