Technology
Select
H2H
Response
Pubs/LBx
Billing
TRF/Kit
Portal
Competition
100

The # of loci that we currently interrogate for Northstar Response.

What is >2,200.

100

The % of alterations that fall below 0.20% VAF?

What is '25%'

100

The # of other labs that have a 'Head 2 Head' comparison?

What is 'zero'.

100

The Reportable Range, (AKA Limit of Quantification(LoQ)) for NS Response is ___.

What is '10'.  (Note: Northstar Response results do NOT plot below 10)

100

_____ refers to the degree of agreement in detecting genomic alterations between liquid and tissue biopsy.

What is 'concordance' 

100

This person is your main BTO contact for all billing questions.

Who is 'Tom Lewis'.

100

These are the tube types inside our test kit and the only ones we can accept.

What are streck tubes. (Note: 3 tubes in each kit, and we cannot accept ANY other tube type like lavender top/EDTA etc.)

100

These are 2 different places you can find the Response plot map in the portal.

What is the 'the right side of the screen' and what is 'open up full patient report'.

100

If providers are not compelled by our H2H data this option can be offered to help build confidence in our NS Select offering.

What is a 'Pilot'.  (10 non billable cases, best practice: pre-printed stickers to place on kits and TRFs if possible) (sticker templates in Resource Guide)


200

The underlying technology that BTO uses to run both Northstar Select and Northstar Response is ____ ____ _____ and it allow us to achieve ____.

What are Quantitative Counting Templates (QCTs) and 'single molecule quantification'. (or single molecule precision)

200

A type of amplification that tends to be targetable.

What is 'focal' amplication.

200

The # of patients with orthogonal reports.

What is '182'.

200

TMS can help inform a patient response to these three types of therapies.

What is I/O, targeted therapy and chemotherapy. (radiation therapy could also be included)

200

When we get questions about Response TMS correlation with imaging, we can cite this being evaluated via the ongoing ____ study.

What is the 'North' study.


200

When insurance covers Northstar testing, like any other lab we are required to bill patient this... ____, ____, & ____.

What is any 'applicable copay, coinsurance, or deductible that applies to that patient policy'.

200

This is the optimal needle gauge for blood collection.

What is '21 gauge' (this is optimal vs. 23 gauge butterfly needle which could compromise sample)

200

Recurrent orders for Response which are available on the portal and the TRF are good for this length of time unless a specific # of draws is requested. 

What is 12 months/1 year.


200

For your Natera customers, Signatera is ____  ____ while NS Response is ____  ____.

What is 'tissue informed/tumor informed' and 'tissue naive/free'

300

The Northstar testing approach combines the ______ of PCR with the ______ of NGS.

What is 'accuracy/precision' and 'plexing/breadth'.

300

A reason that NS Select does not report out bTMB.

What is 'unreliability in blood' or what is 'you need an extremely large # of genes in order to accurately report it. (or not in guidelines - questions around clinical utility)

300

Northstar Select identifies ___% more SNVs/Indels than comparators.

What is '51%.

300

If a patient is not tolerating therapy well, they may opt to remain on therapy if their NS Response TMS is _____.

What is 'decreasing' or 'stable'.

300

Unlike tissue biopsies, ctDNA liquid biopsies like Northstar Select can overcome _____   _____ challenges by capturing variations w/in a tumor and also differences b/w primary & met tumors.

What is tumor heterogeneity.  (this could include inter-tumor (same tumor) or intra tumor (different tumors/lesions)


300

On the Northstar Financial Assistance Form, the only thing we require to verify income is this.

What is 'written household income (pre-tax)'.  (no W2 required)

300

What are 2 reasons that would cause us to hold testing. (processing hold)


What is 'no test selected' and 'we received tubes with no blood' (Note: If tubes are NOT labeled sample is automatically cancelled and re-draw is required) - missing MD signature will not cause testing hold; but if not procured by CS, will hold reporting)


300

This is an ease of use portal feature that can help ensure patients don't miss needed Northstar testing.

What is 'setting email reminders'. (currently for Response only.... Select reminders 'coming soon') ... or "Recurring Response orders"

300

While Guardant may be using methylation, there is no mention of them being able to achieve _____ ______ ______.  This is what powers NS Response to report a precise TMS.

What is 'single molecule quantification' (or precision)

400

That only way to definitively determine if an alteration is CH (clonal hematopoiesis).

What is 'sequencing the buffy coat'.

400

A chromosomal loss or gain.

What is 'aneuploidy'.

400

NS Select had ___% null reports compared to ___% null reports for competitors.

What is '11%' and '20%'.  (2x less null reports!)

400

On imaging, when a tumor increases in size due to a patient immune response this is referred to as ___.

What is 'pseudo progression'.

400

The number of journal publications we have on NS Response.

What is '3'.  1. Analytic Validation in Nature'25 Ye et al. 2. Methylated ctDNA Quantification in JACS'24 (UF) 3. Methylated TRM correlates w/ I/O response in NSCLC in Clin Lung Cancer (UCSD)   ...   (+10 accepted Conf Abstracts) (List is in Notion!)

400

Other than patient info, these are the required pieces of information on our Financial Assistance Form.

What is # people in household & income (+ Best practice to encourage checking any and all extenuating circumstances.)

400

In addition to a peripheral draw, this type of draw is acceptable.

What is a 'port draw'.

400

This is the process for setting up a client on the portal.

What is 'email CS w/ provider name/account after ensuring they are correctly set up in Salesforce.' (this would include the creating of a LIMS #)


400

2 potential pain points for Natera customers using Signatera for Treatment Response Monitoring (TRM) could be a longer ____ and having a high ____ rate. 

What is 'TAT' and 'QNS/failure'.

500

The # of times that we add QCTs into the testing process for Northstar Select?

What is '3' (extraction, library prep, and target enrichment)

500

A reason aneuploidy is clinically important?

What is 'aneuploidy typically does not respond to targeted therapy.' (no treatment)

500

NS Select identifies ___% more CNAs than comparators and if you look at matched coverage, NS Select still identifies ___% more CNAs.

What is '109%' and what is '~40%'.

500

This is a robust, consistent, widespread biomarker that is correlated w/ tumor burden.

What is 'methylation'?

500

A main messaging point that can be shared from the GI-ASCO/Dr. George poster is that a _____   _____ can be prognostic of O/S in advanced GI cases.

What is 'baseline TMS'. (<1,000 vs. >1,000) (note: this was based on Northstar Response v1 ~500 loci, not the current Northstar Response v2 >2,200 loci)


500

These are 3 terms or phrases to avoid during billing conversations with clients.

What is stating a '$0/max out of pocket', 'free testing', and/or 'no balance billing'. (Note: we do NOT balance bill but the phrase can be confusing and not fully understood)

500

These are the 3 ways mobile phlebotomy can be requested.

What is 'check box in the portal' and what is 'hand writing mobile phlebotomy' on the TRF and what is 'call/email (833) 537-1819/support@northstaronc.com directly.' (also via 'support' link - upper right)


500

This feature can speed up the ordering process by eliminating clicks.

What is the 'capability to attach multiple documents.' (note: 1 field for path report, 1 field for all other docs)


500

When providers prefer GH 700+ & FMI 300+ gene assays we can share that our 84 gene NS Select assay is more _____.   NS Select is optimized to be the most _______ _______ therapy selection assay available.

What is 'sensitive' and what is 'clinically actionable'.

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