With the need for efficient COVID-19 testing growing increasingly urgent, Wheel and imaware™ have formed a partnership to provide –home-based COVID-19 lab testing within FDA guidelines to patients across Texas, administered by a licensed health professional and supported by telehealth. The companies are combining their areas of expertise to help people at the highest risk or with limited access to testing get screened sooner in order to receive care by specially trained clinicians through telemedicine.
Respiratory Coronavirus Test Now Available Only to Texas Residents
The respiratory coronavirus test is administered by a healthcare professional who performs the sample collection in the home environment, aligning with FDA guidelines on COVID-19 testing. Though tests are currently available only to Texas residents, the partners are working swiftly to make tests accessible nationwide as soon as possible.
The coordinated effort brings together telehealth partners who specialize in different aspects of care delivery, along with a lab that can process tests rapidly and in compliance with CDC and FDA protocols. Wheel provides virtual care clinicians specially trained in CDC-guided COVID-19 care strategies; imaware provides the tech-enabled patient portal and the CDC Emergency Use Authorized (EUA) home-based tests, and national CLIA-certified lab partners will provide access to high-quality laboratory services that can scale up testing operations immediately to meet demand.
The imaware test follows CDC protocols and is administered by a healthcare professional, potentially reducing the risk for false negatives. Self-collected COVID-19 swab tests are potentially at greater risk for inaccurate results, and not currently authorized by the FDA.
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The CDC-approved test, administered in a patient’s home by a licensed clinician and completed by an FDA-authorized laboratory, is accompanied by screening to ensure that those at higher risk or those impacted by a scarcity of testing resources receive the tests in accordance with rapidly changing protocols. The process begins with a 10-question respiratory coronavirus screening and risk assessment via the imaware patient portal, which determines whether the patient is deemed eligible for testing. For patients that qualify for the test, the Wheel clinician orders an imaware test to be delivered to their home within 24 hours, and in some cases same-day. After a medical professional collects the sample, patient results are reviewed and a Wheel clinician provides ongoing remote care for those testing positives for COVID-19, notifying the public health system of the positive result.
“In this evolving health crisis, our highest priority is to ensure that the people at highest risk get the accurate testing and care they need,” said Michelle Davey, CEO of Wheel. “By providing a home-based option for testing that starts with a virtual clinical assessment and then is administered in-home by a registered clinician, we are making more tests available to those who need them most — ensuring that tests are not directed away from areas of greatest need.”
Source: HIT Consultant