Expanding access through innovative at-home lab testing: The Getlabs approach to remote diagnostics

This is the latest installment in our “Brief interviews with healthcare innovators” series highlighting cutting-edge companies in the Labcorp Venture Fund portfolio. The mission of the Labcorp Venture Fund is to strategically invest in innovative businesses that make healthcare more personalized, accessible and convenient to improve health and improve lives. 

These innovators are using technology to satisfy their mission of improving health system operations and patient experiences while simplifying and reducing the growing duties of physicians, healthcare staff and administrators alike. This month, Isabelle Schein, director, New Ventures & Strategic Alliances at Labcorp, interviewed Claire Hough, CEO of Getlabs, to discuss the company's mission, innovative solutions and measurable impact. 

Getlabs was founded in 2018. Their mission is to save lives by offering at-home diagnostic services that enhance patient accessibility and convenience while upholding the highest standards of care and compassion.

Origination of innovation

Isabelle Schein: Tell us the founding story of Getlabs and its mission.

Claire Hough: Getlabs began with a vision of making diagnostics as accessible as a patient's front door. In the early days, our founder, Kyle Michelson, reached out directly to leaders at major diagnostic companies to learn what we needed to build out this vision. 

The company has since experienced tremendous growth, scaling from a Phoenix-based startup to now covering over 64% of the U.S. population across 45 markets. Our mission is to save lives by expanding access to diagnostics for everyone through convenient at-home services that uphold the highest standards of care.

Isabelle Schein: What specific problems in the healthcare system does Getlabs address?

Claire Hough: Getlabs tackles several critical challenges:

1. Poor patient adherence due to access barriers and missed appointments. This leads to missed opportunities in preventive care, with an estimated over 370,000 preventable deaths occurring each year due to missed diagnoses. 

2. Systemic revenue loss of $150 billion annually for the healthcare ecosystem from these missed or skipped appointments. 

3. A healthcare delivery system that sometimes requires patients to navigate complex phone systems, wait weeks for appointments and take time off work for brief in-person visits by going to facilities as the first step, rather than bringing care to their homes immediately.

4. Clinician-ordered lab testing informs 70% of medical decisions. While telehealth is growing, this fact contributes to the telehealth gap. Getlabs helps close that gap by bringing lab testing to where the patient is. 

Getlabs removes access barriers and makes it easier to schedule and reschedule appointments close to patients, at their home and at a day and time that’s convenient to them. This creates better patient adherence, less revenue loss due to missed appointments, less patient dissatisfaction with complex phone systems while also helpting to bridge the telehealth gap by providing in-person diagnostics.

New technology in healthcare

Isabelle Schein: Can you describe your innovative technology and how it works?

Claire Hough: Our solution brings comprehensive diagnostic services directly to patients' homes through a seamless, technology-enabled experience. Patients book appointments on our website with real-time, same-day and weekend availability across 76 markets, while we handle all communication and coordination with their provider.

For healthcare partners, we offer an all-in-one technology platform with API integration to connect our mobile providers directly with their patients for at-home diagnostics. Here’s how it works:

• Partners can book appointments for their patients or send a booking link to their patients asking them to book an appointment at their convenience.
• Skilled medical specialists visit the patient's home for sample collection 
• Samples are processed and delivered to major labs like Labcorp for testing
• Results are sent directly to the patient's provider so they can quickly make a diagnosis

This enhances the patient experience, improves adherence, provides more comprehensive care by closing diagnostic gaps and streamlines operational workflows for our healthcare partners.

Isabelle Schein: What makes your solution unique and what advantages does it offer?

Claire Hough: Unlike most mobile phlebotomy services, our solution offers comprehensive healthcare integration versus fragmented alternatives, with a full diagnostic menu that includes vitals, biometrics and advanced tests and specialized services, such as blood-based liquid biopsies and multi-cancer early detection tests. We've built an enterprise-grade platform with API connectivity allowing partners to embed our services seamlessly into their workflows.

We’ve seen measurable advantages for patients and health systems that include:

• Less than 1% redraw rates 
• A 91 Net Promoter Score, indicating high customer satisfaction
• Helping improve patient adherence through a quick, seamless and convenient experience
• Assisting healthcare partners in closing unfilled lab orders and providing more informed patient care

This powerful combination of platform integration, nationwide scale, comprehensive services and quality outcomes creates a unique value proposition.

