First Federally-Supported Test-to-Treat Site In US Opened In Rhode Island
The Biden Administration has announced the launch of the first federally-supported Test-to-Treat site in the United States, with more planned in the coming weeks.
The nation’s first federally-supported Test-to-Treat site was officially launched at a clinic in Providence, Rhode Island, on Wednesday.
The Test to Treat program can provide faster, easier access to lifesaving Covid-19 treatments. Those who test positive can see a health care provider, and if eligible, get a prescription for an oral COVID-19 treatment and have that prescription filled — all at one location.
One of the most effective treatments in Covid is Paxlovid, an oral antiviral pill, which reduces the risk of hospitalization or death by about 90 percent.
Currently there are more than 2,500 Test-to-Treat locations across the country at local pharmacies and community health centers, but this is for the first time that the gfovernment is opening a federally-supported Test-to-Treat site.
Federal reimbursement will now allow individuals who test positive for Covid at the clinic to immediately receive an assessment from a medical provider and get oral antiviral treatments — all in one convenient location that serves some of the state’s highest-risk and hardest-hit populations. The clinic also currently offers vaccination.
In the coming days, the Administration will deploy clinical personnel to support staffing across several of Minnesota’s state-run testing sites, transforming them into Test-to-Treat sites that will co-locate testing, an assessment from a medical provider, and oral antiviral treatments. This direct federal support will allow Minnesota to expand the capacity and reach of Test-to-Treat, making these lifesaving oral antiviral treatments more widely available statewide.
The White House said that federally-supported Test-to-Treat sites will be opened in New York and Illinois in the coming weeks. The administration is working with other regions like Massachusetts and New York City to enhance existing state-led efforts to increase access to oral antivirals like Paxlovid, it added.
The White House said that the Biden Administration has increased the number of people benefiting from oral antivirals in the last seven weeks, from about 27,000 prescriptions filled each week to more than 182,000 last week — a more than six-fold increase. Also, the number of sites where Paxlovid is available nationally has been doubled.
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