General Program Frequently Asked Questions

Here you will find answers to some of the most common questions about the Home Test to Treat Program. Choose one of the categories below to jump down to the desired section.

About the program

The Home Test to Treat program is a public health initiative in selected communities across the United States. We are studying the program to learn more about telehealth and test-to-treat programs.

You can sign up for the Home Test to Treat program if you are feeling sick, if you recently tested positive for COVID-19, or if you are not feeling sick but want to be prepared. The program provides access to at-home telehealth kits if you have symptoms and telehealth visits if you test positive. These eMed telehealth kits include:

  1. Over-the-counter COVID-19 antigen tests (6 total)
  2. Access to telehealth visits if you test positive, and
  3. Access to COVID-19 treatment (when eligible).

Through test-to-treat programs, you can be tested for COVID-19, see a health care provider, receive a prescription for an oral antiviral treatment (if you are eligible), and have the prescription filled—all from home. The Home Test to Treat program is limited to telehealth visits and does not offer on-site care.

Through Home Test to Treat we are hoping to learn more about test-to-treat programs - who uses these programs, if the program increases access to telehealth care, and how we can improve similar programs in the future. While the program is launching with COVID-19, what we learn from this program will help create better test-to-treat programs for other diseases and health conditions as well.

The Home Test to Treat program is a public health initiative with support from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering’s RADx® Tech program and the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. To understand more about the program, study support is provided by the UMass Chan Medical School. The telehealth company who is implementing the program is called eMed.

Study enrollment

To sign up, visit test2treat.org or call 1-800-682-2829 to see if you are eligible. If you are, you will be invited to sign up.

You can enroll in this program if you are feeling sick, if you recently tested positive for COVID-19, and even if you are not feeling sick! Anyone who lives in an area where the program is being offered, is at least 18 years old, can understand English or Spanish, and has an email address.

Yes! If you complete the questionnaires throughout the program, you will receive $25 in the form of a cash card. You will also receive access to COVID-19 at-home tests if you are symptomatic, access to telehealth visits, and, if eligible, access to treatment all at no cost to you.

Your participation in the program may vary depending on if you have already tested positive for COVID-19, or if you test positive during the program. We will ask you to complete periodic questionnaires for at least 6 weeks, and we may ask you to complete periodic questionnaires for up to 18 weeks. Most questionnaires will take less than 5 minutes to complete.

Privacy

Data collected by eMed is encrypted to ensure privacy and protection of all your personal information. This helps prevent unauthorized access to your personal data and is compliant with HIPAA requirements. To learn more about eMed’s privacy policy, please visit https://shop.emed.com/pages/privacy-policy

In order to participate in the program, you will need to share some personal information like your full name, your date of birth, your email address, your mailing address, and your phone number. Without this information, it would be difficult for eMed to share your information with your telehealth provider for a medical visit, create a private healthcare portal for you to access your medical visit information, and ship you tests and/or treatment. eMed uses HIPAA-compliant portals and processes to make sure that your information is highly protected.

As your test-to-treat company, eMed has access to your personal health information. The UMass Chan Medical School research team will have access to your de-identified health information to study the Home Test to Treat program. We will share your information with qualified researchers through large research databases with carefully controlled access, such as the NIH COVID-19 Data Hub. This information will not include your name or other details to specifically identify you. Only your COVID-19 test results may be reported to public health agencies.

Shipping

If you let us know you are having symptoms on the test2treat.org website and need to test for COVID-19, we will send you test kits. These will either be shipped to you when you sign up for the study or when you tell us you have symptoms. If you already tested positive for COVID-19, you are still eligible to sign up for the program. We will not send you additional kits but if you sign up and share your test result with us at Test2Treat.org we will give you immediate access to telehealth.

Generally, if your order is processed and approved by 4 p.m. ET Monday-Thursday* your kits will be delivered the next business day. Orders approved Friday – Sunday will be processed the following Monday.* Weekend (Saturday & Sunday) delivery is not currently available.* *Holidays may impact delivery times.

We are not able to deliver to a P.O. box.

Please call eMed’s customer service team at 1-800-682-2829.

Testing

The kits from the Home Test to Treat program includes 6 over-the-counter tests. Each test has a QR code that will connect you to a proctor who will walk you through the testing process step by step. If you test positive, you will be connected to a telehealth provider. You can also use these tests like other home tests, without a proctor.

If you are signed up for the program, you can use a COVID-19 test and will still have access to the same telehealth visit if you test positive. We will ask you to share your test result and what type of test you used through the website test2treat.org and then you will be connected to a telehealth clinician.

No, you do not. You can use any FDA-authorized COVID-19 test. The program provides you over-the-counter tests that you can use at your convenience, but you can choose to share results of any FDA-authorized COVID-19 tests at test2treat.org and if you test positive you will still have access to a telehealth visit.

eMed’s telehealth proctors help ensure that all the steps of the tests are done properly and the results are read correctly. That way, you can be sure that your test results are correct.

eMed is online 24/7 to support your testing needs. There is no appointment necessary, our telehealth proctors and customer service specialists are trained to serve you at all times.

Telehealth

If you test positive for COVID-19 you will have access to a telehealth visit, you can request to have that visit through email or a phone call. By law, some states require telephone telehealth visits.

Just like at a regular doctor’s visit, the telehealth provider will review your symptoms, medication list, and allergies before making a determination on your diagnosis and eligibility for treatment. If your telehealth provider decides that you need treatment, a prescription will be sent to your home next day or to your preferred pharmacy for pick up.

You will also receive a report of your telehealth visit in an email and can access a summary of that report in your eMed user portal for your reference. These telehealth visits are one-time visits with clinicians licensed in your state and are not intended to be recurring visits with the same clinician. At this time, you cannot request a specific clinician to be your telehealth provider.

You will have the opportunity to connect with a telehealth clinician if you test positive for COVID-19. You can either test with eMed through a proctored session or use any FDA-authorized COVID-19 test and let us know what the results are. Either way, if your test result is positive, you will be asked to answer some medical questions that will lead you to your telehealth visit, if you wish to have one.

eMed partners with a network of licensed clinicians and pharmacists who can prescribe treatment in all 50 states.

If you need help accessing the eMed platform through your smartphone, please call the eMed customer service line at 1-800-682-2829.

The Home Test to Treat program offers a telephone-only service if you do not have smartphones or computers. You will need access to the internet and an email address to participate, because you will need to answer questionnaires and receiving telehealth summaries by email.

No, because your telehealth visits are a part of this program, your telehealth provider can only discuss your medical conditions as they relate to COVID-19. We recommend that if you have something other than COVID-19, please reach out to your healthcare provider.

COVID-19 Questions

COVID-19 is a disease caused by a virus called SARS-CoV-2, which was first discovered in 2019. It can be spread from person to person, especially those in close contact with one another.

The most common symptoms include the following:

  • Congestion or runny nose (cold symptoms)
  • Sore Throat
  • Cough
  • Fever
  • Fatigue and muscle aches

You can find a more complete list of symptoms on the CDC’s website.

Because symptoms for COVID-19, flu and other diseases often overlap, a test is the best way to tell if you have COVID-19.

Some severe symptoms of COVID-19 include the following:

  • Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
  • Chest pain that won’t go away
  • Confusion
  • Difficulty staying awake
  • Pale, gray or blue-tinted skin, lips, and face

If you have any of these symptoms, please call 9-1-1 or seek emergency care at your local emergency room.