Interested in taking lab tests into your own hands? With everlywell, you can assess aspects of your wellness with our easy at-home sample collection process. Here’s a step-by-step explanation of how it works and why so many love the ease, speed, and convenience of everlywell’s home lab tests.
Let’s start by taking a look at step #1.
step 1: the everlywell kit arrives at your house
When you order a kit from everlywell, it is shipped directly to the address you provide, and the kit typically arrives within 3-5 business days. You don’t need to visit a doctor’s office, or a lab, to get tested; you can do it all at home.
As you can imagine, home testing saves you a lot of time (and effort), which is why people say things like these about everlywell’s testing process:
“There is nothing more convenient than having a test at home and then being able to get the results within a week of taking the blood sample. plus, they have a great online user interface to view the results. i ended up finding out that my vitamin d levels were very low as expected (issues from living so far north). I’ll get tested every month as I supplement to find the dose I need to get my levels into a healthy range.”
step 2: register your team
will open your kit to begin the testing process. Inside the box, you’ll find easy-to-follow instructions for performing your test, and everything you need comes with the kit.
after opening the kit, you will register your test online (each kit has a unique identification number). this links the test to your account on the secure online platform where your results will appear (which will happen in step #6).
Once you have registered your kit, you will have the option to view videos to guide you through the sample collection process.
step 3: collect your sample(s)
Depending on the test you request, you will need to collect a sample of blood, saliva, vaginal swab, and/or urine.
everlywell tests measure a variety of biomarkers in your body so you can better understand different aspects of your well-being. LDL cholesterol is an example of a biomarker (it can help predict heart disease risk), but there are many more. Biomarkers exist in different parts of the body, including blood, saliva, and urine.
The kit you receive includes everything you need to collect a sample that you will then send to a lab for analysis. if the kit requires a blood sample, for example, you’ll find lancets in the kit to prick your finger and drop a few drops of blood into the designated spots on the collection card.
Click the links below to learn more about everlywell’s home sample collection tools for:
- bloodstain samples
- saliva samples
- urine samples
- vaginal swab samples
Why do our blood tests require only a few drops of blood from your fingertip, while tests in a clinic (or lab) often require a whole blood draw from one of your veins?
Laboratories do not need vials filled with blood to perform many types of tests. therefore, a laboratory will often perform a test using only a small fraction of the blood that was drawn from your vein. (The rest of the blood sample is often wasted, or never used for testing.)
everlywell’s blood-based tests use a well-established collection method called “dried blood spotting.” this way of collecting a blood sample is technologically quite different from a typical blood draw (and requires very little blood). and, like all sample collection methods used by our tests, this method meets scientifically rigorous standards of reliability and validity.
so everlywell’s tests are as accurate as a lab test your doctor might use, and they’re also very easy to perform. Here’s how one everlywell test taker put it:
“I was worried at first because I’ve never done blood work at home, but everlywell made the process so simple, easy to understand, and overall seamless. I’m a visual person, so the fact that having video tutorials made my thyroid test even better.the test shipped quickly and i received my results in about a week…i am a huge fan now and will continue to fortify my own path to health through testing from everlywell.”
Once you’ve collected your sample, you’ll seal it inside a biohazard bag. You are now ready to submit your sample for laboratory analysis!
step 4: send your sample to the lab
Inside each kit is all the supplies you’ll need to ship your sample to one of the labs we use for testing, including a prepaid shipping label. you’ll simply slip your sample into the unused envelope that comes with the kit, attach the shipping label, and mail it.
Please note that the shipping supplies are located at the bottom of the kit box, under a cardboard divider.
step 5: the lab processes your sample
The lab will process your sample once it arrives. To ensure that your sample receives the highest quality laboratory testing, EverlyWell only uses CLIA-certified laboratories.
what is a clia certified lab? CLIA is an acronym for Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments. these are federal regulatory standards that apply to any clinical laboratory testing human samples (not including research laboratories) [1].
the clia program establishes quality standards for laboratory tests. Three different federal agencies spearhead this program [2]: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Center for Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
In addition, many of the laboratories we use are accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the gold standard for the quality of laboratory tests. And each of the labs undergoes regular third-party proficiency testing through CAP or other respected organizations.
Step 6: View your test results on our secure online platform
once the lab receives your sample, you will receive your results online within 5 business days (generally).
Before your results are released, your results will be reviewed by a doctor (from a network of associated physicians who specializes in lab follow-up). If a test result is of concern because a biomarker value is dangerously out of range or a “critical value,” a team member from this network will call you to let you know. (hba1c, a measure of blood sugar levels, is an example of a biomarker that can be dangerously out of range.)
another example of an out of range marker is a std detected in our 6 panel std test. In the case of our sexual health tests, doctors in our network can prescribe medications to give you positive results on certain tests if you are in any of these 47 states.
then an email notification will let you know your results are ready. you can then check your results on our secure online platform.
You can choose to download your results in pdf format, as well as download (and print) a “medical version” of your results that you can share with your healthcare provider.
everlywell puts wellness testing in your hands, on your time and on your terms, and our wide variety of home lab tests allow you to explore and address many aspects of your body’s wellness. so if you’re interested in home lab testing with everlywell, consider reviewing all of our tests here.