MedTech Startups Like EverlyWell Bring Lab Testing Home

https://www.dogtownmedia.com/app-developers-austin/

As mobile app developers know, even if you have health insurance, getting blood work done can be expensive. The initial visit to the doctor’s office is inevitably followed by a bill from a clinical lab that sometimes adds up to hundreds of dollars. Fortunately, several mHealth startups are coming up with practical, money-saving solutions to the problem of lab tests. At-home lab testing is a growing trend that allows consumers to take a proactive role in their healthcare, for a relatively low cost.

Healthcare app developers may already be familiar with Austin-based startup EverlyWell, which offers twelve different tests to customers, including tests for men’s health, women’s health and fertility, cholesterol and lipids levels, and sleep and stress issues. Only a couple years old, the company already ships to 46 states and has just raised another $2 million in funding. “Our vision is to make healthcare services like lab testing accessible, simple, and meaningful for consumers. This additional funding enables us to accelerate our growth even more,” said EverlyWell founder and CEO Julia Cheek.

EverlyWell test kits range in price from $69 to $399. After ordering and receiving their kits, customers provide the necessary blood or saliva sample and ship the kit off to a certified third-party lab. Within 5 days, customers can find their results online, laid out in an intuitive and easy-to-read fashion that does not require explanation from a doctor. It’s precisely the kind of convenient service that app developers love to see in the complicated, expensive American healthcare system.

Other similar services have popped up over the years. There’s L.A.-based myLAB Box, which offers a private home STD test. Companies like Scanadu and Cor produce devices that perform the actual testing process at home, but have yet to be approved by the FDA. Of course, the grandfather to all these services is Theranos, which has shifted focus to miniature medical testing devices after its blood-testing service was sunk by several controversies.

Unfortunately, these services are rarely covered by health insurance — at least not yet. But they will likely be covered in the future as mHealth-friendly legislation is pushed through Congress with the support of MedTech app developers. We are undoubtedly moving into an era when at-home tests and other high-tech solutions to common healthcare problems will become a major part of the American medical landscape.