COVID-19 Testing

Safe and easy testing for COVID-19

Given the concern for the active spread of COVID-19, we have worked to make testing for COVID-19 safe and convenient. All patients with fever and upper respiratory complaints like cough and muscle aches must have a telehealth screening prior to testing.

With the waning effectiveness of the vaccines against the Delta variant, all patients with symptoms who have not had a previous COVID-19 infection should be tested.

Two ways to schedule a COVID-19 test

If you're reaching out during normal telehealth hours (8 am- 5:30 pm), you should receive a call back as soon as possible to schedule your test for COVID-19. Please do not submit multiple requests. Calls received after hours will be returned the next morning as soon as possible.

Note: We are receiving an unusually high volume of requests for COVID tests due to the spread of the Omicron variant. It may take several hours for us to schedule your test. Please be patient and do not submit multiple requests. If you are contacting us after hours, there's no need to fill out another form the next day. Someone will get in touch with you as soon as possible.

All patients who want to be tested first need to consult with a provider in order to confirm a need for testing. This confirmation allows us to:

• Bill your insurance
• Determine if you need any additional diagnostic testing to determine the reason for your illness.
• Determine the type of testing that you need (nasal swab, oral swab, or blood test)
• Administer treatments such as injections or vaccinations

You can get tested from the safety of your car at a MedHelp clinic near you. After your telehealth visit, drive to the parking lot of the clinic and park in one of the numbered Curbside Testing spaces. Call or text the phone number listed on your parking space, and a nurse will come out for your COVID-19 test.

Some test results are available within 30 minutes. Based on your test results, you and your provider will discuss appropriate treatments to help you get better and mitigation strategies to decrease the spread to others.

Types of COVID-19 testing available

COVID-19 nasal swab (RT-PCR for COVID-19)

• ID NOW COVID-19 PCR: Bench Top Test that is performed in-house and can provide you with results in about 30 minutes.
• Comfirmatory PCR Testing with Reference Lab: If you're in need of a non-rapid PCR test or need to confirm results that were obtained on a rapid machine, we can send the swab off to be tested by our local reference laboratories.
  

Nasal swab for other respiratory viruses (RT-PCR)

• We run a Respiratory Pathogen Panel (which includes common respiratory illnesses such as influenza, RSV, and rhinovirus) in our in-house lab to identify the actual cause of your illness. This provides you and your physician with the peace of mind that you know the actual cause of your underlying illness.
• In years past, telling a patient, "It's just a virus," was often acceptable and medically reasonable. In this pandemic age, identifying the virus, as well as "ruling in" a virus (and ruling out others) has become an important tool for treatment, return-to-work decisions, and mitigating spread to others.

Serum Antibody Testing blood test

Using our Vitros 5600, we have an assay that is almost 100% specific for detecting historical evidence of a COVID-19 infection. This allows you to know if you've had the infection recently, as well as give you some insight into your risk of contracting it.