Quest Diagnostics has expanded its patient-initiated testing to Colorado and Missouri to provide consumers in those states more control over managing their health. Colorado and Missouri residents can log onto Quests web portal or mobile app to schedule tests that do not require a physicians order, such as a basic health profile.

The company began piloting patient-initiated testing as a joint venture about a year ago with Sonora Quest Laboratories, a Phoenix medical laboratory system, in Arizona and Diagnostic Laboratory of Oklahoma. About 8,000 unique patients have used the service since it launched in Arizona, most of which have used the service more than once, says Quest Diagnostics senior vice president and group executive, clinical franchise solutions Cathy Doherty.

Quest is managing the service in Colorado and Missouri itself. The company expects to pilot the service in those states for 6 months.

Consumers logging on to the MyQuest by Care360 portal or app can schedule blood tests at any of Quests 32 locations in Colorado and 43 locations in Missouri. Quest operates 2,200 facilities nationwide.

Types of tests consumers can schedule online without a doctors order include immunity testing, hepatitis, chicken pox and measles, as well as drug or thyroid screenings. More than three million consumers are registered on MyQuest, which allows them to store and share their test results with physicians.

Because the tests are not ordered by a doctor consumers must pay for them out-of-pocket. Test prices range from $25 for a single blood test to $181 for a package of tests such as those ordered for a mans physical examination.

The program is supported by a nationwide network of physicians affiliated with Quest that review test results. If a patients test results require follow-up with a users primary care physician, a doctor from the network will contact the patient to discuss the results and make the recommendation, Doherty says.

The program is being promoted through digital marketing efforts and on Facebook and Twitter.

Offering patient initiated testing is part of a broader strategy by Quest to make blood tests easier and more convenient for consumers, Doherty says. Earlier this year the company began offering diagnostic services in Quest-branded patient service centers in 12 Safeway Inc. stores locations in California, Colorado, Texas, Virginia and Maryland. The patient service centers are located adjacent to Safeways in-store pharmacies. Quest expects to expand the program to 50 locations by years end and 200 in 2017, Dougherty says.

Our objective is to become consumers provider of choice for diagnostic services by providing more convenient ways to access these services, says Doherty.