What are specialty lab kits?
Specialty lab kits are collection kits from labs such as Genova, Doctor’s Data, Boston Heart, Vibrant Wellness, Cyrex, Cleveland HeartLab, SpectraCell and IGeneX that include their own tubes, instructions and shipping materials. They usually test for things standard panels don’t cover, like nutrient levels, food sensitivities, heavy metals or heart-health markers, and they must be collected and packaged exactly the way the lab specifies. A mobile phlebotomist can collect, process and ship the kit correctly so it is not rejected.
What these kits are for
Specialty labs build whole testing programs around a particular focus area — nutritional status, food and chemical sensitivities, cardiovascular risk markers beyond a routine lipid panel, mold and environmental toxin exposure, autoimmune reactivity, or tick-borne illness screening, among others. Because these tests are not run by the typical neighborhood lab, the testing company mails a complete kit to your provider’s office or directly to your home, and that kit arrives with its own labeled tubes, a detailed instruction sheet, specific requisition paperwork, and a prepaid return shipping label or insulated box.
The variety of companies in this space — Genova Diagnostics, Doctor’s Data, Boston Heart Diagnostics, Vibrant Wellness, Cyrex Laboratories, Cleveland HeartLab, SpectraCell and IGeneX among them — each have their own tube colors, volumes, and processing rules, so a kit that looks similar on the outside can have very different requirements once you open the instructions inside.
Why a phlebotomist is usually needed
Reading the directions is rarely the hard part — drawing the blood correctly and handling it afterward is. Many kits call for a venous draw rather than a finger stick, a specific order of draw when multiple tubes are involved, immediate centrifuging to separate serum or plasma from the rest of the blood, or refrigeration and freezing steps that have to begin minutes after the needle comes out, not hours later at a drop-off counter.
Miss one of those steps and the lab may reject the specimen outright, which means starting the whole process over: a new kit, another needle stick, and more time before you or your provider get the answers you were waiting on.
Step by step: how the visit works
Before we arrive, we ask you to have the unopened kit and your provider’s requisition ready so nothing gets mixed up. During the appointment we review the kit’s own instructions side by side with what we brought, confirm which tubes and volumes are needed for your specific panel, and draw the blood using proper venipuncture technique.
From there we carry out any required processing on site — spinning the sample in our portable centrifuge, chilling it immediately with cold packs, or freezing it on dry ice — exactly as that lab’s insert describes. We then relabel and repackage the kit, complete any paperwork that needs to travel with the sample, and prepare it for shipping or hand delivery the same day whenever the lab’s stability window calls for it.
South Florida logistics
Courier pickup times, FedEx and UPS drop-off cutoffs, and weekend shipping gaps all matter for specialty kits, and they vary block by block depending on where you live. We schedule visits across Broward County, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach County with those cutoffs in mind, whether you are in a condo in downtown Fort Lauderdale, a gated community in Boca Raton, or a home further west near Weston, and we plan the appointment time around getting your package out the same business day when possible.
When to call your doctor
If your provider changes the test panel after the kit has already been ordered, if the kit arrives damaged or past its printed expiration date, or if you notice unexpected bruising, swelling, numbness or fever after the draw, contact your ordering provider promptly. Speedy can tell you exactly how a sample was handled and shipped, but only your physician can interpret your lab results or decide what testing should happen next.
How Speedy handles it
We have collected specimens for the major specialty lab companies for years and keep a close eye on their protocols, which do change from time to time. Every visit starts with checking the kit against the lab’s current instructions, and every sample is processed and packaged the same day it is drawn whenever the lab’s stability window requires that turnaround, so your specimen has the best chance of being accepted the first time.
Common follow-up questions
Do I need a doctor’s order for a specialty kit?
Yes, specialty lab kits are ordered through a licensed provider, the same as any other lab test.
Can Speedy supply the kit itself?
Usually the kit comes from your provider or directly from the testing lab; we bring the equipment needed to collect and process it correctly.
What if my kit instructions look different from what I expected?
We always follow the instructions printed in your specific kit, since labs update their protocols from time to time.
Will the lab know a mobile phlebotomist collected the sample?
The lab simply processes whatever specimen arrives correctly labeled and packaged, regardless of who performed the draw.
Related services
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This article is general information, not medical advice. Follow the instructions of your ordering healthcare provider.
Need a mobile blood draw?
Serving Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach. Call or text 954-232-9752.