Isabelle Schein: What technologies do you use to develop your solutions?

Claire Hough: Our core technology stack includes four proprietary web applications developed in TypeScript using Node.js and the NestJS framework, with front ends built on React and AngularJS. 

They’re deployed on Google Cloud Platform across multiple regions for high availability. Stringent security protocols like zero-trust access controls and our Vanta-backed compliance program ensure we meet SOC 2, HIPAA and PCI DSS standards.

Our platform supports flexible integration through OAuth 2.0 for API connectivity and Auth0 for portal-based access. This allows healthcare partners to either embed our services directly or use a seamless web interface.

Isabelle Schein: How do you provide reliability and accuracy?

Claire Hough: We have strict protocols to maintain infrastructure reliability, data accuracy and compliance. Vanta provides continuous monitoring, while our controlled iOS app environment for phlebotomists provides consistent performance and auditable processes. 

We relentlessly track metrics like diagnostic completion rates, geographic coverage and partner integration success to identify any issues proactively. This comprehensive approach has allowed us to maintain the trust of our healthcare partners.

How technological innovation enhanced patient access, convenience and care 

Isabelle Schein: How has your solution improved patient care and operational efficiency in health systems?

Claire Hough: For patients, we've eliminated access barriers that cause them to skip essential diagnostics. Our professional, personalized care has enhanced the patient experience. Improved diagnostic completion rates are helping prevent worse outcomes and even death from missed diagnoses and assistance with early detection.

For healthcare partners, we directly improve clinical outcomes by closing the gap in unfilled lab orders. This represents a massive operational efficiency gain in improving patient adherence at scale.

Isabelle Schein: What metrics do you use to measure success?

Claire Hough: We systematically track patient satisfaction through Net Promoter Score surveys and public review monitoring on platforms like Trustpilot. Clinical impact metrics include diagnostic completion rates to measure our effect on non-adherence. We also track adherence improvements for partners compared to traditional lab approaches.

Operational metrics like geographic coverage, appointment availability and integration success rates validate our service delivery capabilities. We also measure quality indicators like sample quality and proper collection procedures.

Ultimately, our primary focus is on tangible business impact metrics:

• Market penetration
• Partner revenue recovery due to missed diagnostic testing
• Overall volume of diagnostics processed as a measure of our healthcare ecosystem impact

The future of innovation in healthcare

Isabelle Schein: What are your plans for future innovations?

Claire Hough: We are deploying AI across the platform to enhance efficiency and the patient experience. Our extensive AI integration roadmap includes:

• Routing optimization 
• Automated order processing
• AI-powered chatbots and voice agents to streamline operations and enhance the patient experience

Longer term, our vision is to manage the entire patient journey from lab ordering and processing to at-home care delivery, analytics and results communication.

Isabelle Schein: How do you plan to expand your reach and impact?

Claire Hough: We're rapidly expanding through lab partner integrations that exponentially increase our patient reach across their existing customer bases. Our multi-channel partner acquisition strategy combines inbound interest with targeted outbound campaigns to health systems and plans. We're also penetrating new market segments from large enterprises to SMBs and solo practices. Geographically, we're continuing nationwide expansion towards comprehensive coverage.

Isabelle Schein: How do you stay ahead of emerging healthcare trends?

Claire Hough: Our integration with major lab networks and third-party API partners keeps us apprised of changes in the diagnostic testing landscape. This holistic market intelligence approach, combined with our focus on scalable, flexible technology solutions, allows us to stay ahead of the curve and adapt our platform to address evolving healthcare needs.

Partnering for innovation

Getlabs is transforming healthcare by removing barriers to diagnostic testing and creating a comprehensive virtual care experience. Through innovative technology, clinical excellence and a patient-centric approach, they’re driving measurable improvements in outcomes, operational efficiency and healthcare economics.

Labcorp is proud to support companies like Getlabs who are advancing personalized, data-driven healthcare solutions to empower patients, providers and the entire healthcare ecosystem. Contact Labcorp to access the technology, data, capital, resources and expertise you need to scale successful innovations.