FORT WORTH, Texas — eTrueNorth and the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Increasing Community Access to Testing (ICATT) program, are inviting pharmacies of all sizes to participate in a turnkey COVID-19 specimen collection and testing program. Participating pharmacies will be able to offer free COVID-19 testing in their local communities and receive reimbursement.

eTrueNorth has already performed millions of COVID-19 tests across the country and is now welcoming independent and small chain pharmacies as well as nationwide brands to join its program and receive reimbursement for their participation. Pharmacies that are not currently offering COVID-19 testing services billed through public or private insurance will receive reimbursement from the ICATT program on a per-resulted test basis.

Pharmacy appointments are listed at www.INeedaCOVID19Test.com, where individuals schedule an appointment for specimen collection.  Participating pharmacies will be part of the current Federally-funded effort to expand testing to more than 15,000 pharmacy locations across the country.

Participating pharmacies set their own schedule for testing. These PCR nasal-swab COVID-19 tests are observed by pharmacy staff and shipped to a certified laboratory for analysis using shipping materials provided by eTrueNorth.

JoLynn Coleman, eTrueNorth’s Vice President of Pharmacy Solutions, explained that central to the pharmacy’s ability to provide COVID-19 testing is ready access to a technology platform that can assist in every step of the process.

“eTrueNorth provides the technology infrastructure needed for consumers to register, schedule an appointment, and receive their test result. eTrueNorth provides COVID-19 specimen collection kits and all the shipping materials to pharmacies free of charge,” said Coleman. “Participants receive test results online in their secure account. There is no tracking or upkeep by the pharmacy. Further, results are reported as required to the State Department of Health via the AIMS/APHL platform. All the pharmacy needs to do is observe the specimen collection and package samples for shipment to the laboratory. eTrueNorth will then provide seamless reimbursement to the pharmacy. We make the entire process manageable for pharmacies.”

eTrueNorth also provides virtual training for pharmacy staff to ensure they can accurately instruct individuals on how to perform the nasal swab. Pharmacies will initially receive supplies to collect between 200 and 300 specimens, and an easy system to reorder supplies is available.

The COVID-19 testing capabilities at retail pharmacies started with large brands. With recent Federal expansion efforts, small chains and independent pharmacies can now receive reimbursement for offering COVID-19 testing.

Coral May, eTrueNorth’s co-founder and CEO, said Federal Government expansion of testing locations creates a unique opportunity for pharmacies to expand the services they offer their customers and develop a new income source. “eTrueNorth has a proven technology infrastructure system in its www.INeedaCOVID19Test.com platform. We are so pleased to be able to offer independent and small chain pharmacies what large pharmacy chains have taken advantage of for the last 18 months,” May said. “We make it easy for smaller pharmacies to increase access to COVID-19 testing in their communities.”

HOW TO JOIN:
Please visit https://etruenorth.com/join for an easy self-sign up, including:

1. Location information
2. Contract executed via DocuSign
3. Banking information for monthly reimbursement
4. Virtual training and post-test once information is submitted and approved
5. Store specimen collection schedule

Pharmacies should be able to begin collecting specimens within about 4 to 5 weeks from the time of initial registration.