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There are a few websites where you can order your own tests. You pay for it online, a doctor automatically authorizes the test and then you go to a Lab corp off

by pkaye 8y ago

There are a few websites where you can order your own tests. You pay for it online, a doctor automatically authorizes the test and then you go to a Lab corp office and get your blood drawn. The basic tests can be quite cheap. Like a "chem 26" test is $55. http://www.healthcheckusa.com/heart-disease-cholesterol-tests/heart-health/super-chemistry-heart.aspx http://www.healthcheckusa.com/heart-disease-cholesterol-test... Its amazing how much hospitals are marking up these tests.

bubblethink 8y ago
I'm surprised this isn't a common thing with some big company/startup doing precisely this. All these tests that don't need specialized equipment at the point of the test (i.e., blood or other fluids as opposed to fancy imaging) can be easily outsourced to pretty much anywhere else in the world. Is there some law preventing this ?
- pkaye 8y ago
  Blood tests are commonly outsourced by many hospitals but they subsequently mark them up to cover their other costs. But you cannot outsource them to other parts of the world as many tests are inaccurate if the blood sits around too long in transit. Lastly is the problem of interpretation of the results. A person on this website might be bright enough to figure it out but there are a significant number of people who just can't. So once you bring in the doctor costs start rising up. Then you have people for whom even $55 is unaffordable.
  - bubblethink 8y ago
    >there are a significant number of people who just can't. So once you bring in the doctor costs start rising up. I'm assuming that the patient cannot read the results. i.e., They go to the hospital. Doctor asks for the tests. Patient gets the test results from their lab of choice and go back to the doctor with the results. This is a fairly common model, at least elsewhere in the world. Labs and hospitals are separate entities, and the first visit to the doctor is just a consultation with nominal costs. Doctor's costs don't kick until the test results are back.
    - pkaye 8y ago
      I've seen this model in the US also mostly with small clinics.

by pkaye 8y ago

bubblethink 8y ago

I'm surprised this isn't a common thing with some big company/startup doing precisely this. All these tests that don't need specialized equipment at the point of the test (i.e., blood or other fluids as opposed to fancy imaging) can be easily outsourced to pretty much anywhere else in the world. Is there some law preventing this ?

pkaye 8y ago
Blood tests are commonly outsourced by many hospitals but they subsequently mark them up to cover their other costs. But you cannot outsource them to other parts of the world as many tests are inaccurate if the blood sits around too long in transit. Lastly is the problem of interpretation of the results. A person on this website might be bright enough to figure it out but there are a significant number of people who just can't. So once you bring in the doctor costs start rising up. Then you have people for whom even $55 is unaffordable.
- bubblethink 8y ago
  >there are a significant number of people who just can't. So once you bring in the doctor costs start rising up. I'm assuming that the patient cannot read the results. i.e., They go to the hospital. Doctor asks for the tests. Patient gets the test results from their lab of choice and go back to the doctor with the results. This is a fairly common model, at least elsewhere in the world. Labs and hospitals are separate entities, and the first visit to the doctor is just a consultation with nominal costs. Doctor's costs don't kick until the test results are back.
  - pkaye 8y ago
    I've seen this model in the US also mostly with small clinics.