LTC Imperative Completes Survey on Testing in Consultation with MDH

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Jeff Bostic

The LTC Imperative recently wrapped up our most recent short survey, this one on testing practices using questions developed in consultation with MDH to give them a view into what is happening with testing in long-term care.

 Thanks to the almost 400 providers who were able to respond in the slightly expanded time frame. The full survey results are available here. Key findings include:

• Assisted Living providers are primarily testing due to symptoms or outbreaks;
• Antigen testing is being used by many providers as part of their testing approach, but a significant minority are not using that method at all;
• Mayo is the dominant lab partner for PCR testing particularly among care centers, but there are a few other players with non-minuscule share;
• Timeliness of results has improved since our previous survey in August, but a majority still report not receiving lab results in 48 hours;
• Saliva testing is not being considered as an alternative by most providers at this point, but many are interested in learning more;
• Key concerns raised by nursing homes include timeliness of results, frequency of mandated testing and cost; and
• Key concerns raised by assisted living providers include timeliness of results, cost, and availability of supplies for the Abbott tests.