Results#

You'll receive an email notification the moment your results are released to the patient portal. As soon as the lab releases the report, it appears in your portal and triggers an email - we don't sit on results.

If you're not seeing notifications, check your spam folder and follow the steps in Ensure You Receive Email (it covers how to whitelist TeleTest messages in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and other common providers).

Turnaround depends on the test. See the Turnaround times section at the bottom of this page for a full list.

Two important things to know about turnaround:

• "Typical" is what most patients see; the published range is the upper end. For example, urine chlamydia/gonorrhea is published as up to 3 business days but most patients see results in 24-48 hours. Public-health labs quote the conservative outer bound; the day-to-day experience is usually faster.
• Variation is normal. Even within the same test, results can land anywhere in the range. Day-of-week, sample-transport time, batch processing at the lab, and whether the test is run in-house or sent to a specialized lab all influence when your report arrives.

We list both the typical and outer-range turnaround for each test below so you know what to expect and when it's worth following up.

We cannot expedite results. Provincial labs control processing times, and TeleTest has no special arrangement to bypass them. What we do is streamline everything else: the requisition is faxed immediately after your consultation so you can visit a lab the same day, and results appear in your portal automatically without you needing to call.

If your turnaround matters for a specific reason (travel, surgical clearance, work clearance), please plan testing well in advance of the deadline.

A few common reasons:

• Weekends and holidays. Most labs don't process samples on weekends or statutory holidays. A sample collected Friday afternoon may not begin processing until Monday.

• Send-out tests. Some tests are processed at a specialized reference lab rather than the lab where you provided your sample. Common examples and typical turnaround:

  • Sensitive estradiol (HS-E2): typically 2-3 weeks, but can take up to 28 business days during higher-volume periods.
  • Cystatin-C: 10-14 business days.
  • Reverse T3, free testosterone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT): about 1-2 weeks each.
  • IGF-1: about 2 weeks.

  These tests don't have a "rush" option - they're batched and processed at the reference lab on the lab's schedule.

• Public Health Lab routing. Certain STI tests (e.g., HIV, syphilis) at LifeLabs are sent to the Public Health Lab for processing, which adds 1-2 business days of transport time. See the LifeLabs accordion below for details.

• Repeat / additional testing. Sometimes the lab needs to repeat a test for quality reasons or run a reflex test (e.g., a positive screen automatically triggers a confirmatory test). This adds time but you don't need to do anything.

• Sample issues. Rarely, a sample is rejected (hemolyzed, insufficient quantity, mislabelled) and you'd need to redraw. The lab will flag this on the report.

When to follow up: if you're a couple of business days past the outer-range turnaround for your test, use our contact form and we'll check with the lab.

No - this is normal. Labs do not communicate with TeleTest's system at the moment you check in or provide your sample. The portal status only changes once we receive the first report from the lab. So between your visit and the first result release, the portal will still show "pending lab visit" (or a similar status, depending on your portal).

What happens behind the scenes:

1. You visit the lab and provide your sample.
2. The lab processes the sample on their schedule. They don't ping TeleTest mid-process.
3. When the first result is released, the lab transmits the report to TeleTest electronically.
4. At that moment, your portal status updates from "pending lab visit" to show the results.

You don't need to do anything. Just wait for the typical turnaround time (see the tables below), and you'll get an email notification the moment the first report lands.

When to follow up: if it's been a couple of business days past the outer-range turnaround time and your status hasn't updated, use our contact form and we'll check with the lab.

This is normal. Different tests on the same requisition can come back at different times - especially if some are processed in-house and others are sent to a reference lab. Your portal updates as each test releases, so you don't need to do anything. The remaining results will appear automatically as the lab releases them.

If a specific test is well past its outer-range turnaround, use our contact form and we'll check on it.

For security and privacy, we periodically remove older results from the patient portal after the active follow-up window has ended. You'll see them marked as expired rather than missing - the record exists in our system but is no longer rendered to you in the portal.

To get your expired results back: use our contact form and we'll re-upload them. There's no fee for this.

To avoid losing access in the future: download a PDF copy of each result when it arrives (see the next accordion). The PDF is yours to keep and is the official document insurers, family doctors, and other clinicians will accept.

Yes. From the patient portal, open the relevant order and use the download option on the results panel to save a PDF copy.

We recommend always downloading a copy because:

• The PDF is the official document insurers, family doctors, employers, and other healthcare providers will accept.
• Results are eventually removed from the portal for privacy (see the previous accordion); the PDF is your permanent copy.
• You can forward the PDF to your family doctor or any other provider yourself - TeleTest does not auto-forward results to third parties.

Each time a new test on your requisition releases, you'll get an email notification and the new result appears in the portal. If your requisition has tests with very different turnaround times (e.g., a routine CBC that releases the next business day plus a sensitive estradiol that takes several weeks), you'll get multiple emails as each result lands - one when the first batch arrives, and another when each later test releases.

Abnormal results: we follow up automatically. A follow-up link appears in your patient portal, and you can connect with a clinician to discuss the findings and arrange treatment if appropriate. The follow-up is included with your original consultation - no additional fee.

