Did You Know

Let me start by saying I believe there are situations where you should order a test online. You may already be familiar with in-home testing if you’ve used a Home Pregnancy test or your doctor has ordered an in-home colon cancer screening test that is mailed to a lab.   Not all tests require a blood sample. Most online ordering goes through either LabCorp or Quest Diagnostics, the two major testing companies. However, in certain states, you are unable to order online and must get a provider order for the test. Labs are prohibited from operating on behalf of patient ordering in the following states:  LabCorp in NY, NJ, RI, MA, MD  & Quest Diagnostics in NY, NJ, RI.

COVID-19

In this pandemic time, at-home testing is booming. Want to know whether you are carrying the antigen for the SARS-CoV-2 virus-infected, simply order the test! Wonder if you have antibodies to the virus, order a different test. There is a particularly growing number of COVID-19 self-testing resources.

Self-testing positive versus negative

Positive(L) – Negative (R) images

A new layperson self-test from Siemens won approval in February for use in Germany. The CLINITEST Rapid COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test takes a nasal swab and examines for antigen. Direction on the box: “Wash swab in a reagent, dissolving a specific protein from the surface of the virus. This liquid is dropped into a well in the test cassette. Within 15 minutes, the test sample flows into the field of view of the cassette and becomes visible by a dash. The position and number of lines indicate whether the test result is positive or negative, or whether something was done incorrectly during the test procedure and the test must be repeated”. See image.

General Testing

Other situations for patient’s online ordering of tests might include one of the following scenarios. What if you do not want your insurance company to know that you have high cholesterol or a sexually transmitted disease?   You may bypass going to a physician and order the test online. Often lack of insurance and lack of a medical caregiver could prompt someone who is suspicious of recurrent urinary tract infection to go online and order a urine analysis and culture.

At this time insurance companies do not pay for patient-ordered online tests but will be told by the lab ‘you may still want to submit the charge’. 

Doc’s Insights

I don’t have a specific site that I would recommend, but based on your need and location, you may find the URLs I’ve listed below helpful in finding an online lab.  I also encourage you to consult your physician to see what’s available in your community. It’s worth comparing if you don’t already have a go-to resource.

https://www.labwork365.com

https://www.health-tests-direct.com

https://www.testing.com

https://www.walkinlab.com/why-walk-in-lab

https://selfdiagnostics.com – antigen test for SARS-CoV-2 only

http://www.healthlabs.com