It is generally more economical to get labwork done by going through your doctor, since insurance may cover most of it, but when labwork is needed that you’re having a difficult time getting ordered through your doctor, that shouldn’t prevent you from being able to order it yourself.
Most lab work that gets conducted is confirmatory in nature — meaning, that only the specific tests needed to confirm a particular diagnosis are done — but as a standard level of care, broad spectrum lab work should be done in order to understand how your entire body is doing. This lets us see when whole systems or individual organs are struggling long before it becomes a disease-state situation.
For diagnostics purposes, this is critical. Imagine walking through a crime scene while looking through a paper towel roll… you’d have a really hard time figuring out what’s going on, right? But that’s essentially what we’re doing when we only have specific pieces of data to go on, without a view of the scene as a whole.
Evidence-based health decisions require enough real information to go on.
And this should be your choice to make, not your insurance carrier’s.
Fortunately, we have a options.
This service allows you to order just about any lab work you want, at very reasonable prices. I’ve even put together a cheat-sheet for you that recommends tests depending on your current state of health!
Check out the lab tests available to you at YourLabWork!
What you may find with your doctor is that not all tests are available via the lab they’re contracting with, because not all tests are available from all labs. So, here’s a second option for ordering your own tests, too!
Walk-In Lab contracts with both LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics. There are also quite a few home test kits available. So, if we need something specific, this resource may be the best place to find it.
Disclaimer: some states prohibit online lab test orders.
LabCorp: Online lab testing is prohibited in MA, MD, NY, NJ and RI.
Quest Diagnostics: Online lab testing is prohibited in MD, NY, NJ and RI.
Home test kits are not prohibited by state.