When the follow-up link becomes available depends on the result:

• Critical results (e.g., a positive bacterial STI such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis): the follow-up link opens immediately so treatment can be arranged without delay.
• Non-critical abnormal results (e.g., high cholesterol, new diabetes, vitamin deficiency): the follow-up link opens 7 days after your first abnormal result is received. This batching window lets the clinician review all related results together rather than discussing each finding piecemeal as it lands - you get a more complete picture and a single, coherent plan.

Phone follow-up. For abnormal results that require timely action, our team may also call you by phone if you don't respond to the portal message after several attempts. To avoid phone outreach, just reply to the portal message (even briefly) when it arrives.

Normal results: no follow-up is initiated. TeleTest provides episodic care - similar to a walk-in clinic - and doesn't form an ongoing patient relationship after the initial consultation.

If your results are normal but you're still having symptoms, we recommend an in-person evaluation at a walk-in clinic or with your family doctor; a physical exam is often necessary.

If your results are abnormal and the follow-up link is open in your portal: click through the follow-up link to reach a clinician - no additional fee. The conversation happens via secure message (or a real-time chat if you opt into one).

If your results are normal, or you've already completed the abnormal-result follow-up: submit a new consultation. On teletest.ca, select the appropriate test panel, complete a new intake history, and submit. In the additional-information section of the intake, mention which results you'd like to discuss so the clinician can review them ahead of time. A clinician will respond by secure message (or by real-time chat if you opt into one).

No. TeleTest does not forward results to family doctors or any other external clinician - not even on request. Your results are made available only to you in your patient portal. If you'd like your family doctor to have a copy, download the PDF from your portal and send or bring it to them yourself.

However, all lab results in Canada are stored in your provincial laboratory information system (e.g., OLIS in Ontario, or the equivalent provincial system in BC). If your family doctor specifically searches for your results in the provincial database, they could see that you've had testing done and view the results.

This isn't unique to TeleTest - the same is true for any lab work you have done in Canada. If you want to avoid your results appearing in the provincial database, see the next accordion on anonymous testing.

Two things to watch for at the lab that can cause results to be sent somewhere unexpected:

• Watch for "reflex CC" by a lab technician. Our requisitions do not list a CC to your family doctor or any other external provider - and we do not know who your family doctor or nurse practitioner is, so there is no way for us to add one. The only CC we may add is internal to TeleTest (e.g., our Chief Medical Officer), strictly to make sure your results reach our system as a backup if anything goes wrong with the primary route. However, a lab technician will occasionally, out of habit, CC your family doctor at the time of collection (writing in their name or fax number on the requisition, or adding it in the lab's system). If you want results to come only to TeleTest, tell the technician at the time of your visit that there should be no additional copy sent to any other clinician, and ask them to confirm no external CC was added.
• Use only one clinician's requisition per visit. If you bring TeleTest's requisition at the same time as a paper or electronic requisition from your family doctor or another clinic, the lab may merge the orders and send the results only to the other clinician (not to TeleTest). If you want your TeleTest results to reach your TeleTest portal, present only the TeleTest requisition for that visit. If you need separate testing from another clinic, make a separate lab visit for that requisition.

By default, yes. When you provide your health card number at the lab, your results are uploaded to your provincial laboratory information system (OLIS in Ontario, equivalent in BC) and any healthcare provider involved in your care can access them.

For semi-anonymous testing:

1. Do NOT provide your health card number at the lab.
2. Pay for the testing out-of-pocket (the lab will charge you directly for what would normally be insured).
3. Use a different government-issued ID for identification (not your health card).

Your results won't be associated with your health card in the provincial database. Other healthcare providers can't access them unless they explicitly search for your name and a no-health-card record.

See Anonymous Testing & Privacy for more.

TeleTest doesn't forward results to family doctors or other third parties directly. Instead:

1. Download a copy of your results from your patient portal.
2. Bring it to your family doctor for review and to fill out any forms they need to complete.

If your school requires a clinician's signature on a specific form, your family doctor or a walk-in clinic is the appropriate place - TeleTest doesn't fill out school or work forms.

LifeLabs displays this message because some test results are processed outside their facility. LifeLabs processes urine samples in-house, but bloodwork for specific tests is sent to the Public Health Lab for processing.

Even though you provided your blood sample at a LifeLabs location, it takes 1-2 additional business days for the sample to be transported and processed at the Public Health Lab. If you submit on a Friday or weekend, it may take up to 3 days for the Public Health Lab to receive it.

Your results will still appear in your TeleTest portal once processing is complete - you don't need to wait for them to appear on the LifeLabs portal.

Our clinicians are provincially licensed physicians and nurse practitioners:

• Physicians: licensed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) in Ontario, or the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia (CPSBC) in BC.
• Nurse practitioners: licensed by the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) in Ontario, or the BC College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) in BC.

In-house bloodwork (run at the collecting lab):

Send-out bloodwork (processed at a specialized reference lab, longer turnaround is expected and there's no rush option):