Kroger Health Debuts At-Home COVID-19 Tests
The Kroger Co's healthcare division, Kroger Health, is making COVID-19 Test Home Collection Kits available for front-line associates across all of Kroger's companies, based on medical need. The retailer received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and plans to expand access to other companies and organizations in the coming weeks.
The testing solution is in partnership with Gravity Diagnostics, a clinical laboratory in Covington, Kentucky. The goal is to process 60,000 tests per week by the end of July.
Patients first access a website to answer screening questions and input their organization's benefit code, and if they qualify, a home collection kit is shipped within 24 to 48 hours. Home collection is performed under the telehealth supervision of a licensed healthcare professional.
The patient overnights their sample to the laboratory for processing, which on average takes 24 to 48 hours as well. For a patient whose test result is positive, a healthcare professional will contact them via phone to provide a recommended course of care.
"Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the safety of our associates and our customers has remained our top priority," said Colleen Lindholz, president of Kroger Health. "Kroger Heath remains committed to helping people live healthier lives through our multi-disciplinary team of licensed, trained and experienced healthcare providers. Over the past few months, Kroger Health has been providing Americans with access to COVID-19 testing through community test sites across the country; however, we've observed some individuals do not have access to transportation or live near these community testing locations. To help ease this burden and provide greater accessibility, we will be offering a home testing solution to our associates first followed by other companies and organizations."
The Kroger Health COVID-19 Test Home Collection Kits will initially be available in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia. Additional states will be added soon.
Since April, Kroger has administered more than 100,000 COVID-19 tests at its public drive-thru and walk-up testing sites.
Cincinnati-based Kroger employs nearly half a million associates who serve 9 million-plus customers daily through a seamless digital shopping experience and 2,757 retail food stores under a variety of banner names. The company is No. 3 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2020 list of the top food retailers in the United States.
