Frequently-Asked-Questions ("FAQ") of Health-Tests-Direct.com:
GO TO OUR LIST OF 400+ DISCOUNTED BLOOD TESTS GO TO OUR HTD™ HOME PAGE
Below are the most frequent questions we get...and the answers. If you have a question NOT answered here, please just ask us. Call toll-free 1-800-456-4647 ext. 203 or e-mail us. We're happy to help!
The #1 Most-Frequently-Asked Question we hear from
people who call or e-mail us at Health-Tests-Direct™ is:
"How does this work?" (Click on the link to find out!)
Other questions callers very frequently ask us include:
How do I order a blood test from you?
and these questions, too...
How can you possibly arrange blood tests for 40-70% less than I have to pay through a doctor?
Do you use cut-rate clinics or cheap labs as a way to save yourself and me money?
Do you accept insurance?
How do I know if you have a contracted clinic near me to do my "blood draw"?
I have a number of clinics located right here in my Zip Code. Can I use one of them for my blood draw?
There is a clinic very close to me that you do NOT contract with for blood draws. Why not?
My friend is a nurse, Can I have him/her do my blood draw?
Why do I have to pay you "in advance" for my blood draw, my lab test, and my test results?
How can I be confident that the credit card and personal info I give you over the phone is secure?
What will your charges on my credit card statement say?
Can I pay by personal check?
How can I keep my "true" identity from you, and the clinic, and the lab?
Why do you charge me a 10% 'cancellation fee' if I use a credit card, then change my mind about getting a blood test?
What if I have questions not answered here or elsewhere on your website?
Q. "How does this work?"
Health-Tests-Direct™ arranges your blood test through "Direct Access Testing". That means we arrange for you to "skip" the "middleman"- the doctor. (Just by skipping a doctor's visit, you are already saving both money and time, aren't you?) Instead of sending you to a doctor's office, we arrange the first step of a blood test - that is, collecting your blood specimen (your blood "draw") - directly with a clinic located as close as possible to your home or workplace Zip Code. It will always be a state certified clinic, exactly like one your own doctor might send you to for your blood draw. Using your Zip Code, we search our database of 1,600+ clinics nationwide to locate a clinic we contract with that is in or at least near your city or town, no matter where you live in America. Here, we save you money, too. Our service contract with these 1,600+ clinics enables us to get your blood drawn for as much as 65% LESS than they normally charge the local doctors. Most clinics charge "$25-$45" for a blood draw. Our arrangement with those same clinics is to get your blood drawn for only "$15". It's the same clinic, the same professional collection of your blood specimen...you simply pay $10-$30 less for it through Health-Tests-Direct™.
The clinic will draw your blood based on a written blood test order signed by OUR staff physician (your physician's signature is NOT needed). We do NOT charge you extra for this. Then we arrange directly with a nationally and state accredited analytical laboratory to analyze your blood and send our staff physician your test results. When we get your results, we send them directly and confidentially to you, NOT to your doctor or to anyone else...that is, UNLESS you specifically instruct us to do so!
In summary: At no extra charge, OUR physician (not yours) orders your blood test without making you first pay for an exam. We then earn lower prices for you at the clinics AND at the labs by sending them a larger volume of business from all over the country. It is these and other cost-saving factors we employ that enable us at Health-Tests-Direct™ to arrange the same high caliber of blood test services for you as a doctor does. And, we accomplish this for 40-70% LESS cost to you overall...than you traditionally have paid when going through your own doctor to arrange a blood test! Do you have more questions? Then, please continue reading the rest of this "FAQ" page.
Return to Other Questions
Q. How do I order a blood test from you?
HOW TO ORDER A BLOOD TEST AT HEALTH-TESTS-DIRECT.COM:
You can order any one (or a multiple selection)
from 400+ different types of blood tests and blood test panels.
It's "as easy as 1-2-3" ONLINE through HTD
™!
