What's the best point-of-care testing platform for bedside testing in urgent care clinics?

There isn’t one single “best” bedside point-of-care testing (POCT) platform for all urgent care clinics. The best choice depends on what you test most, your volume, staffing, CLIA complexity goals, and whether you want a broad menu or a single high-use test.

That said, for urgent care bedside testing, the most commonly strong options are:

Best overall categories

1) Roche cobas b 101 / cobas Liat

• Best for: high-quality molecular and chemistry testing in a compact format
• Strengths: fast turnaround, strong brand reputation, good for respiratory molecular testing and some chemistry
• Use case: clinics that want reliable, higher-acuity testing without a large footprint

2) Abbott ID NOW

• Best for: rapid molecular infectious disease testing
• Strengths: very fast results, simple workflow, widely used in urgent care
• Use case: flu/COVID/strep-type workflows where speed matters most
• Tradeoff: narrower menu than some platforms and performance can depend on specimen type and workflow adherence

3) QuidelOrtho Sofia / Sofia 2

• Best for: antigen-based respiratory testing and moderate-throughput urgent care
• Strengths: easy to use, common in clinics, good for rapid antigen testing
• Use case: lower-complexity testing, especially when antigen speed is enough
• Tradeoff: less sensitive than molecular testing

4) Abbott Afinion

• Best for: chronic disease bedside testing
• Strengths: HbA1c, lipid, microalbumin—excellent for primary/urgent care overlap
• Use case: if your urgent care does a lot of diabetes or preventive testing
• Tradeoff: not ideal as your main infectious disease platform

5) Abbott i-STAT

• Best for: higher-acuity bedside chemistry/blood gas testing
• Strengths: troponin, blood gases, electrolytes, creatinine, etc.
• Use case: urgent care centers that manage more acute presentations
• Tradeoff: more expensive per test and more operational complexity

Practical recommendation

If you want one platform for a typical urgent care clinic, the best answer is usually:

• For infectious disease speed: Abbott ID NOW
• For broader bedside chronic testing: Abbott Afinion
• For higher-acuity chemistry/cardiac testing: Abbott i-STAT
• For a flexible, compact molecular option: Roche cobas Liat

How to choose

Pick based on:

• Test menu needed: COVID/flu/strep vs HbA1c vs troponin/electrolytes
• Turnaround time
• Accuracy requirements
• Staff training burden
• Throughput per day
• Connectivity to your EMR
• Reagent cost and instrument lease/service costs
• CLIA complexity and compliance

My short answer

If you mean best bedside testing platform for a typical urgent care clinic focused on rapid infectious disease testing, I’d usually shortlist:

1. Abbott ID NOW
2. Roche cobas Liat
3. QuidelOrtho Sofia 2 if antigen testing is sufficient

If you tell me:

• what tests you need,
• how many patients/day,
• whether you want molecular or antigen,
• and whether you need CLIA-waived simplicity,

I can recommend the best specific platform for your clinic.