After recently receiving its at-home or self-collection authorization from the FDA, Exact Sciences has a new option for employers to test their employees for COVID-19.

The FDA approval allows someone to swab on their own without a medical professional.

Currently, Exact Sciences partners with businesses in the same way it does with the Department of Health Services. It provides the testing supplies, but then it’s up to the business to make sure that a specimen is properly collected and transported back to Exact Sciences’ Madison lab for testing. Then, it’s up to the business to make sure that employees are notified of their test result.

What’s coming next — the at-home test — has a telehealth provider who oversees the order and the result electronically, so there’s no need for a business to have its own on-site or contracted medical professional, said Jake Orville, general manager of Pipeline at Exact Sciences. Orville’s role is to help get new diagnostic tests on the market.

“This process provides flexible options on how to receive testing supplies either in bulk to you as an employer to hand them out or individually directly to the employee at their home,” he said in a Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce virtual event. “This option has dashboards that provide insights to the employer on results and even compliance with who’s performing the testing.”

While several companies are currently using this new process, Exact Sciences and its partner Everlywell expect to have additional capacity in about 60 days.

“Starting in November, we anticipate this option to be more widely available,” Orville said. “The process is relatively simple. We are starting to contact and contract with select employers starting in October for November availability.”

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