DocGo CEO: Testing volume 'has skyrocketed in the last few weeks'

Stan Vashovsky, CEO and Co-Founder of DocGo, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss how testing volume has tripled over the last two weeks and how they have partnered NYC hospitals for mobile testing.

Video Transcript

JARED BLIKRE: As Omicron infections surge, demand for testing is through the roof. DocGo is a leader in mobile testing, and they say they have tripled their COVID testing in the last week. And we have the CEO and co-founder of DocGo on right now, Stan Vashovsky.

And, Stan, thank you for joining us here today. Just from your boots-on-the-ground perspective, what has it been like over the last few weeks with respect to Omicron?

STAN VASHOVSKY: Hi, Jared. It's been quite challenging. We have a lot of people in the field, about 3,700 people, representing 11 different states. Our staff are getting infected. They're getting sick. The work environments are challenging.

But, nevertheless, we show up every single day. We're here to serve our communities and places that contract us. And we're privileged to help out at time of need, and we'll continue to come to work every single day and test as many people as we possibly can.

KARINA MITCHELL: Stan, do you think that we are testing enough however? I know, you know, obviously, your staff are working so hard and probably around the clock to get things done. But in this country, are we testing enough? Because we sort of lag behind other countries, particularly when it comes to free test kits being made available.

STAN VASHOVSKY: You know, Karina, I'm seeing every municipality do the absolute best they can. The testing volume has skyrocketed over the last few weeks. Everyone is taking this extremely serious. Everyone's trying to put out as many resources as possible.

We're asking labs to work 24/7. The rapid kits are coming in on a continuous basis. I'm not seeing anyone cutting back due to budget pressures or anything of such sort. Everyone is trying to get as much resources out there as possible to test as many people out there as possible.

So while we're doing our best, our competitors are doing our best, the municipalities that we work for are absolutely doing their best, but the volumes are staggering. I mean, they're absolutely tremendous. People want to get tested. We understand why. Omicron is extremely contagious. And we're trying to keep up with the demand to the best of our ability.

KARINA MITCHELL: And I want to ask you--

STAN VASHOVSKY: And then--

KARINA MITCHELL: --really quickly-- I just want to ask you really quickly, how long is it taking you to process these tests? How quickly are people getting their results back? And then how many of the tests are actually sequenced to figure out whether it is Omicron or Delta that people may be afflicted with?

STAN VASHOVSKY: Well, if it pertains to a rapid test, rapid test results are coming back very quickly. Anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes, our customers get a text message with a link. They click on the link, they authenticate, and they get their results very quickly.

If it's a PCR/lab-based test, that takes a little longer. We're fortunate enough to work with labs throughout the country. We're able to balance-load the results quite well. Results can come in anywhere from 24 hours to three to four days. It really all depends on the lab that we're using. And everyone is trying just their absolute best to keep up with the volume and get those test results to people as quickly as possible so if they are positive, they can take the necessary precautions.

JARED BLIKRE: And given all this incredible demand that we've been talking about, what is your company doing to address that growth? Has it altered your growth trajectory? And what are those plans in general?

STAN VASHOVSKY: Yeah, I mean, demand is much higher than what we've expected. Prior to Omicron, we've seen COVID cases on a decline, and then, all of a sudden, they spike. So, as a company, we have received a boost from all this testing. It's not just testing. It's vaccination demands that have also gone through the roof.

So we are staffing up. We're launching in more states. We're now licensed in 48 states to perform the work that we do. And we currently have 3,600, almost 3,700 employees. We're hiring, training, and putting out new employees in the field every single day.

So we're trying to keep up with the demand. It's definitely been a tailwind for the company. And our goal is to keep doing our absolute best to meet demand.

KARINA MITCHELL: It's been such a tight labor market, and you say you are staffing up. How easy has it been to recruit staff and retain them?

STAN VASHOVSKY: We work with recruiting agencies throughout the entire country. We have over 30 recruiters in house at the company itself. We're very active on social media. We have a lot of differentiating components to our compensation package that I think make it very attractive for people to come work for DocGo.

So when you put all that together, we do quite well. We're able to recruit a fair amount of medical professionals on a weekly basis. We try to onboard them as quickly as we possibly can. And once they're ready, we put them in the field to do as many tests as they can possibly do.

JARED BLIKRE: And we have time for one more here. In the middle of the year, you announced a partnership with NYC Health + Hospitals, and this was an outreach program to help people who are underserved in the medical community, specifically homeless people and homeless people without shelter. Can you address some of the goings-on in this program since it's been launched?

STAN VASHOVSKY: Sure. I mean, one of the best municipalities we work with is New York City. I've never seen any municipality that try to do more for its population than here in New York. And one of the programs that we do is testing and provide various other types of medical services for the homeless population. We work in various different manners, either on mobile units, inside shelters. You name it; we'll go out and get them tested, get people tested.

So we work with the homeless population in the shelters, where we're privileged to work with that agency, where we, on a daily basis, test different residents in the shelters, and then, at the same time, if they test positive, there are now homeless shelters that are dedicated to COVID-positive patients. We provide various medical services in those shelters as well.

So New York City is doing everything they possibly can to help fight this pandemic, help fight Omicron, get in front of it, and we're very privileged to work with such a fine agency.

JARED BLIKRE: We have to leave it there, but I really appreciate you stopping by. Stan Vashovsky, DocGo CEO and co-founder.