Carnegie Mellon University

Staff Council

The voice for staff at Carnegie Mellon University

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January 27, 2022

COVID-19 Home Test Kits Reimbursement


The Office of Human Resources (OHR) is pleased to announce a partnership with CVS Caremark for either direct coverage or reimbursement for the cost of COVID-19 at home test kits.
  • Most over-the-counter COVID-19 tests are covered through Carnegie Mellon’s pharmacy benefit. Participating employees can obtain a test kit with no upfront cost, simply by presenting their prescription benefit ID card to any participating network pharmacy. Please note that CVS Caremark is currently soliciting all members of its national network to participate in the program, and OHR is working with them to create a listing of participating pharmacies. Until a list is available, please inquire at your local pharmacy to determine if it is participating and direct coverage is available.
  • Starting immediately until the end of the mandate due to the public health emergency, employees participating in the pharmacy benefit can purchase over the counter tests from any pharmacy or vendor, requesting reimbursement through an online claims submission process via Caremark.com, the Caremark mobile application (available for Apple and Android), or by submitting claim a paper claim form. A $2.50 processing fee associated with the reimbursement option will be billed to the plan and will not be incurred by the employee.
  • For both options, employees are limited to eight tests per 30 consecutive days.
  • For more information or questions about these options, review frequently asked questions or contact HR Services.
  • Finally, every home in the U.S. is eligible to order four free at-⁠home COVID-⁠19 tests through the US government at https://www.covidtests.gov/. The tests are completely free and orders will usually ship in 7-12 days. The government recommends that everyone order tests now so that you have them when you need them.
We hope you find this news is reassuring as we work to remain nimble in our response to the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Office of Human Resources