◄◄◄Just follow the "1", "2", "3" steps (in that order) you see on the left side of this page. Here's what to expect when you do:
When you click on "1", it will take you to a search page to help you select by Zip Code a "Blood Draw Center" that is located nearby your home (or your workplace). The blood draw center you select might be a local health clinic or it might be what is called a "patient service center", or "PSC". (PSCs are owned and operated by large, national laboratories.) The one you select is where you will go to have a small sample of your blood drawn by a nurse or phlebotomist. Normally, you do NOT need an appointment; you simply walk in with your Blood Draw and Lab Test Authorization paperwork in hand (details on this in Step 3, below). Usually your wait, if any, will be very short and the blood draw itself usually takes less than five minutes. The clinic or PSC will then "overnight" your blood specimen to a laboratory for next-day testing. If you go for your blood draw early enough on (for example) a "Monday", the lab will receive and test your blood specimen on Tuesday and your test results will be available to you on Wednesday. If you go on a Friday, however, you should not expect your results until the following Tuesday...or as late as Wednesday if Monday were a Holiday. This, too, is good to know if you are "in a rush" for your test results: that is, if you go for your blood draw too late in the afternoon, the clinic or PSC may have already had UPS or FedEx come by for their blood specimen pick-up. In that event, the clinic or PSC will not ship your blood specimen until the following day. That, of course, will add another day to your wait time before getting your results. So, we recommend that you always go to your selected blood draw center early in the week and early in the day..."morning" if possible.
When you click on "2" (NOTE: YOU MUST SELECT A CLINIC OR PSC AT "1" BEFORE YOU CLICK ON "2"), you will be taken to a page listing all the laboratory blood tests names beginning with the letter "A" that we make available to you at 40-70% savings. All 26 letters of the alphabet appear near the top of that page, so you can click-and-search all 400+ of our available blood tests from "A-Z"! For each blood test listed, you'll find our 40-70% discount pricing along with a description of the test. You will even find there is a separate category of blood test "PANELS" you can order and save even more. Finally you'll also be able to search by name in a category of "CONDITIONS" - blood tests that are commonly performed for certain health "conditions" like arthritis, cancer, and others. When you find a blood test you want to order, simply click the "Order" button and that test will go into your "Shopping Cart". Want more than one type of blood test? Your Shopping Cart will continue to add the tests you choose and keep a running total of the cost for you, so you won't go over your budget. You can easily add or delete any selected tests before you "Check Out" (before you confirm and finalize your total order).
When you click on "3" (NOTE: YOU MUST ORDER AT LEAST "ONE" BLOOD TEST AT "2" BEFORE YOU CLICK ON "3"), it will take you to a page where you will enter your e-mail address and choose a unique Password known only to you. When you hit "Enter" you will see a form you need to fill out online with your name, date of birth, et cetera. This will create and register a "Personal Wellness Folder" for you, and enable you to print out your blood draw and laboratory test analysis "Authorization" paperwork. You should print that out right away. If your computer is NOT connected to a working printer, please call us at 1-800-456-4647 ext. 203 and we will arrange to fax your forms if you have a fax machine or send them to you by U.S. mail if you do not.
IMPORTANT FOOT NOTES:
You MUST take ALL "Authorization" paperwork WITH YOU to the clinic or PSC you selected for your blood draw. If you show up without your Authorization paperwork, they will NOT draw your blood and send it to the lab.
Be sure to remember the unique Username and Password you registered with, too, because you will need to use them again in 2-3 days to confidentially access and print out your laboratory test results online in "Your Personal Wellness Folder", right here on this site.
All of your laboratory test results for this "first" blood test order and all lab results for any "future" blood tests you order through our HTD™ website can - if you wish - remain here for your future 24/7 confidential access and print-out, using your unique User Name and Password. We will maintain your records confidentially for you (and without any additional cost to you) until YOU decide to delete your Personal Wellness Folder from our web site.
Return to Other Questions
Q. How can you possibly arrange blood tests for 40-70% less cost than I usually have to pay when I get my tests arranged through a doctor?
A. Through Direct Access Testing (DAT), we are able to save you such substantial money due to at least six (6) factors. First, we save you the cost of going to a doctor for "an exam". OUR staff physician signs your blood test order without requiring you to visit him first. Second, we save you the normally higher cost of the blood draw done by the clinic. (Our arrangement with all 1,600+ clinics we use is to get your blood drawn for only $15, or as much as 65% LESS than the usual $25-$45 they charge). Third: "volume". The laboratories give us a lower 'test price' than they give to your doctor, because your doctor sends blood test business to the lab from only perhaps 1-2 offices he/she operates in your city. On the other hand, "we" operate nationally. We send blood test business to the lab from 1,600+ clinics located all over the United States! Fourth: "Mark-up". When your doctor gets your blood draw bill from the clinic they sent you to and your blood analysis bill from the lab your specimen went to, they "mark them up" more than we do before sending you their "doctor bill". Although we accept less profit-margin than your doctor is willing to do, our higher volume still allows us to run a profitable business...while still saving YOU up to 70% on your healthcare needs! Fifth: Unlike most doctors' offices, we do NOT accept insurance. That saves us a considerable amount in administrative expense (and cash flow losses due slow pay) that a doctor's office has. Your doctor, certainly, must pass expense along in their bill to you. "We" don't have that extra expense and therefore do not need to pass it on to you! Six: We require payment in advance by credit card or by personal check (a check that already has cleared the bank) before we arrange your blood test. That represents another considerable savings to us - and to you - because we don't have to constantly deal with late payments, or no payments, or with bouncing checks like most other businesses do. Make sense?
