Home » Gravity Diagnostics partners with Kroger Health to expand COVID-19 testing with home collection kits

Gravity Diagnostics partners with Kroger Health to expand COVID-19 testing with home collection kits

COVINGTON, Ky. — Gravity Diagnostics, a CLIA laboratory headquartered in Covington announced Thursday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted an update to their Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to include use of nasal swab specimens that are self-collected by individuals using the Kroger Health COVID-19 Test Home Collection Kit. This was an addition to their earlier EUA that was granted on June 1st, 2020. The testing solution combines the safety and convenience of at-home specimen collection with the expert guidance of a Kroger Health clinician through video telehealth visits.

 

On March 16th, Gravity Diagnostics began processing COVID-19 samples with a vision to bring increased testing to their local communities, partnering with the Commonwealth of Kentucky to serve the healthcare facilities across the state and later with Kroger Health to bring more testing to Kentucky and nationwide via drive through testing sites. This next big step with Kroger Health will allow the two organizations to make a more widespread impact for COVID-19 testing across the nation, through an innovative method focused on quality, compliance, and patient experience.

Kroger Health will make the kits available to frontline associates across Kroger’s Family of Companies based on medical needs first and will expand rapidly from there, with a goal of processing up to 60,000 per week by the end of July. Gravity Diagnostics to date has processed over 250,000 COVID-19 samples. The relatively small laboratory is evolving quickly to meet the need and scale through the hiring of personnel and expansion of equipment and new laboratory space.

“Everything we have done during this time is with the people of our communities and nation in mind. After partnering with Kroger Health to execute their nationwide drive-throughs, we were enthusiastic to continue to expand testing through our partnership in a way that is flexible and accessible during this critical time of working to reopen the United States,” said Tony Remington, CEO of Gravity Diagnostics. “We are humbled to be a part of just one of the ways Kroger Health is executing a larger vision of how the healthcare industry is evolving.”