What You Should Know:
– Everlywell announces that an at-home collection kit with telehealth diagnosis for COVID-19 will be available to consumers starting Monday, March 23 for $139.
– The initial offering of 30,000 collection kits will significantly impact total coronavirus testing capacity in the United States; free telehealth consults are included for those with positive results.
– By working with multiple labs to scale infrastructure, the company plans to have testing and diagnosis capacity for a quarter of a million people weekly.
Everlywell, the digital health company which offers consumers access to at-home lab tests, announces that an at-home collection kit with telehealth diagnosis for COVID-19 will be available to consumers starting Monday, March 23. The initial supply of 30,000 tests amounts to a significant increase in total COVID-19 tests that have been processed in the U.S. as of March 18, 2020. By working with multiple labs to scale infrastructure, the company plans to have testing and diagnosis capacity for a quarter of a million people weekly.
Using its existing infrastructure and distribution for at-home lab testing, earlier this month Everlywell announced a $1 million dollar development incentive to any certified laboratories who fulfilled requirements set by the FDA and Everlywell to prioritize the development of a COVID-19 diagnostic test. The positive response from the laboratory community enabled Everlywell to build the full testing and diagnosis experience for COVID-19 in a matter of days.
How the At-Home COVID-19 Test Kit Works
The at-home COVID-19 Test Kit can be requested online by consumers experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Samples can be collected at home, preventing further exposure for themselves and the public. All of Everlywell’s laboratory partners conducting COVID-19 testing are complying with FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19 testing. The COVID-19 test will be shipped to customers with everything needed to collect a sample at home and safely ship that sample to a CLIA-certified laboratory partner. Samples will be shipped to partner labs with overnight delivery, secure digital results will be available online within 48 hours of the lab receiving the sample, and free telehealth consultations with an independent, board-certified physician will be available for those with positive results.
Individuals with positive results will be offered a telehealth consult with an independent board-certified physician from PWNHealth. In addition, the positive results will be communicated to all mandated federal and state reporting agencies.
COVID-19 Test Kit Pricing & Availability
The test will be available for $135 at no profit to Everlywell and will be covered by participating HSA and FSA providers. To access a COVID-19 test, consumers can go to www.everlywell.com where they will be asked to complete a screening questionnaire, provided by our independent telehealth partner and based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).
Everlywell has reached out to government officials and public health departments to see if the test can be made available for free. Given the high demand for testing, the company will work rapidly to make more tests available as the global supply shortage for COVID-19 diagnostic kits is addressed.
“Everlywell was founded to give people affordable, convenient access to lab testing. Never has our mission been more important,” said Julia Cheek, founder and CEO of Everlywell. “Our team has been working around the clock with top scientists and laboratories in the nation to develop a test that we will make available at the lowest price possible while covering our costs, at no profit to the company. We have also reached out to government and public health officials to explore possibilities to provide it for free.”
“The extreme shortage of tests for COVID-19 puts millions of Americans at risk,” added Cheek. “Everlywell is committed to helping stop the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. by making this test widely available. As the national leader in at-home lab testing, we want to use our resources and expertise to help as many people as we can. We are committed to this fight, and we’re here to help.”
