Crush the Curve Idaho and state of Idaho offers COVID-19 testing to long-term care facilities
MERIDIAN, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) – Crush the Curve Idaho and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare recently entered into an agreement to perform COVID-19 testing for staff and residents of long-term care facilities in Idaho.
Under the agreement, the state of Idaho will leverage CARES Act funding received by the state to pay for any approved testing not covered through health insurance, Medicare, or the federal CARES Act. All licensed long-term care facilities in the state of Idaho are approved for the program, including assisted living facilities, skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities.
Since launching in mid-September, more than 150 facilities have registered for the program.
“Residents of long-term care facilities are perhaps the most at-risk group for serious complications from COVID-19,” Crush the Curve Idaho executive director Tina Upson said. “This program has the potential to save numerous lives, lower hospitalizations and keep Idaho’s most vulnerable population safe. In our opinion, rigorous testing at long-term care facilities is the single most important action we can take to lower COVID-19 deaths.”
According to COVID-19 statistics from the State of Idaho’s Coronavirus.Idaho.gov website, more than 93% of COVID-19 deaths are among people over the age of 60, with over half of those deaths attributed to residents of long term-care facilities. In contrast, less than 3% of deaths are among Idahoans under the age of 50.
Earlier this year when the State of Idaho announced its priority testing groups, it placed residents and staff of long-term care facilities in its top priority tier (group 1). But, strains on testing capacity made it hard for long-term care facilities to test at the state’s and CMS recommended intervals.
About this same time, Crush the Curve Idaho began to shift its focus from antibody testing to solving the testing capacity issues for COVID-19 by conducting active viral testing.
“We immediately went to work looking for a solution that would allow us to not only acquire the supplies needed for testing, but also lower the resulting time and make testing easier to conduct,” Upson said. “Shortly after, we launched our COVID-19 group testing program.”
The program allows facilities to self-administer COVID-19 testing onsite (or alternatively send employees to a CTCI-run testing site), ship specimens overnight to labs, and get results delivered to them securely and digitally as soon as the labs input them.
As part of the program, Crush the Curve Idaho partnered with more than 10 commercial labs that comprise a total aggregate weekly testing capacity of more than 500,000 tests. By directing specimens to labs with the fastest turnaround times, the program has averaged result turnaround times of just 32 hours.
It also licensed technology that made the testing process seamless for both people conducting the testing on the ground and for administrators from the companies participating in the program.
“So, when the State of Idaho released additional funding for testing, CTCI was ready with the infrastructure to support their testing goals,” Upson said.
For more information on the program, visit Crush the Curve Idaho’s website.
