Clark County residents may be entitled to compensation over lab's COVID-19 testing
Clark County residents may be entitled to compensation through a bipartisan, multistate settlement with GS Labs, which ran COVID-19 testing sites, over claims it overcharged patients and failed to deliver timely test results, according to the Washington State Office of the Attorney General.
GS Labs operated a rapid testing location in east Vancouver at 12601 S.E. Second Circle.
The investigation, co-led by Washington and supported by an 18-state coalition, found that from 2020 through 2022, GS Labs intentionally advertised inflated cash prices for COVID-19 tests. At times, it priced tests as high as $380 and nearly $1,000 for multi-panel tests to justify overcharging patients with insurance coverage. While GS Labs offered a discount from these prices to cash-paying patients, almost 30,000 patients still paid much more than market rate for their COVID-19 tests, according to a news release from the attorney general's office.
GS Labs also advertised that patients with insurance would have no out-of-pocket costs but charged administrative fees as high as $49 per test to about 70,000 patients, the news release states. Additionally, for hundreds of thousands of patients, GS Labs guaranteed test results within three days but sometimes took a week or longer to get test results to patients.
Clark County Public Health experienced challenges with GS Labs regarding timely and complete reporting of positive COVID-19 test results in the spring of 2021, Marissa Armstrong, communications manager for Public Health, said in an email.
Laboratories are legally required to report notifiable conditions, including COVID-19, to health officials. At the time, providers and laboratories were required to immediately report COVID-19 test results to local health jurisdictions.
Public Health first discovered an issue with GS Labs in May 2021 when the agency received notification of eight positive COVID-19 tests whose laboratory results were nine days old. In addition to the notifications being delayed, each was missing required demographic information for the individuals tested, Armstrong said.
A few weeks later, Public Health discovered that GS Labs had not reported 26 positive cases over a three-week period between May and June 2021.
Public Health submitted a complaint to the Washington State Department of Health regarding these laboratory reporting concerns in June 2021.
Armstrong said when test results are delayed, Public Health may not be able to identify exposed individuals before they become infectious, putting others in the community at risk of contracting an illness.
She added that laboratories and healthcare providers are responsible for knowing the reporting requirements for notifiable conditions in Washington. Such reporting requirements are outlined by the state Department of Health.
"Timely and complete reporting of laboratory results is not only legally required but is critical for preventing the spread of infectious diseases," Armstrong said.
GS Labs is now permanently closed, according to its website.
Under the terms of the settlement, GS Labs will pay a total of $3.6 million in restitution to patients in the 18 plaintiff states. About $987,000 will go to Washington residents who were harmed by the company's testing practices. About 11,000 people in Washington are expected to qualify for restitution, in amounts ranging from $5 for people who were improperly charged administrative fees to $200 for people who paid for a COVID-19 test out of pocket.
"During the height of the pandemic, GS Labs unfairly profited off of Washingtonians just trying to get tested for COVID-19," Attorney General Nick Brown said in the news release. "This is another great example of how our office vigorously enforces Washington's consumer protection laws to protect people from deceptive business practices."
The settlement creates an online restitution mechanism that will be funded and administered by GS Labs, with oversight by the multistate coalition.
To determine eligibility and receive a restitution payment, consumers must complete a brief verification process, which is available at www.gslabstesting.com.
This story was made possible by Community Funded Journalism, a project from The Columbian and the Local Media Foundation. Top donors include the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund, Patricia, David and Jacob Nierenberg, Connie and Lee Kearney, Steve and Jan Oliva, The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation and the Mason E. Nolan Charitable Fund. The Columbian controls all content. For more information, visit columbian.com/cfj.
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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 5:58 PM.