Reimbursement has very little to do with this. The delays are related to supplies and trained personnel. Many micro labs are/have expanded their FTE by 30% to keep up with testing. Then it is about instruments, reagents, and supply limitations. Ask any lab director, they’ll agree https://twitter.com/lourdesgnavarro/status/1291851326511554560

Also, the tests themselves are not garbage (though some are not so great), but having a result come back a week later means the value has greatly diminished. We test to inform action. If a result can’t be acted upon for 7 days, then yes, garbage situation.

What we needed was a national strategy, and coordination of resources, and that didn’t happen.

And don’t say that labs could fix a turnaround problem when there are unpredictable supplies of swabs, reagents, test consumables, and even instruments. The companies make these for world-wide distribution. Everyone needs them. Labs can’t fix supply chain problems.

We are all working our butts off to keep test results flowing, maintain quality pivot endlessly among clinical workflows and accommodatjng backup/substitute swabs/tubes/reagents/etc. all while hopelessly understaffed. You are welcome.

Here are a few others you can ask (incomplete list): @EBabady @KarissaPhD @melmillerphd @SBtotheDub @omaigarner @Linoj_S @paigemklarkin @ElliTheelPhD @DrMattBinnicker @ParasiteGal @richdavisphd @E_McElvania @GreningerLab @paul_luethy @moricemdphd @micro_rp @romneyinla @DienBard