August 21, 2026- We know molecular tests have rapidly penetrated the respiratory testing market. Starting with influenza, they quickly provided assays for strep, RSV, CoV-2 and a wide range of less commonly encountered respiratory pathogens.
Availability of these tests at the point of care has been especially valuable as the nation was challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic, but with flu season hitting millions of Americans annually, respiratory testing needs to be continued to be performed where it is most useful, in the physician office.
Every seasoned distribution sales manager I know has multiple customers that rely on molecular tests for flu, strep, COVID and RSV. From a viewpoint of making sure negative results are truly negative, molecular tests have been especially valuable for strep and RSV.
The use of molecular tests is also spreading into other areas in traditional microbiology and displacing tests formerly done on culture plate assays. There are many reasons for this, including:
- Speed
- Accuracy
- Ease of use
- Objective end result
- Reimbursement
- CLIA classification ranges from CLIA high complexity to CLIA moderate and waived.
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