The End-of-Year Blood Work Checklist: What to Order in December, in What Order, So the Draw Lands Before December 31 and the Results Land Before Your January Physical

December blood work has three deadlines behind it, and the same list satisfies all of them. An FSA balance expires at the end of the plan year and counts a lab test on the day you are drawn (the FSA deadline guide). A met deductible makes clinician-ordered labs cheap until it resets on January 1 (the deductible guide). And a January physical is a better appointment when the results are already in your hands. The list itself is not complicated: the four tests every physical orders — a comprehensive metabolic panel, a CBC with differential, a lipid panel and a TSH, bundled as the General Wellness Panel for $49.99 — plus the two or three add-ons your history points to. Order by about December 26, be drawn fasting in the morning by December 30, and the results post within a week with the reviewed reference ranges, in time to print for the appointment.

TestWell prices; one $6 lab processing fee per order covers the physician authorization however many tests you add. "Fasting" means 8–12 hours with water; schedule the draw for the morning and everything on the list can share one visit.

Two ready-made versions of the same idea: the Women's Health Panel ($129.99) adds ferritin, iron, vitamin D and A1c to the core four with a TSH + free T4 thyroid pair; the Men's Health Panel ($139.99) adds testosterone (free and total), PSA, vitamin D and A1c.

Work backwards from two dates: the last day you can be drawn (December 31, or earlier if your draw site closes), and the day you want results in hand.

• Order: any day — the physician authorization usually arrives within minutes and the requisition is good for weeks. Ordering by December 26 leaves room for a missed morning.
• Draw: by December 30, in the morning, fasting if anything on your list needs it. Most Quest and Labcorp patient service centers take walk-ins, but they close on Christmas Day and New Year's Day and many run shortened hours in between; the lab finder and city pages list each site's schedule. In New York and New Jersey the draw is at BioReference.
• Results: 1–3 business days for the baseline panel, 2–4 for A1c and B12, 3–5 for Lp(a), the Heart Health Panel and the TB test. A December 22 draw returns everything before the new year; a December 30 draw returns most of it in the first week of January — which is fine for your FSA, since the expense date is the draw.
• Physical: download the report from your account or print it; every result comes with the reviewed reference range and a note on what can move it, so the appointment starts from the numbers rather than ending with an order for them.

• An FSA balance: the draw date is what counts, every test on the list is eligible, and the itemized receipt in your account is the documentation. Match the list to the balance — the FSA deadline guide sorts it by $50, $50–$200 and $200+.
• A met deductible: ask your clinician to order the monitoring tests they want repeated (they are covered at coinsurance until January 1) and buy the rest directly; the deductible guide explains the split.
• An unmet deductible: skip insurance for the routine list entirely — the direct prices above are a fraction of the negotiated rates you would pay toward a deductible that is about to reset anyway.
• Just the physical: the General Wellness Panel is the four tests the office would order; bringing it means the visit can go straight to what the numbers mean.

A deadline is a reason to stop postponing the tests you'd want anyway, not a reason to over-test. Hormone panels without a symptom or a question behind them, food-sensitivity and heavy-metal panels bought on curiosity, and repeating a test that was normal six months ago all spend a balance without changing a decision. The annual blood work guide covers what an annual baseline should and shouldn't include, and the results explainer reads any report you already have against the reviewed ranges before you decide what to add.