Q. Do you use cut-rate clinics or cheap labs as a way to save yourself and me money?
A. Absolutely not. The clinics we use are all a part of a national network that is certified, regulated, and regularly monitored by their own state health departments for compliance to medical standards. They are the very same clinics that thousands of physicians nationwide also use. Further, if we hear any personal-type complaints whatsoever about a particular clinic from our own customers- e.g., poor customer service, rude or incompetent personnel - they are immediately dropped from our network. We do not need and will not tolerate poor-mannered clinic personnel upsetting you!
As for the laboratories we use, every one of them is a CLIA-certified lab and ranks at or among the top known and respected in the country. It is not at all unlikely, that the local clinics "we" use and the national labs "we" use are the same local clinics and same national labs that your own personal physician and other physicians in your local community have also used for years!
Q. Do you accept "insurance"?
A. Sorry, but "No". And why not? Because dealing with insurance companies and their related "red-tape" paperwork just takes too much administrative time. Administrative time always translates to additional costs of doing business. Those added costs to us could only be offset by making our prices higher to you. Also, it typically takes 45-60 days and sometimes "120" days to receive full payment from insurance companies. To keep our prices 40-70% lower than traditional costs for blood tests, it's necessary that we totally avoid the traditional extra costs that are a necessary evil when doing business with insurance companies.
Q. How do I know if you have a contracted clinic near me to do my "blood draw"? I want to confirm that there is one very close to me before I order "on-line".
A. If you want to know where in your city or town our nearest "blood draw" clinic is located, please enter your zip code on our home page.
By the way, more than 8 out of 10 of our customers will only have to travel "0" to "7" miles to the nearest clinic that our labs contract with for their blood draw. Please accept our apologies if you are one of the 2 out of 10 who live further away than that!
Q. I have a number of clinics located right here in my Zip Code. Can I go to one of them for my blood draw?
A. "If" we or our lab has a contract with them, you can. A contract means they already have the specific paperwork, blood test vials, a pre-paid overnight service shipping label, and the specific packaging necessary to properly and expeditiously process your blood test following our exact, required procedures.
Q. There is a clinic very close to me that you do NOT have a contract with for blood draws. Why not?
A. It could be any number of reasons. Sometimes they are not willing to keep our specific supplies and materials readily on hand or routinely re-order them when they run low. Sometimes, it's "cost". Our 1,600+ contracted clinics are paid a flat fee of $15 for doing your blood draw. However, most clinics usually charge your doctor $25 to $45 for that service. We assure you that clinics certainly do NOT do a "better", "nicer", or "more pleasant" blood draw for $45 than they do for $15! Yet, some clinics simply charge more for the exact same service...and we respect their "right" to do that.
However, if a clinic will NOT agree to accept a $15 fee for a blood draw, we won't contract with them. There is one national network of blood draw stations that we sometimes are "forced" to use - and to pay them "$45" - because they are uniquely located in sparsely populated places. But we try hard to avoid them. Why? because, it is always YOU who pays for the blood draw, one way or the other. Remember, whether the blood draw is a separate charge or it is included as part of the total "blood test" fee, YOU end up covering that cost in the end. So...would you rather pay $15 or $45 for your blood draw?
Return to Other Questions
My
friend/relative is a nurse. Can I have him/her do my
blood draw?
A. Only "if" we or our
lab has a contract with them. A contract means your
friend/relative already has the specific
paperwork, blood test vials, pre-paid overnight service
shipping label, and specific packaging necessary to properly
and expeditiously process your blood test following our exact,
required procedures. If they are NOT contracted with us,
we would have to ship all of the above materials to you or
your friend/relative. In addition to the 3-5 delay that
would cause you, while waiting for the supplies, we would have
to charge you more for the shipping than the $15 you
would save by having someone you know do your blood draw for
free. In any case, it's really not worth it for you to
do.
Q. Why do I have to pay you
"in advance"
for my blood draw, my lab test, and my
test results?
