Pittsburgh Lab celebrates successful program launches after scaling up to meet community demand during the Omicron surge.
PITTSBURGH, PA (June 13th, 2022) – In the 6 months since SDxLabs opened their doors for COVID-19 testing, they’ve provided over 15,000 COVID tests, partnered with 50 pharmacies across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, and are now launching a partnership with Stage AE to provide testing for live events. With these milestones, SDxLabs is realizing their mission to improve the testing access in the Pittsburgh area and are making huge progress in their goal of empowering people to make proactive healthcare decisions.
SDxLabs was established with the goal of offering novel, innovative tests for advanced disease detection to enable proactive healthcare management. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and arrival of variants like Omicron, the SDxLabs team realized early an opportunity to expedite their public launch by offering accessible, affordable, and fast COVID-19 testing. SDxLabs opened to the public with 15 employees and 1,500 square feet of space but the omicron surge required them to scale up as quickly as possible to make an impact in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area.
According to SDxLabs National Sales Director Jackie Mullens, people’s needs simply weren’t being met by most available options.
“While talking to pharmacies, businesses, and our patients – we quickly realized that there was a huge gap between people that needed tests and test availability in Western Pennsylvania. With case numbers surging, we had to act fast to make sure our lab and our partner pharmacies were prepared to provide testing for the community.” Mullens continued “We’ve heard horror stories about 2 weeklong turnaround times from major providers – our goal has always been to provide results as fast as possible. With the new guidance from the CDC coming down, there relevant window for testing is as small as 5 days. We’re proud to have kept our turnaround time under 72 hours, even during the busiest parts of the Omicron surge.”
Partnerships have lead the way for SDxLabs and enabled them to reach far more communities than just nearby Northside neighborhoods. To date - SDxLabs has partnered with over 50 labs in the greater Pittsburgh area and as far east as Philadelphia. By establishing and scaling shipping and courier routes in the area, SDxLabs has been able to keep turnaround fast, while expanding access to testing across Western Pennsylvania.
SDxLabs Director of Client Success Helene Colaizzi has been in constant communication with local pharmacy owners.
“We’ve gotten incredible feedback from our partner pharmacies – especially those in more rural areas. Up until recently – many of these communities haven’t had access to testing at all outside of rapid tests from large pharmacy chains. With supply chain issues causing massive shortages in the availability of those tests, we were able to jump in and fill the gaps.” Mrs. Colaizzi continued. “These pharmacies are important community institutions, our partnerships with them have allowed us to jump right in and work with the community to combat the Omicron surge. Our goal above all else is to support and help the communities we provide testing in, our partner pharmacies have been an invaluable tool in accomplishing that goal.”
As case numbers drop and with a robust partner network established, SDxLabs is focusing on helping businesses use testing preventatively to get ahead of any future waves. Their first such partnership with Stage AE will see them make testing available for all their musicians, staff, and patrons.
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About SDx Labs
SDxLabs is a Pittsburgh-based high-complexity molecular diagnostics lab. SDxLabs was founded with the goal of equipping the communities we serve with innovative diagnostic procedures to take a proactive approach to healthcare. With world-class turnaround time, customizable testing solutions, and an elevated client centric experience, SDxLabs is providing communities with the tools they need to proactively fight COVID-19 and simultaneously improve healthcare equity.