Ascension Wisconsin to begin offering drive-through COVID-19 testing at six sites – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Ascension Wisconsin plans to begin drive-through testing for COVID-19, starting with six sites in southeastern Wisconsin.(Photo: Jen Steele / Journal Sentinel)

Ascension Wisconsin said Monday that ithas begun offering drive-through testing for COVID-19at six sites in southeastern Wisconsinfor people who have been pre-screened and approved to be tested.

The siteswill be open by appointment only from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., according to the news release. The testing will be overseen by the AscensionMedical Group Wisconsin.

People who want to be tested must be pre-screened by a physician or other clinician with Ascension Medical Group, by phone or virtually.

Virtual, or video, visitsare available through Ascension Online Care.

Patients who meet the criteria based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be given an appointment for drive-through testing.

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On Friday, Aurora Health Care suspended its plansfor drive-through testing sites because of a national shortage of testing supplies.

Aurora was limiting testing to patients who met the two highest tiers in the state guidelines. Those include patients who are hospitalized or who have had exposure to a confirmed COVID-19 patient as well as health care workers with unexplained fever and symptoms of a lower-respiratory tract illness.

The health system had planned to operate a drive-throughsite at Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee, followed by one at Aurora BayCare Medical Center in Green Bay.

Ascension Wisconsin is sending specimens toQuest Diagnostics and LabCorp to be processed but hopes to have in-house labs to process its own tests soon,Patricia Golden, a physician and the primary care medical director of Ascension Medical Group Wisconsin, said in a statement.Theadditional capacity will allow COVID-19 testing for a wider group of patients.

This will enable the health system to test patients with chronic diseases, such as diabetes, who are among the most vulnerable to the disease.

The testing sites are:

Additional locations will be opened later this week in Brookfield, Milwaukee, Stevens Point, Rhinelander and Crandon. Those include drive-through sites atAscension St. Joseph hospital andAscension Elmbrook hospital in Brookfield.

Patients will remain in their vehicles at the testing site and an Ascension employee will check the patients'information in the electronic health record to confirm that they have been screened.There is no upfront cost for testing, but patients will be asked to provide insurance information if it is not in the patients records.

Health insurersand Medicarehave committed to waiving the cost of the tests for people in their health plans.

Ascension Wisconsin also hasset up a hotline for people who have questions about COVID-19, are experiencing symptoms or want to receive a text message to schedule an Ascension Online Care appointment with a provider. The number is 1-833-981-0711.

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Ascension Wisconsin to begin offering drive-through COVID-19 testing at six sites - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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