In an interview with the co-founder and partner of Morgan Creek Digital Anthony Pompliano (Pomp), Julia Cheek, the CEO of Everlywell, the home medical testing company, called for major reform in the US lab testing sector.
In a May 19 podcast interview with Pompliano, Cheek said:
“I’ve been fighting this battle for five years, talking about how lab testing is broken and Americans are getting screwed.”
She added:
“Lab testing is cheap, it can be affordable, you should know how much your tests are going to cost, period. […] There is no excuse for that, especially as you’re having to pay for it out of pocket more and more.”
You can now watch my conversation with @JuliaTCheek, the CEO behind the first FDA approved at-home COVID-19 test. We discuss their COVID-19 response, the lab testing market, how telemedicine is changing & why healthcare cost transparency is so important.https://t.co/TzZ7OV3Z7b — Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) May 19, 2020
A May 16 article from TechCrunch stated that recently, Everlywell became the first FDA-approved “standalone sample collection kit.”
However, Pompliano noted in the interview that his company (Morgan Creek Digital) invested Everlywell several years ago.
Cheek explained that Everlywell facilitates remote medical testing, as the outfit has a network of physicians on hand for result evaluation.
<img width="1024" height="705" src="https://www.cryptonewspoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Anthony-Pompliano-CEO-Of-Everlywell-Julia-Cheek-Calls-For-Major-Reform-In-The-US-Lab-Testing-Sector-1-1024x705.png" alt="Anthony Pompliano CEO Of Everlywell Julia Cheek Calls For Major Reform In The US Lab Testing Sector" class="wp-image-16612 lazyload" />
Image: Time Magazine
Also, she said that customers can visit the company’s website and get the tests they need. The process includes providing necessary data or samples remotely, shipping them out for evaluation after.
A recent @APompliano podcast with @JuliaTCheek reveals problems on the medical testing front, @benjaminpirus reports. https://t.co/bRZPXxwxuM — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 19, 2020
Everlywell also provides tests for a bevy of other conditions, such as food sensitivity and sexually transmitted infections.
Likewise, Cheek said that the current situation with COVID-19 has increased people’s concern over testing. At times, the US has shown COVID-19 testing supply scarcity.
She added:
“I believe people now have a deep interest in understanding why they can’t get a test that should be available and we can broaden that a lot more, in their minds, around why testing in general is important and we’re already seeing that.”
Moreover, she said that testing may become a significant discussion point in the US presidential elections later this year.
In the end of the interview, when Pompliano jokingly asked if Everlywell accepts Bitcoin as a form of payment, Cheek replied:
“We should. We do not yet, I mean, many e-commence companies do.”
Thus, testing is the only one issue of many surrounding of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: Inc