Highlighting the Versatility of the TestDirectly Direct-to-Consumer Lab Testing Portal

TestDirectly is an easy-to-implement direct-to-consumer lab-testing web portal that provides turnkey testing solutions for medical laboratories and urgent care centers. It is a versatile, game-changing DTC tool that empowers patients, supports all forms of direct-to-consumer diagnostic testing and preventive screening, and eliminates traditional provider barriers such as paper forms, data-entry errors, and processing and lab-reporting delays.

TestDirectly is an important innovation from LigoLab, an award-winning provider of enterprise-grade LIS laboratory information system software for clinical laboratories and pathology groups, and the driving force behind the all-in-one LigoLab Informatics Platform, the most comprehensive and flexible lab information system and laboratory billing solution on the market.

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What TestDirectly Does for Direct-to-Consumer Labs and Patients

"TestDirectly serves as a platform for enhanced and specialized laboratory services," said Suren Avunjian, LigoLab's CEO. "The dynamic direct-to-consumer lab testing portal enables direct-to-consumer labs to gain visibility and grow their operation and brand while delivering what patients want, a streamlined and unified patient engagement experience."

Since its first release in the spring of 2020, TestDirectly has significantly improved both the patient experience and test turnaround times (TestDirectly results time), enabling millions of patients to order tests conveniently and directly receive consumer lab reports for a wide range of DTC testing scenarios, including COVID-19, sexually transmitted infections, urinary tract infections, wound, fungal, viral, respiratory, toxicology, allergy, and genetic testing.

TestDirectly emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic to meet the urgent need for safer, faster specimen collection and accurate reporting. Since then, it has evolved into a versatile application supporting drive-through and walk-up sites, concierge services, employer and school testing programs, government initiatives, travel-related testing, pooled surveillance, provider-distributed kits, and at-home test kits.

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Access to Consumer Lab Reports

Three Ways Patients Can Access Their Results

TestDirectly offers flexible and secure methods for patients to access consumer lab reports and test results, enhancing the patient experience with straightforward digital tools. Each testing scenario incorporates direct access capabilities, complete with email and text notifications that guide patients through the clinical lab workflow.

Existing Accounts: Patients with pre-existing TestDirectly accounts can log in to view their results directly.

New Accounts: New users can create an account using the email address provided during the sample collection process.

Direct URL Access: For immediate access without registration, patients can click a dedicated link to a secure page where they enter an access key, order ID, and date of birth to validate their identity.

Regardless of the chosen method, patients can view, download, and print their consumer lab reports, ensuring easy management of their health information.

TestDirectly Testing Scenarios

On-Site and Drive-Through Testing 

The TestDirectly on-site and drive-through testing scenario was a vital link between patients and providers during COVID-19 surges, and continues to be an effective way to collect specimens at scale, safely, and in an organized way. The next video highlights the portal's patient self-registration and self-scheduling capabilities, along with automated email and SMS notifications that alert patients when their results are ready for review. 

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Walk-up Testing

TestDirectly supports walk-up testing that enables patients to register on-site without pre-registration or appointments. Ideal for mobile testing units, patient service centers, and urgent care facilities, the next video features TestDirectly's Quickform registration. Patients simply scan a QR code with their mobile device to access the form and begin testing.

Concierge Testing

TestDirectly supports concierge testing, enabling a medical professional, such as a phlebotomist or nurse, to collect specimens at the patient's home. As with all TestDirectly workflows, this scenario (highlighted below) supports all payment types and the uploading of insurance and payment information during order entry. Once scheduled, the appointment appears in the TestDirectly scheduled orders queue, offering clear visibility into upcoming collections.

Event and Organizational Testing 

TestDirectly is an ideal solution for managing large-scale event and organizational testing programs. The platform offers robust customization and access control tailored to the specific needs, size, and location of each event or organization. Organizers can easily order tests, monitor results, and track compliance with full visibility into participant or employee testing data.

School District and University Testing 

TestDirectly's intuitive design makes it an excellent fit for school districts and university testing programs, where multiple stakeholders are involved, and the focus is on maintaining safe in-person learning and peace of mind for parents and guardians. When implemented effectively, the platform enables scalable, well-organized testing that can preserve thousands of instructional hours. Administrators gain flexible access control to view results by facility, staff, student group, or other attributes. TestDirectly also supports increased testing volumes without compromising turnaround times.

Government Agency Testing 

TestDirectly supports multi-facility on-site testing campaigns and batch orders, two key capabilities for large entities such as government agencies. It also supports creating organizational users with specific credentials to place orders and view results, subject to administrative access controls.