A. It saves us costly "G
and A"- that's, "general and administrative" expenses...and
THAT helps us keep YOUR costs lower! Among other things,
we don't have to generate an invoice to you, fold it, stuff it
in envelope, stamp it, mail it, and wait 60, 90, or 180 days
for some people to finally write a check and send it to
us. (Plus, we don't have to go through the time and
expense of "hounding" those who don't mail it.)
We also don't have to charge higher prices for
everyone's blood tests to offset the cost of the few
'bounced' checks that are too frequently written by
some people. Simply charging your credit card
electronically - in advance - or, waiting until after
your personal check clears before arranging your blood test
saves us time and money and allows us to save YOU time
and money, too!
Q. How can I be confident that the credit card and personal info I give you over the phone is secure?
A. Our parent company,
OHS
Inc., is family-owned and has been in business since
1991. We have clients and customers in all 50 states and
even a few in Canada and Mexico, Bermuda, and
Puerto
Rico. We are a member of the Better
Business Bureau of the Southland (Southern California) and the
"BBB On-Line Reliability Program" (Nationwide). Our
complete "brick and mortar" address, a map with directions to
our offices, and full phone, fax, and other contact
information is readily available on our website (CLICK
HERE to access it). OHS, Inc. and
Health-Tests-Direct™ are in a real building and have real
offices for you to come by and visit real people. We do
not "hide" behind a P.O. Box number - or hide behind NO
address at all - like 83% of other Internet
businesses!
If you EVER are disappointed with us or
with our services for ANY reason whatsoever, you know where to
find us. Additionally, and very importantly, all of your
"on-line" credit card transactions performed on our website
are fully encrypted and secured by
VeriSign™
for your full
privacy protection.
Q. What will your charges on my credit card statement say?
A. "OHS Health
& Safety Services, Inc."
Q.
Can I pay by personal check?
A. Absolutely. However, we must receive your check here at our offices and it
must clear the bank before we arrange the blood
draw in your city. Banks here in California are allowed
to take up to 10 days before clearing out-of-state
checks. (HINT: sending us a cashier's check or a
money order will eliminate the wait for your out-of-town
personal check to clear.)
Q. How can I
keep my "true" identity from you, and the clinic,
and the lab?
A. Easy: Don't
give us your phone number or credit card info. Then mail
us a money order (a money order does not require your name or
signature) for the total amount due for the blood draw and lab
analysis. We will e-mail the lab paperwork to you when
the money order arrives and email the lab results to you the
same day we receive those. If you want, you can even set
up a temporary (and free) "alias" e-mail address at Yahoo!
(e.g.,
"YourAliasName"@yahoo.com) for the purpose of our email communications
with you.
By the way, you do have to sign a
Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA) Notice (required by
Federal law, and for your own protection) before we can
actually arrange your test(s). Don't worry, though...use
the above link to access the HIPAA
Notice and print out a copy at home. Sign it
with the same 'alias' that you will use
with
us over the phone, and mail it to us along with
your money order.
There are two more things we hope
that you will feel more comfortable knowing: First,
99.999% of the clinics we send you to will NOT ask for your
photo I.D. when you go in for your blood test. And, in
the very-very rare event that one should they do so,
don't feel obligated to show it to them. Instead, leave
the clinic and immediately call us. We will find you
another clinic! Second, your lab tests results are NEVER
sent to or shared with the clinic or its personnel. Only
YOU get your lab results, and NOBODY
else!
Return
to Other
Questions
Q.
Why do you charge me a 10% "cancellation fee" if I use a credit
card and then I change my mind about getting a blood
test?
A. Offering you the convenience of
charging by credit card is an expense to every business,
including to us. Many retail companies and manufacturers charge a
10% "re-stocking fee" on merchandise you buy from them and
then return. Just as with those businesses, our 10%
cancellation charge to you helps us recoup our expense for
"business" we did not get from you...on a service that is
already discounted by as much a 70% and includes a very small
margin of profit for us in the first place. Therefore,
when you do order with us, please be certain you want
to complete - not to later cancel - the discounted blood testing
arrangements we make for you.
Return
to Other
Questions
Q. Do you have one or more questions
not answered for you above or elsewhere on our
website?
Feel free to call us and ask for me
or for my wife and business partner, Jean, personally. We own the
company and very much value your business!
Return
to Other
Questions
Thank you for your interest in
our services!
Edward W. Poole,
President/COO
Health-Tests
Direct™ (HTD™)
operations@health-tests-direct.com
OHS Health & Safety
Services, Inc.
(949) 764-9301 ext. 205
1-800-456-4647
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