At-Home Health Tests Get the Direct-to-Consumer Treatment

Enter Everlywell Inc., a three-year-old company providing three dozen at-home kits that test for everything from sexually transmitted diseases to food allergies. Julia Cheek, a 35-year-old former financial analyst, was fed up with a runaround and $2,500 in bills for some lab work a few years ago. So she set out to create a product that would offer consumers easily accessible tests from stores such as Target and CVS; clear results on a sleek app; and, most important, flat fees. Most Everlywell tests cost from $69 to $150. 

Two years after incorporating, Cheek appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank. An executive with Humana Inc., a managed health-care company, was watching at home and connected the entrepreneur with Philip Painter, chief medical officer for Humana Healthcare Services, who oversees almost 6 million patients at Humana, many of them on Medicare. 

Painter has spent decades seeing members who desperately need routine health care not get it. Many tend to miss screenings and diagnostic tests for common conditions such as cancers or kidney disease. “Seniors want to stay in their homes—we know that,” he says. “It’s simpler for them, it’s convenient for them, and some have access issues in getting out to transportation.”

One out of three adults ignore lab test orders, usually because of price and inconvenience, according to a January survey by The Harris Poll.

A pilot program was born. Late last year, Everlywell began sending 50,000 glucose monitoring tests to Humana members who are known diabetics, as well as colorectal cancer screenings to some of the insurer’s Medicare Advantage patients. Both ailments are manageable and affordable when addressed proactively, according to Painter—and potentially fatal and wildly expensive when not. 

The pilot targets high-risk patients. “We’re actively reaching out to people who we know are for some reason struggling to be compliant with things that can help their health,” Painter says. “Any member that we can reach out to and engage and actually help them close those gaps in their health care is a significant win for us.”

Cheek has been pleasantly surprised to find her company functioning as a vendor in a partnership targeting high-risk patients. She says similar vendor partnerships will fill an increasing percentage of Everlywell’s revenue over the next three to five years.

Seven months into the pilot, the results are encouraging: More than half of test recipients have mailed back samples and most have gone online to see their results. Elderly patients especially have benefited. “They’re definitely willing to get the tests done and engage with us,” Painter says. This was far from given, particularly when the medical information was sensitive.

In June, Everlywell launched free phone consultations with nurses or dietitians, depending on the test. (The STD tests come with a complimentary phone consultation with an independent doctor who, if necessary, can write a prescription.) “We need to ensure that we are actually reducing infection rates and not just providing people with information about a detected disease,” Cheek says . 

Humana will soon begin sending out a screening for early kidney disease, and Painter is considering expanding the test kit program at the end of the year. “We’re starting to see our ability to help members close gaps,” he says.

Fresh off a $50 million round of venture funding, Everlywell is growing quickly. And Cheek is learning to delegate. “I’ve been forced to stop the founder-centric mentality and trust our incredible team members.”

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.