Travel Testing

For travelers needing to share their current health status, TestDirectly offers a simple and secure solution. Integrated with the SMART Health Card Framework, the portal enables patients to generate a digital record, displayed via a QR code, that verifies a COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test result. With a TestDirectly account, users can easily access and share their verified health status whenever needed.

Pooled and Surveillance Testing 

TestDirectly supports pooled and surveillance testing, where specimens from multiple individuals are combined and tested as a single sample. This cost-effective approach enables rapid assessment of large populations. If the pooled sample is negative, all participants are cleared. If positive, follow-up diagnostic tests are performed to identify the specific source of infection.

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Provider Test Kit Distribution

TestDirectly makes it easy for providers to ship home test kits anywhere in the U.S., offering a convenient, patient-friendly option for at-home specimen collection. Each kit includes labeled specimen tubes and return shipping materials, enabling patients to collect samples at home and send them to the lab for processing. This workflow creates a new revenue stream for providers while streamlining the entire process from kit distribution and order fulfillment through electronic result delivery.

Home Test Kit Registration

Patients can purchase a home testing kit from a retailer and register it using a unique identifier, ensuring their order is accurately linked to the specimen upon lab check-in. By completing a Quickform with basic information before their specimen arrives at the laboratory, patients help streamline the testing process. During registration, they can securely upload insurance documents, pay using their preferred payment method, and receive email or text notifications when their results are ready to view.

Webinar: Expanding Lab Services and Adding Revenue

Is your laboratory seeking innovative strategies to enhance brand visibility and unlock new revenue streams through expanded testing capabilities? Are you curious about direct-to-consumer lab testing and how it might benefit your lab operations?

The following on-demand webinar highlights multiple direct-to-consumer lab testing workflows that support a wide range of diagnostic testing and patient engagement strategies, along with valuable insights from a customer perspective and commentary on key industry trends to watch.

On-Demand Webinar: Learn How to Expand Your Lab’s Services and Add Revenue with Direct-to-Consumer Lab Testing

Ready to Grow Your Organization’s Direct-to-Consumer Lab Testing?

Take Action: Speak With a LigoLab Product Specialist Today!

Frequently Asked Questions About the TestDirectly Direct-to-Consumer Lab Testing Portal

What is TestDirectly?

TestDirectly is a dynamic direct-to-consumer lab testing web portal developed by LigoLab, designed for medical laboratories, urgent care centers, and other diagnostic testing organizations. It provides a turnkey solution for patient self-registration, specimen collection scheduling, result delivery, and payment processing across a wide range of testing scenarios, eliminating the paper forms, manual data entry, and reporting delays associated with traditional provider-based testing models.

What types of tests does TestDirectly support?

TestDirectly supports a broad range of direct-to-consumer diagnostic testing and preventative screening, including COVID-19, sexually transmitted infections, urinary tract infections, wound, fungal, viral, respiratory, toxicology, allergy, and genetic testing. The platform is designed to accommodate virtually any DTC test type.

How do patients access their lab test results through TestDirectly?

Patients can access their results in three ways: by logging into an existing TestDirectly account, by creating a new account using the email address provided during specimen collection, or by clicking a dedicated direct URL and entering an access key, order ID, and date of birth for identity verification. In all cases, patients can view, download, and print their consumer lab reports directly from the portal.

How does TestDirectly support patient self-registration and scheduling?

TestDirectly offers multiple patient-facing registration tools, including a self-registration and self-scheduling interface for on-site and drive-through scenarios, a mobile-friendly Quickform that patients access by scanning a QR code for walk-up testing, and guided registration workflows for home test kit and concierge scenarios. All workflows support uploading insurance information and accommodate all payment types.

Can TestDirectly support large-scale testing programs for schools, employers, or government agencies?

Yes. TestDirectly is specifically designed to scale for large programs, with robust customization, administrative access controls, batch order capabilities, and multi-facility support. Administrators can view results by facility, staff group, student group, or other attributes. Government agencies and organizational programs benefit from multi-site testing campaign management and organization-specific user credentials.

How does TestDirectly integrate with LigoLab's LIS system and lab billing platform?

TestDirectly is built as a native extension of the LigoLab Informatics Platform, sharing the same lab database software and infrastructure as LigoLab’s LIS and lab billing modules. This means that orders placed through TestDirectly flow directly into the lab's clinical workflow and billing processes, with automatic result delivery, real-time insurance eligibility verification, and seamless lab revenue cycle management, eliminating the need for separate data entry or system reconciliation.