Covid Testing in Communities of Color

Problem

Over the past few weeks since we began planning drive-thru COVID testing at Faith Based Institutions in Georgia we have seen an exponential demand in requests for community based testing centers. African Americans and Latinos are reluctant to pursue government testing for fear of discrimination, implicit bias and immigration reporting at testing centers.

As states continually reopen  ordered the primary industries reopening  disproportionately impact Latino and African-Americans as employees and consumers.  Advocates, medical providers, and public safety experts are demanding increased testing nationwide. Although funding has been allocated for tele-health and testing through the CARES Act the funding is being unfairly distributed to large institutions leaving uninsured and minority communities who frequently seek care from minority doctors vulnerable.

The main stay of community testing is currently drive through testing. Drive through testing centers without physician partners leave patients with knowledge of their status but without access to medical help. Due to the high possibility of false negatives it is imperative every patient tested is connected with a medical provider who can give them advice on symptoms whether their test is positive or negative. Combining Telehealth with Drive through testing expands testing opportunities and promotes continuity of care.

Solution & Use of Funds

MPVS and RoweDocs will also be partnering with home health agencies to ensure home bound patients who often come into contact with mobile family members also have access to testing and supportive care. Despite  local and state resources not availing themselves of funding to test the elderly, African-Americans and Latinos we are offering COVID testing for free with hopes of reimbursement through federal CARES Act funding. Our fundraising efforts are to support project management, PPE for all volunteers and travel of supplies to and from testing sites.  RoweDocs will collaborate with FDA approved trusting partners in each state.

Market Size

The number of Americans without health insurance climbed to 27.5 million in 2018, according to federal data that show the first year-to-year increase in a decade.  In 2018, the average deductible was $4,328 for an individual and $8,352 for families.  Healthcare simply is not affordable. High reliability means consistent excellence in quality and safety across all services maintained over long periods of time. Healthcare reliability does not exist in health care today.

Team

Tisha Rowe MD, MBA - Founder of RoweDocs

Lisa Whitty MD - MidWest Medical Director

Kijana Nix MD- Northeast Medical Director

Kathleen Sharp MD - Southwest Medical Director

Latosha Flowers MD - Western Medical Director