Case Study
How TestDirectly Helped DuPage County Create a More Efficient Drive-Through With Faster Test Results
April 1, 2025
Editor’s Notes: DuPage County (Illinois’ second-most populous county) faced coronavirus testing and reporting capacity bottlenecks, primarily due to manual labor and error-prone hand-written documentation at COVID-19 collection sites.
To address this ongoing problem, the county’s health department partnered with LigoLab and implemented the TestDirectly direct-to-consumer lab testing portal.
TestDirectly’s digital clinical lab workflow boosted efficiency by offering patients a convenient online pre-registration option through TestDirectly.com. It also streamlined specimen tracking with unique barcoding that linked each sample to patient demographics. Once testing was complete, consumer lab reports were delivered quickly and securely to patients and key stakeholders, including physicians and public health officials.
The TestDirectly direct-to-consumer lab testing portal also enabled real-time prevalence data collection, supporting efficient tracking and tracing of positive COVID-19 cases. This digital workflow significantly reduced turnaround times for test results (TestDirectly results time), and collection centers reassigned nearly half of the staff previously dedicated to manual data entry, further increasing overall testing capacity and efficiency.
What follows is a case study featuring the Dupage County Health Department and its Wheaton-based COVID-19 collection center.
From Bottlenecks to Breakthroughs: How TestDirectly Transformed COVID-19 Testing in Illinois
In April 2020, a prominent Illinois laboratory began working with LigoLab to quickly configure the LigoLab Informatics Platform for COVID-19 testing with its molecular lab software module. From there, it didn’t take long for the lab to establish itself as a statewide leader in reliable and accurate molecular LIS (laboratory information system) testing.
Learn More: Molecular Labs Hold the Key to Evidence-Based Precision Medicine
Between April and July 2020, the lab processed and delivered over 400,000 COVID-19 test results, partnering with multiple Illinois drive-through sites and employers nationwide. In most cases, patients received their results within 48 hours.
For this case study, we’ve focused on the enterprise lab and one of those drive-through locations supervised by the Dupage County Health Department.
How DuPage County Health Department Digitized COVID-19 Testing to Serve More Patients
When the DuPage County Health Department (DCHD) integrated the TestDirectly direct-to-consumer lab testing portal into its Wheaton drive-through COVID-19 collection site on July 16, it had two primary goals: to increase patient access and testing capacity while maintaining fast, reliable delivery of test results through digitally accessible consumer lab reports.
For nearly a month before implementing TestDirectly, DCHD depended on a manual collection process that relied heavily on handwritten forms and labor-intensive data entry. This outdated workflow created bottlenecks at the lab and slowed patient intake at the collection site.
The process was hampered by communication barriers as staff and patients struggled to exchange information through masks and closed car windows. This led to frequent errors and limited the number of specimens collected daily.
Learn More: Remembering COVID: A Medical Lab’s Journey to One Million COVID-19 Tests
The Immediate Impact of TestDirectly at the DCHD Drive-Through
Shortly after implementing TestDirectly, the delays at both the collection site and the laboratory began to disappear. Handwritten forms were replaced with a streamlined digital lab workflow powered by molecular lab software, enabling both teams to increase capacity and deliver faster turnaround times. An added benefit: Patients experienced significantly shorter wait times at the collection site.
“With TestDirectly, we were able to test and serve many more people daily and most importantly, get people their results quickly and easily,” said Christopher Hoff, Director of Community Health Resources for DuPage County.
First, TestDirectly removed the issues with handwritten paper forms and contactless communication. Second, the electronic workflow made follow-up much easier because patients could now log into the direct-to-consumer lab testing portal to get their results generally a day after their samples were collected.
The electronic workflow created by TestDirectly also eliminated 50 percent of the previous onsite data entry team, which allowed DCHD to expand the number of staff members collecting specimens. This led to an increase in the number of samples collected each day. Those involved with quality control were repurposed to help in other areas, and an additional drive-through lane was opened.
With TestDirectly and TestDirectly.com, DCHD boosted the number of samples collected to a capacity of 600 daily. The process started with patients pre-registering on a mobile device. They were checked in with a unique barcode that, when entered, automatically printed specimen labels with their patient demographics. This matched specimens to patient orders, ensuring the chain of custody and integrity. From there, patients gave themselves a nasal swab test with instructions from staff members.
The collected samples were packaged and routed to the laboratory, where, after a simple scan of the barcodes, the specimens were checked in via the lab sample tracking software and sent to processing with no delays.
The Many Benefits of TestDirectly Results Time
“By switching to an electronic workflow, we were able to get results out quicker and put that information into the hands of the patients quicker than before,” said the lab’s IT Manager.
On average, the TestDirectly results time for the laboratory to process specimens was 4-to-6 hours.
As soon as the results were finalized and verified from the testing instrument, consumer lab reports were created and immediately delivered from the lab information system to the TestDirectly direct-to-consumer lab testing portal.
From there, patients, physicians, facility administrators, and public health officials were all notified in real time about the results being ready for viewing in the portal (via a TestDirectly/facility login). The portal also provided real-time prevalence, allowing public health officials to track and trace immediately after positive COVID-19 cases were identified.
“After the success at our DuPage County drive-through location, we went live with the largest drive-through location in Bloomington, Illinois,” said the lab’s CEO. “Additionally, we deployed this testing model into over 150 long-term care facilities.”
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Say Goodbye to Testing Bottlenecks With TestDirectly
TestDirectly is the newest addition to the LigoLab Platform: a flexible, comprehensive, all-in-one laboratory information system (LIS software) with built-in laboratory billing/lab revenue cycle management (RCM) functionality, designed to modernize, unify, and empower labs to operate as efficient, digital-first businesses.
Learn More: Six Reasons Why You Should Choose an Integrated Laboratory Billing Solution for Your Medical Lab
The TestDirectly portal integrates seamlessly with your lab’s LIS system, enabling testing organizations to become direct-to-consumer labs by deploying a digital molecular lab software solution that eliminates workflow bottlenecks, reduces errors, and increases efficiency and capacity.
With TestDirectly, labs gain the power to quickly scale their collection, testing, and reporting processes to deliver fast, accurate results.
To learn more, contact a LigoLab product specialist and request a brief introductory call.
