DoorDash now delivers at-home COVID-19 tests in a dozen cities
Move over, pizza and burgers. DoorDash’s delivery drivers are now dropping COVID-19 tests on people’s doorsteps.
The San Francisco-based logistics platform has teamed up with two COVID-19 PCR test manufacturers to launch same-day delivery of home collection kits in 12 U.S. cities.
DoorDash will deliver tests from Vault Health and Everlywell, digital health companies whose home collection kits are currently available under FDA Emergency Use Authorizations for both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. Both tests come with prepaid overnight shipping envelopes that deliver the samples to company labs and provide results in 24 to 48 hours from arrival at the labs.
Both tests will come from DoorDash’s convenience stores, called DashMarts, which are currently located in 12 U.S. cities, including Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis and Phoenix. DoorDash said it will add more cities in the coming months.
“Amidst the pandemic, one of our priorities has been to make health and wellness essentials more accessible for customers, with the goal of helping businesses leverage our last-mile logistics infrastructure to provide more convenient and timely access to their health supplies,” Anna Katherine Barnett-Hart, DoorDash’s director of new verticals, said in a statement.
Saliva collection for Vault’s test is performed under supervision of Vault staff using an audio-video visit to confirm identity and ensure proper sample collection and quantity. The test costs $119, although Vault said it may be eligible for health insurance reimbursement. Vault did not return a request for comment on which insurers reimburse for the test.
Everlywell’s test uses a nasal swab and costs $109. The company said some insurers will reimburse for the test, although it did not respond to a request for more information on that.
The Biden administration has said that group health plans must cover COVID tests with no cost sharing, even for patients without symptoms.
