How many of us could get a RAPID COVID test done TODAY?

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jfssms

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I'm just curious.

Do you know where to go, do you have access, does your primary care physician do testing and if so is it the rapid or the send out?

Here in Bartlesville, we are one of only 2 providers I am told who do the rapid testing. 15 minute results, although there may be a queue of tests running that means it could be 30 minutes or so.

We're waiting on a test that is supposed to be both COVID and influenza with one swab. That will be nice, we have seen some flu and and starting to do more testing, but that means multiple swabs per patient. They don't like that, naturally.

Even our hospital here doesn't do rapid testing in the ER to my knowledge, which I think is a travesty. 10 months into this thing and we don't have widespread rapid testing. Pathetic.

And we think we're going to vaccinate 300 million people in 3-6 months or something? Hmmm...
 

jfssms

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I'm just curious.

Do you know where to go, do you have access, does your primary care physician do testing and if so is it the rapid or the send out?

Here in Bartlesville, we are one of only 2 providers I am told who do the rapid testing. 15 minute results, although there may be a queue of tests running that means it could be 30 minutes or so.

We're waiting on a test that is supposed to be both COVID and influenza with one swab. That will be nice, we have seen some flu and and starting to do more testing, but that means multiple swabs per patient. They don't like that, naturally.

Even our hospital here doesn't do rapid testing in the ER to my knowledge, which I think is a travesty. 10 months into this thing and we don't have widespread rapid testing. Pathetic.

And we think we're going to vaccinate 300 million people in 3-6 months or something? Hmmm...
Amazon employees have free testing on site. The turnaround is less than 48 hours.
 

CorpsVet

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Seems to me that there a lot of false positive/negative results, so even if you are tested you can't be sure, so get another test, or two, to verify. Personally I have not been tested, I just behave as if I have it (even though I have no symptoms) and make sure I don't get near enough to anyone to pass it on.
 

tRidiot

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Just out of curiosity @tRidiot what is the difference in a flu test vs COVID test? Process wise? Is it the same swap, just deeper for COVID?

Well, up till now, we have had to do a separate swab for flu and for COVID. Today we got our first shipment in of the combined flu/COVID cartridges - 1 swab, 3 results in 15 minutes (COVID, influenza A, influenza B).
 

kroberts2131

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Well, up till now, we have had to do a separate swab for flu and for COVID. Today we got our first shipment in of the combined flu/COVID cartridges - 1 swab, 3 results in 15 minutes (COVID, influenza A, influenza B).

As far as the tests themselves though, is the process for a flu test the same as the COVID test? Do they use the same type of swap and go tickle your brain?
 

Glock 40

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I saw Elon Musk saying he had 4 rapids done by same tech on same machine and got 2 pos and 2 neg. I realize musk is one of the antis on the virus. @tRidiot do you do any other tests that take longer after the rapid to confirm the rapid? Or you go with what it says and move on? Also last time I had the flu a couple years ago I swore they hit me with two swabs. Are there still places that test seperatly for Flu A / Flu B? Do you know what the cost is of this 3in1 your providing? Or what Medicare pays for them?
 

tRidiot

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Well the tests vary considerably. First charge is your regular visit charge. Usually around $90-100 or so I think.

For flu, up until now we had 2 - one is the flu antigen swab, same as the COVID - it's a foam swab, deep nasal sample. We call this "rapid flu A+B". Results in 15 minutes. We do this one for Community Care and some others.

Then we have a supposedly 'better' DNA flu swab from another company. Also deep nasal, but with a slightly larger rayon swab. This is 30 minutes for result, we call it "DNA flu A+B". We don't do this one unless we know your insurance covers it, and we have a list of which do and which don't. For instance, I know BCBS allows this one.

So, the rapid COVID test we have been using can be done as a saliva swab, an inside the nose swab or a DEEP nasal swab. The more invasive, supposedly the more likely to detect an active infection. The new combined flu/COVID we have is the same - essentially deep nasal swab to get the most accurate results. These are all done with the same type of swab, a foam one.

So these are the charges that show up as billed - keep in mind, we DON'T get reimbursed this much, it is what we bill, we get a significantly lesser amount in actual payment, depending on the various insurance companies and the contract we have with them.

Visit fee for an established patient, usually around $75-100 or so.
COVID rapid test - $57
Rapid flu A+B - $80 (it's actually $40+$40)
DNA flu A+B - $150

Combined COVID/flu is just the additive amounts (as far as I know, we just got them, so we haven't even done any) - $57 + ($40+40) = $137. I guess.

If we do strep, that's like a $42 fee or something. I think. So to give you an idea, I think we pay a little over $30 for the COVID swab kit, so essentially we make something like $25 or so on the testing.

Hope that helps, not sure if that answers the questions or not.
 

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