NIPT (noninvasive prenatal testing) is available at most OB-GYN offices, midwifery practices, maternal-fetal medicine clinics, and hospital-based prenatal centers. If you’re at least 10 weeks pregnant, your regular prenatal care provider can order the test and draw your blood right at your appointment. You don’t need to visit a specialized facility in most cases.
Your OB-GYN or Midwife Office
The most common place to get NIPT is wherever you’re already receiving prenatal care. Your OB-GYN, family medicine doctor, or certified nurse-midwife can order the test during a routine visit. A nurse draws a standard blood sample from your arm, and the vial gets sent to one of the major laboratories that process NIPT. There’s no special equipment needed on-site, so even small practices can offer it.
If your provider doesn’t process NIPT in-house, they’ll either send your sample to a partner lab or refer you to a nearby blood draw location. Labcorp and Quest Diagnostics have thousands of patient service centers across the U.S. where you can walk in with a lab order and have your blood drawn.
Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Prenatal Diagnostic Centers
If your pregnancy is considered higher risk, you may already be seeing a maternal-fetal medicine specialist. These clinics, sometimes called perinatology offices, routinely offer NIPT alongside other advanced screening tools like detailed ultrasounds. Large academic medical centers often have dedicated prenatal diagnostic centers. UCSF Health, for example, operates both an Antenatal Testing Center and a Prenatal Diagnostic Center specifically for this kind of care.
These settings can be especially helpful if you want genetic counseling before or after your test, since counselors are often on staff or available by referral.
Fertility Clinics
If you conceived through IVF or other assisted reproductive technology, your fertility clinic can typically order NIPT before transferring your care to an OB-GYN. Many patients in fertility treatment get their NIPT done around weeks 10 to 12, right as they’re transitioning between providers.
Direct-to-Consumer and At-Home Options
Some lab companies now offer ways to order NIPT with less friction. Labcorp’s OnDemand platform, for instance, lets patients purchase certain tests directly. However, NIPT still requires a standard blood draw, so you’ll need to visit a lab location or use a mobile phlebotomy service that sends someone to your home. These options vary by state and may still require a physician’s sign-off depending on local regulations.
True at-home collection kits (like finger-prick tests) are not available for NIPT. The test requires a full blood sample because it analyzes tiny fragments of your baby’s DNA circulating in your bloodstream.
Which Lab Processes the Test
Regardless of where your blood is drawn, the sample goes to a specialized laboratory. The major players include Natera (which makes the Panorama test), Labcorp (MaterniT 21 PLUS and MaterniT GENOME), and Roche (the Harmony test). Your provider typically chooses which lab to use based on their contracts and preferences, but you can ask about options if you have a preference or if one lab offers better pricing through your insurance.
Results generally take 5 to 7 business days from Labcorp. Natera and other labs report similar timelines, though turnaround can occasionally stretch to 10 days.
What NIPT Screens For
The standard panel checks for the three most common chromosomal conditions: Down syndrome (trisomy 21), trisomy 18, and trisomy 13. Most labs also screen for sex chromosome differences and can tell you the baby’s sex if you want to know. Expanded panels are available that look for smaller missing or duplicated sections of chromosomes, though these carry higher rates of false positives.
For Down syndrome specifically, NIPT has a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 99.9% in large studies, meaning it catches virtually all true cases while producing very few false alarms. The positive predictive value (the chance a positive result is actually correct) is around 71% for Down syndrome, lower for rarer conditions. That’s why a positive NIPT result is always confirmed with a diagnostic test like amniocentesis before any decisions are made.
Insurance Coverage and Cost
Most major insurers now cover NIPT for all singleton pregnancies without age or risk restrictions. UnitedHealthcare, Anthem, Aetna, Cigna, and Centene all cover it for singleton pregnancies, with Anthem, Aetna, and Centene also covering twin pregnancies. Aetna and Cigna don’t require prior authorization. UnitedHealthcare does.
TRICARE is a notable exception, covering NIPT only for high-risk pregnancies and requiring prior authorization. Some smaller insurers and Medicaid plans in certain states also restrict coverage to patients over 35 or those with other risk factors like a previous pregnancy affected by a chromosomal condition, an abnormal ultrasound finding, or a positive result on a traditional screening test.
Without insurance, NIPT has historically been priced around $800, though many labs now offer self-pay rates or financial assistance programs that bring costs down significantly. Before your blood draw, ask your provider’s billing office to verify coverage with your specific plan and confirm whether prior authorization is needed. The lab companies themselves often have patient cost estimators on their websites.
When You Can Get It
NIPT can be performed any time from 10 weeks of pregnancy through delivery. The 10-week minimum exists because it takes that long for enough of the baby’s DNA fragments to accumulate in your blood for an accurate reading. Most people have the test done between weeks 10 and 13 as part of their first-trimester screening, but there’s no upper deadline if you want it later.
No special preparation is needed. You don’t have to fast, and the blood draw itself takes just a few minutes. Your provider will contact you with results, typically within a week or two of the draw.