Total Primary Care is now offering the first COVID-19 antibody test in Texas approved by the FDA for EUA use.
Total Primary Care issued the following announcement on May 8.
Total Primary Care has become the first medical provider in Texas to secure and offer a COVID-19 antibody test approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for EUA use.
More specifically, the primary care system has now received the Cellex COVID-19 antibody test in both its Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) markets. Cellex's test produces results in approximately 15 minutes, in office.
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina-based Cellex's rapid point of care (POC) test looks for the antibodies against the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The FDA granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the test on April 1.
Demand for COVID-19 antibody tests continues to grow in Texas as "stay-at-home" orders ease – and people prepare to return to work and resume activities outside the home. Access to the test comes as Total Primary Care rolls out programs designed for employers that enables organizations to have such testing performed either off-site or on-site at their location.
"We're working hard to be at the forefront of COVID-19 antibody testing because we believe knowledge is power when it comes to helping people manage their health," Robert Sek, CEO of Total Primary Care.
Since a high percentage of cases appear to have mild or no symptoms, people often are not getting tested for the virus while it's active in their system. Total Primary Care is seeing particular interest from people that either had COVID-19 symptoms or potential exposure in the past, and now want to see if they have the antibodies. Additionally, most scientists agree that a positive result from a credible antibody test likely means a person has some degree of immunity from this virus, including the World Health Organization, though how long any level of immunity will last is still being researched.
The cost for an antibody test is covered by in-network insurance plans, with many plans waiving co-pays to encourage testing.
Total Primary Care is a large primary care system in the greater Austin area, operating 16 Total Care Primary Care and Total Men's Primary Care locations in Central Texas. The company also has 8 locations in the DFW area. Men, women and children are now able to get COVID-19 antibody tests at all area locations.
A list of Total Men's Primary Locations can be found here: https://totalmens.com/#locations. A list of Total Care Primary Care locations can be found here: https://total.healthcare/#locations.
Original source can be found here.
