What if you could donate blood and in return receive the benefit of a complete blood panel analysis for free? Thanks to the recent partnership between Chattanooga’s Blood Assurance and Goodlabs, now you can.
These types of tests can cost $200-$500 out of pocket — and may still require copays or deductibles even for insured patients — putting routine health insights out of reach for many.
Donors who book blood donations through the Goodlabs platform can choose from a range of common panels, including CBC (Complete Blood Count with differential/platelet); CMP (Comprehensive Metabolic Panel); lipids; and options such as metabolic, hormone, liver, and kidney tests, all for free.
The idea stemmed from a medical situation Goodlabs Co-Founder and CEO Grant Brewster experienced. “I have a condition called genetic hemochromatosis, which means my body can't properly process iron,” he said. “The iron has been silently accumulating in all my organs over my entire life. To get the iron out of my system, I have to donate blood once a week.”
In addition to donating blood weekly, Brewster was also visiting various doctors and specialists to monitor his condition. He became frustrated with the fact that blood centers couldn’t draw out an extra vial of blood which he could take to his doctor so he would only be poked with a needle once.
“I couldn’t understand why, if there was already a needle in my arm during donation, they couldn’t just run the blood tests,” he said. “So, I quit my job as a software engineer and tried to figure this thing out and we started Goodlabs in January of 2025.”
Brewster said they’ve since expanded into San Francisco, Virginia, California, Georgia and now Tennessee partnering with Blood Assurance.
“The main issue right now is that it's hard for these blood centers to get donors in the door to help with all the blood shortages they are constantly experiencing, particularly in the winter and summer months,” Brewster said.
By providing a health incentive such as a free blood panel analysis for, Brewster said people who are not typically donors might start donating and tracking their blood health.
“Blood donation is one of the simplest ways to do good, and we believe it should also help people feel better — by giving them access to meaningful information about their own health,” he said. “This model makes it easier to strengthen the blood supply while giving donors something valuable in return.”
“We need people to step in and donate, and sometimes that takes an extra reason,” said Garry Allison, Senior Vice President of Operations for Blood Assurance. “We hope offering health insights brings new donors through the door, and once they see how easy it is and understand the lives they can help save, they’ll keep coming back.”
Interested donors can sign up for free online at goodlabs.com. Once you join, donors can select from a series of blood panels. When you donate blood at Blood Assurance, they will extract a vial of blood for the blood panel.
“We are removing the friction of getting people to start donating,” Brewster said, noting that getting these same blood panels done at a physician’s office could be expensive, especially if you’re not insured or underinsured. “And when you donate and they draw the extra blood, it’s only one needle stick,” he added.
Goodlabs results are processed by the same CLIA-certified labs that a doctor’s office would use — such as Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp, and BioReference — and delivered securely through a private account, with clear, plain-language explanations to help donors understand their results.
“You can also upload your previous results so that you can see trending markers over time,” Brewster said.