Theranos’ Holmes Marks 50th Anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid with Vision for Next 50 Years
31 July 2015 - 12:50PM
Business Wire
Theranos’ innovation lauded as bipartisan
elected officials and health care leaders cite technology,
accessibility, and low costs as key to future of health care.
A group of bipartisan elected officials and leaders in health
care, including Theranos Founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes, joined
AmeriHealth Caritas today for a conference marking the 50th
anniversary of Medicaid. The wide-ranging event highlighted
Theranos’ innovative lab services and commitment to lowering costs
for the Medicare and Medicaid programs and their beneficiaries. In
a discussion moderated by former Meet the Press anchor David
Gregory, Ms. Holmes and Paul Tufano, Chairman and CEO of Theranos
strategic partner AmeriHealth Caritas, discussed the role that
technology can play in addressing the challenges in health care,
and Theranos’ leadership in providing its innovative technology to
Medicaid managed care members, a community that sometimes lacks
access to the latest health care advancements. Their discussion,
entitled “Driving Change Through Innovation,” also touched on
comments made late last week by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who
called Theranos “the laboratory of the future.”
“The anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid is an opportunity for
us to look back on the five decades of a landmark law that improved
access to health care, but it’s also an opportunity for us to look
to the future and ask what we want the next fifty years to look
like. Today, 70% of clinical decisions are based on lab tests and
yet people have difficulty accessing them. Our data show that at
least 40% of lab test orders don’t even get filled. This is a
barrier to individuals engaging in early detection and preventive
care,” said Elizabeth Holmes. “Innovative technologies can remove
some of those barriers and bring high quality services to everyone,
regardless of socioeconomic status, in convenient locations and at
convenient hours.”
The discussion also addressed the impact of increased costs on
the Medicare and Medicaid programs, citing Theranos’ transparent
prices as a model for the industry, including reducing the costs of
laboratory diagnostic tests. Much of the discussion built upon
Holmes’ recent delineation of a strategy for realizing a preventive
health care system in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. During her
conversation with Tufano and Gregory, Holmes elaborated on this
point in the context of the future of federal programs, saying that
as we shift the paradigm from reactive to preventive health care,
Medicare and Medicaid will see financial benefit from individuals
who detect and address diseases like diabetes and heart disease
before more costly treatments are necessary and outcomes are
uncertain. “Medicare and Medicaid stand for the proposition that
cost should not be a barrier to health care. We believe the same
must be said of lab tests - nobody should have to forgo a lab test
because she can’t afford it or can’t figure out how much it costs.
Today’s lab tests are overpriced and the market does not function
because those prices aren’t transparent. Medicare and Medicaid are
also overpaying for lab tests, and that threatens the
sustainability of these crucial programs. We can achieve
significant cost savings by making tests available for a fraction
of the going rate, and in doing so facilitate better access to
these tests that form the foundation of early diagnosis and
treatment. And we can allow the market to function through price
transparency and consumer engagement, fueling further innovation
which will not only improve the quality of care but also provide
associated cost reductions.”
Tufano emphasized the importance of enabling access for the
underserved to innovations like Theranos’ groundbreaking
technology, saying “Our vision for hosting an event on the 50th
anniversary of Medicaid comes down to the people we serve, the
disadvantaged and chronically ill. I'm energized by the diverse
backgrounds represented at our full-day forum, and inspired by the
willingness of so many thought leaders to have an honest dialogue
about health care for those who are most in need. Elizabeth's
participation demonstrates the shared mission of both Theranos and
AmeriHealth Caritas. The technology offered by Theranos is
revolutionizing laboratory services across the United States and we
want our members to be some of the first who benefit from it. I'm
excited about the work our organizations will accomplish
together.”
Theranos’ platform is a global model for health care, shifting
the paradigm away from diagnosis and treatment, to one focused on
early detection and prevention. The FDA recently cleared Theranos’
finger stick blood test technology and underlying system on which
those tests are run, and approved a waiver that paves the way for
putting Theranos’ tests in the field at point of care, a major
milestone for the company and the national preventive care
landscape.
All of Theranos’ tests are the same price for everyone,
regardless of insurance status, and billed at rates 50% or more
below the Medicare reimbursement rate. Theranos is leading
transparency in lab testing, including committing to FDA review of
all of its laboratory developed tests and publishing its prices,
lab proficiency testing scores, customer satisfaction scores, guest
visit times, and more.
About Theranos:
Headquartered in Palo Alto, Theranos, Inc. is a consumer health
care technology company. Theranos’ clinical laboratory offers
comprehensive laboratory tests from samples as small as a few drops
of blood at unprecedented low prices. Founded in 2003 by Elizabeth
Holmes, Theranos’ mission is to make actionable health information
accessible to people everywhere in the world at the time it
matters, enabling early detection and intervention of disease, and
empowering individuals with information to live the lives they want
to live. Visit us at theranos.com. Follow us at @theranos.
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Theranos, Inc.Lauren Vroom, 650-470-6153pr@theranos.com