BioIQ Partners with Assurance Scientific Laboratories on New COVID-19 OTC At-Home Test Kits
The recently cleared regulatory pathway for direct-to-consumer COVID-19 at-home sample collection strengthens the BioIQ platform for home, retail, workplace, and community testing.
ATLANTA and BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Feb. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BioIQ, an analytics-driven population health and testing platform company for top employers and health plans, today announced a partnership with Assurance Scientific Laboratories, a clinical reference lab that specializes in molecular diagnostics and microbiology, to bring over-the-counter (OTC), gold standard RT-PCR COVID-19 testing to market. Recently granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the direct-to-consumer format enables COVID-19 testing of asymptomatic individuals without the need for a physician prescription.
The new solution expands BioIQ's comprehensive digital health platform for COVID-19 testing and vaccination, which spans home, worksite, community, and retail settings, and includes a variety of new and emerging COVID-19 diagnostic and vaccination technologies. In addition to augmenting BioIQ's retail pharmacy solutions, the Assurance Scientific Laboratories offering also increases access to and the convenience of COVID-19 testing to help counteract social determinant of health (SDOH) variables and healthcare disparities being exacerbated by the pandemic.
The OTC at-home test kit can be picked up at a retail or employer location. A nasal swab sample is then collected in the safety and convenience of home, and returned in a prepaid mailer to Assurance Scientific Laboratories for sample processing within 24-48 hours. All results can then be viewed within BioIQ's testing portal, which supports population analytics and contact tracing, and offers integrated telehealth services to assist with sample collection and results consultation.
"The BioIQ platform supports the consumerization of healthcare with home-based testing for COVID-19 and a variety of other serious health conditions. This OTC COVID-19 test and partnership opens BioIQ retail pharmacy solutions for point-of-care testing and vaccination and adds an element of convenience to employer and community testing programs," said Justin Bellante, BioIQ founder, president, and COO.
"The OTC designation makes it easier for individuals to get gold standard RT-PCR testing and demonstrates the ongoing progress toward making COVID-19 testing more accessible and consumer-friendly, while also providing over 90 percent of results within 24 hours," said Chad Austin, MD, Assurance Scientific Laboratories co-founder and Chairman of the Board.
Sean Slovenski, BioIQ CEO and retail healthcare disruptor, added, "The intersection of care, vaccination, and testing in retail environments has been a pursuit for healthcare at large for a long time. This is one step to help deliver on that promise relative to COVID-19 pandemic mitigation."
The addition of the Assurance Scientific Laboratories OTC test to the BioIQ digital diagnostic testing network comes on the heels of recent announcements introducing COVID-19 variant testing and mobile, on-site COVID-19 worksite testing solutions available via BioIQ's extensive national lab network. The company continues to lead the market in COVID-19 diagnostics and program management solutions, supporting the testing efforts of leading national health plans and Fortune 500 companies.
To learn more about BioIQ's COVID-19 testing platform and solutions, as well as other services to protect workforces and communities, visit www.bioiq.com.
About BioIQ
BioIQ is modernizing the diagnostic testing industry through a national network of labs and customized solutions that support payors, employers, and consumers. By aggregating testing solutions, optimizing lab capacity, and integrating testing with customers' needs and strategies, BioIQ ensures resilience and reliability so that employers and payors can protect workforces and members. With its first-of-its-kind health connectivity platform, BioIQ is uniquely positioned at the convergence of population health and the consumerization and retailization of healthcare to drive the shift to value-based care for payers and employers. Since 2005, BioIQ has launched thousands of successful health testing programs serving millions of participants. For more information, visit www.bioiq.com.
About Assurance Scientific Laboratories
Assurance Scientific Laboratories began testing for COVID-19 on March 11th, making them the first commercial lab in Alabama and one of the first in the country to begin testing for COVID-19. Since that time, they have tested nearly one million samples. Assurance Labs is a highly complex clinical reference lab with a robust R&D department that develops and provides rapid diagnostic services for consumers, clinicians, hospital systems, private entities, long term care facilities, and other reference labs. They specialize in molecular diagnostics and microbiology. Assurance Labs uses PCR for the identification of pathogens that are capable of causing illness. This type of testing is the same that is used to identify COVID-19. In addition to COVID-19, they test for over 100 different pathogens and offer several panels including COVID Respiratory, UTI with Antibiotic Resistance Markers, wound panel, STI, Vaginitis, GI, Candida, and CMV panels. They also perform culture and Antimicrobial Sensitivity Testing. Please visit AssuranceScientificLabs.com, email [email protected], or call 855-319-4459 for additional information.
BioIQ Contact:
Judson Phillips
VP Marketing
805-504-8586 x 7
[email protected]
SOURCE BioIQ
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