What's Different About Private Testing for STDs?

Over 300,000 people get tested at LabCorp and Quest each day. These labs and their PSCs were created to serve physicians in the testing of insured patients. The doctor and the insurance company perform very important functions in the administration of these tests and the dissemination of results. Who performs these functions in private STD testing?

Private testing for STDs is quite different from other testing in terms of customer expectations. You want to control your identity information. You want to pay without insurance. You want to get tested in minimal time and in one visit. You want to get your results, delivered to you in absolute confidentiality, as quickly as possible, with no chance for error.

It's pretty simple: someone has to do the job of the physician's staff and take steps to make sure that mistakes and delays in processing are virtually zero. That requires hotline support for the customer and the PSC staff. That requires proactive information verification. Simply sending a customer to the PSC with an emailed requisition isn't likely to work well.

Ordering and Interpreting the Right STD Tests

Did you know that LabCorp has 82 different tests for Herpes? Twenty-one different tests for genital herpes alone? Or that Quest Diagnostics has 55 different tests for HIV? Did you know that oral herpes can show genital symptoms? And that proper herpes testing should always involve testing for Type 1 as well as Type 2...even though Type 1 is not a sexually transmitted disease?

What does it mean if you test negative for gonorrhea but your partner tests positive? What should you do if you test negative for Herpes Type 2 now, but you tested positive five years ago? Should you take the HIV by PCR/DNA test if your last exposure was three weeks ago? Did you know that Quest and LabCorp run different IgG herpes tests?

OK. Sorry to make this sound daunting. The point is, that just running the cheapest tests for STDs, emailing results reports without counseling, and handing you off to a "free doctor consultation" (who will sell you a medical subscription service) is probably not going to help you. interpreting the results without a large experience base with the specific tests being used is not a good practice. You want to make sure to be tested with the assistance of an expert in the specific tests you are getting.

Perfecting the Patient Service Center Visit

The national lab Patient Service Centers (PSCs) work very well...when the physician or their staff do the job of correctly managing the visit. However, PSCs were not designed to flawlessly process each private testing customer in minimum time and maximum convenience. Things can go wrong. For example:

• The PSC was not open when the testing company told you they were. Or they don't show your appointment.
• The PSC required your photo id and it doesn't match the name you're using or your birth date.
• The PSC didn't mark your order paid, and so the lab sends you a bill for the testing at your home address.
• The PSC didn't stock the chlamydia/gonorrhea test kit and you have to return to give your blood/urine again.
• The PSC had a question about your order and no one at the testing company was around to answer it in real time.

Simply sending a person to a PSC with an emailed requisition for private STD testing does not head-off these potential problems. So what steps does tSTD take to head off these problems?

Pre-test counseling with you to verify your information and test options; Contact with the PSC to make sure their information is current and they have the necessary draw kits; and, Hotline support to react immediately if you or the PSC have any questions about the order.