Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories LLC, the Spokane-based national reference laboratory, has launched an at-home blood collection kit as part of its consumer-based product line called Cinch, which it rolled out earlier this year, says Shawn Whitcomb, chief information officer for PAML. 

Consumers can order the collection kit through the Cinch website, at www.gocinch.com, Whitcomb says. Tests that are available for at-home collection are marked on the website by an icon, he says. 

“They can select those tests, check out, and we overnight them a kit,” Whitcomb says. “So they’ll get the kit within the next one or two days.”

The at-home collection kit comes with a finger stick and a credit-card sized collection card, Whitcomb says. Customers prick their finger and deposit a few drops of blood on the designated space on the card. After letting the card dry, the customer puts it into a provided envelop and mails it back.

“They’re then notified when the results are available online,” he says. 

Tests that customers can do at home include cholesterol and a Vitamin D test, Whitcomb says. The tests vary in cost, he says. For example, it’s $25 for a cholesterol test and $60 for the Vitamin D test. The price of the test includes shipping, he says. 

PAML also offers two other collection methods through Cinch. One involves a consumer ordering a test and going to a patient service center to have the test done. 

“There we offer a whole range of tests,” Whitcomb says.

The other method is PAML’s mobile phlebotomy service, which involves a phlebotomist traveling to the patient and drawing blood. The service is available here, and PAML is in the process of building out the network nationally. 

Some tests are sensitive or complicated enough that PAML doesn’t offer at-home collection, Whitcomb says. For example, it doesn’t offer HIV tests for at-home collection. 

Once a customer has their results from their at-home collection, they can then take the results to a medical provider and discuss potential concerns, Whitcomb says. 

“In the traditional route, you have to schedule and be seen by a doctor, then go get blood drawn somewhere, and then go back to the doctor’s office to discuss the results with a physician,” he says. “With Cinch and at-home capabilities, we’re actually able to allow people, in the convenience of their own home, to check on their health, reveal some common conditions, and engage with their physician.”