What are Medical Diagnostic Tests?
Before we can begin to unpack what medical diagnostic testing companies are, we need to explain what they center their services around—clinical diagnostic testing.
Diagnostic Testing Purpose
Diagnostic testing serves a wide range of purposes. From screening for potential health risks to beginning a disease research quest, diagnostics testing offers insight into nearly every step of the medical journey. Diagnostic testing services include
Diagnoses
These tests can definitively rule out a potential diagnosis. They can also point a physician towards potential diagnoses, including confirming the diagnosis of an illness, infectious disease, or chronic disease.
Monitoring
If you have been prescribed a new medication or are on a treatment plan, diagnostic tests can record the effects of the medication or plan and how the symptoms have changed.
Screening
Diagnostic tests are not reserved for patients with symptoms. If you have a genetic predisposition or history of certain diseases, your physician may order screening tests to determine your potential health risks.
Research
Beyond the identification of diseases, diagnostic tests can provide insight into the physical processes of a disease.
Diagnostic Testing Process
There are multiple methods for conducting a diagnostic test, such as molecular diagnostics and genetic testing. In fact, most of the tests that are conducted in a health care capacity are considered diagnostic, including X-rays, biopsies, and more. That being said, the most common forms of diagnostic testing include the collection of genetic material in the form of a blood, saliva, or urine sample.
Diagnostic Testing Results
There is not one simple answer for how long diagnostic test results take to return to you. The lab that completes your test will often send the results back to your physician, who will then release the results to you, or it will release the results to you through an online portal. Depending on what the diagnostic test was analyzing, it can take anywhere from a few hours to several weeks to receive the results.
What Do Medical Diagnostic Testing Companies Do?
Hospitals and emergency centers often perform certain diagnostics testing and procedures in their operating and emergency rooms. On the other hand, medical diagnostic testing companies specialize in diagnostics testing and perform only those tests. These often include blood tests, urinalysis, and saliva testing.
Because these labs specialize in diagnostic testing, they are often capable of more kinds of testing than a hospital or emergency center. Many medical diagnostic testing companies are able to test for a wide range of diseases and conditions and have expansive panels so that they can test for many potential diseases at once.
Though these labs are not full-service health care centers, they do have various medical devices (which include testing kits) available to use, and they should be able to complete any kind of testing that your physician orders. Similarly, because these medical diagnostic testing companies are not traditional health-care-providing centers, you often need to have labs ordered by a medical doctor, nurse practitioner, or another physician to have labs completed by one of these companies.
Comparing Medical Diagnostic Companies
The best medical diagnostic testing companies are reliable and well-organized. Labs should be accredited, which means that they should be verified by an accreditation organization to be able to perform specific tests and have an authorized quality management system. Many accreditations need to be consistently renewed, meaning that they constantly need to be in fulfillment of the requirements for accreditation.
In terms of the size of different diagnostic testing companies, there are advantages and disadvantages to both small and large organizations.
A large medical diagnostic company will often have preexisting relationships with many physicians, meaning that if you’re unsure of where to have your tests done, your physicians will likely recommend a large and well-established company. That being said, there are downsides to larger companies. For example, because large companies receive so many orders, the waiting time for your results may be longer. In extreme cases, your order may be difficult to find in the company’s system, or it may be lost if you arrive at the center many days, weeks, or months after your order is sent.
While smaller medical diagnostic test companies are not always immediately recommended by physicians, that does not mean that they are worse than large companies. On the contrary, they are simply less well-known than large chain companies. These companies often have the same capabilities and equipment as larger companies, and they tend to boast shorter wait times and more personalized care.
Oftentimes, your physician will recommend a specific medical diagnostic test company. This can be helpful if you’re not sure who to go to, but you can also request to have your test orders sent to a specific testing company.
Medical Diagnostic Testing in Greater Houston
If you need to have diagnostic testing completed in the Greater Houston area, look for a capable and established medical diagnostic testing company that can serve your specific needs, be they testing for women’s health, infectious disease, or preventative purposes.
For a medical diagnostic testing company that prioritizes your unique needs and strives to provide personalized services to its clients, look no further than OnPoint Labs. With over 100 years of combined experience and expertise in high-complexity testing, OnPoint Labs is the best resource in the greater Houston area for diagnostic testing.
Contact us today to learn more about our services and our promise to provide precise results on time, every time.
