WASHINGTON (AP) – A federal official said Tuesday the government plans to ship rapid coronavirus tests to assisted living facilities, moving to fill a testing gap for older adults who don’t need the constant attention of a nursing home.
Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir said assisted living facilities will be followed by senior day care centers and home health agencies in getting the tests.
The tests will come from a supply of 150 million ordered from test maker Abbott Laboratories. Abbott’s rapid test, the size of a credit card, is the first that doesn’t require specialty computer equipment to process. It delivers results in about 15 minutes and is priced at $5, significantly lower than similar older tests.
Until now, the government’s effort to improve COVID-19 testing for vulnerable older adults has been focused on nursing homes, which are overseen by Medicare. Assisted living facilities don’t provide skilled nursing care and are outside of Medicare’s purview. Nursing homes have already been receiving another kind of fast test, from different manufacturers.
In an interview, Giroir said the government had been planning to expand rapid testing beyond nursing homes, and the advent of the new Abbott test now makes that possible.