Insights

Lab Testing Trends Year-to-Date Through July 10 - Prognos Health

Written by Nick Zgorski | Jul 17, 2020 3:22:00 PM

Prognos is analyzing lab testing trends in 2020 and more specifically, looking at the impact of COVID-19 on testing trends at a national level.

For more information on the regional and local level, or a specific test or brand contact us.

Methodology: A large representative sample from the Prognos lab testing registry was pulled as a proxy for a national volume of testing. Then trends are compared on a weekly basis year-to-date.

Summary Findings

Week Ending July 10, 2020

  • For 2020, the national trend in testing was initially stable through the week ending 3/13/20.  
  • There were expected drops in January and February due to holidays (MLK/President’s Day).
  • Over the two-week period ending 3/27, the national trend decreased 24% and 40% weekly, for an overall drop of 54% over those two weeks.
  • Since then, the market trend has stabilized and showing signs of recovery with a steady trend of increases. Data from the most recent period (week ending 7/10) indicated a 7% decrease over the prior week. There are a few potential reasons for this. The most likely reason being that the July 4th holiday may have seen less people overall getting general testing. We’ve also seen that many states across the US are re-issuing guidance for COVID-19 and this could be impacting national testing volume.
  • In comparing the most recent week’s volume to same week in the previous year, the this week’s national trend was slightly lower (-3%) than last year’s volume for the same week. This indicates that while COVID-19 may have impacted testing volume, it has not had the same level of impact that was seen during March and April.

For the most recent period (week ending 7/10) testing trends showed a small decrease (7%) over the prior week.

The national trend over the most recent annual period (4/19 – 7/20) shows a stable weekly trend, with dips associated with holidays.  Testing for the week of 7/10/20 decreased 7% compared to the prior week.

For more information on the regional and local level, or a specific test or brand, contact us.