Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the urgent care industry has dramatically scaled its testing capabilities. It’s estimated that over 10,000 centers across the country now perform millions of COVID tests each month. However, we are still seeing that many states across the country are not yet meeting their testing targets.
At Solv, we’ve continued to experience strong demand for COVID tests from patients using our app–nearly one million COVID tests have been scheduled through Solv since March. However, we often hear that consumers lack the knowledge of where they can go to get tested, and are struggling to find a clinic or facility that has testing appointment availability.
That’s why today, Solv and the Urgent Care Association are excited to announce a new initiative, the Testing Access Program (TAP) with the goal of helping match consumers seeking COVID tests to underutilized testing capacity at urgent cares across the country. Using both the UCA and Solv’s testing center databases, the TAP program will syndicate testing capabilities to popular consumer apps and employer websites so that more people can easily find a testing center with availability.
The first two consumer-facing sites and apps to launch with data syndication are Apple Maps and Castlight Health. Now thousands of urgent care centers are searchable, and if enabled, bookable for Apple and Castlight’s massive consumer audiences.
On Apple Maps, clinics that offer testing can be easily found while searching for a nearby testing site. Apple Maps also conveniently integrates with Siri, so that testing centers can be found with voice or search on the 100 Million iOS devices in use across the country. And, if enabled, book a COVID testing appointment directly through Solv.
Apple Maps testing booking flow
With Castlight, UCA and Solv testing data will appear on the internal corporate healthcare portals for hundreds of top employers across the country, including AT&T, Southwest Airlines, and Kraft Foods. Employees at these companies can find a nearby urgent care with COVID testing capability, and if enabled schedule a visit through Solv.
Castlight State of New Jersey booking
At Solv, we believe consumers should have more convenient access to COVID testing. Finding and booking a COVID test should be simple and straightforward, Solv and the UCA have come together to enable these partnerships with Apple Maps and Castlight Health. We’re surfacing thousands of available COVID tests–giving consumers more availability and choices for where to go to get tested quickly.
