OTC COVID-19 Tests Are Available on the Cheap, but Do They Meet a Patient’s Needs?

As mass market retailers like Walmart and CVS push sales of over-the-counter COVID-19 tests, urgent care operators may have concerns that patients will no longer seek answers from their local urgent care center. Undoubtedly some patients who want to know if they have COVID-19 for personal reasons, such as if they want to visit an elderly relative, will head down to the drugstore for their test, many more require documentation from a healthcare provider for work or travel purposes; that’s simply not available with an OTC test. In addition, as JUCM News has reported previously, so far it doesn’t appear that many people who get a positive result from a home test report their findings to the local health department, thereby skewing important data on spread of the virus at the community level. If patients ask about the viability of OTC COVID-19 tests, you can tell them that while they may get their worries either confirmed or allayed based on the results, there are both care-related reasons (there’s no corresponding medication available in aisle 6, for example) and logistical concerns that are better addressed in a clinical environment.