We are excited to be investors in ixlayer, a company that’s reinventing the health ecosystem by empowering every individual to manage their health testing at home. ixlayer’s technology infrastructure and software is leveraged by large enterprises to enable millions of people to regularly have a superior lab testing experience. ixlayer recently announced strategic partnerships with Salesforce and Accenture. We asked the company’s co-founders Pouria Sanae (CEO) and Poorya Sabounchi (COO) to share more details on the company and its role in driving telehealth and precision health.
What is ixlayer?
ixlayer is reinventing the health ecosystem by empowering every individual to manage their health testing at home. ixlayer’s technology infrastructure and software is leveraged by large enterprises to enable millions of people to regularly have a superior lab testing experience.
Think of us as the Stripe of Healthcare – enabling health systems, payors, biopharma, and digital health companies to connect their patients to the right test at the right time, all with a patient-friendly experience.
What types of organizations are leveraging ixlayer’s platform?
Government entities, health systems, health insurance companies, consumer health companies, retailers, clinical research organizations, biopharma companies, and employers.
The rise of telehealth has accelerated over the past year. How has that impacted ixlayer?
ixlayer was initially formed because of a gap identified in the market. Before ixlayer, when a company wanted to offer new digital forms of diagnostic testing, they had to go through a very lengthy process of building a software stack, which frequently took lots of time and money. The past 14 months, especially COVID-19, have accelerated the adoption and comfort telehealth tools, and as a result, ixlayer has seen a tremendous boom in necessity and partnerships in local communities that has increased the availability and affordability for diagnostic testing.
What is ixlayer’s role in facilitating precision health?
Part of ixlayer’s mission is striving to bring the ease of online deployment that’s a hallmark of eCommerce providers, along with the “anyone can play” versatility of payments platforms like Shopify to make the testing experience seamless for each individual.
As many have learned this past year, billions of lab tests are ordered every year, and they are deployed to hundreds of thousands of labs through a highly fragmented system incapable of quickly scaling up. Backed by top-notch forward-thinking investors, ixlayer is becoming the platform that connects all the key stakeholders — from patients, healthcare professionals, and labs — to transform the diagnostics industry. The platform is equipped with multi-lab triage technology, connects organizations with certified laboratories for mass-scale testing, and provides them with access to medical personnel to facilitate and supervise sample collection.
As the future of work evolves, are more employers launching health portals?
Yes, as the future of work evolves and the healthcare industry moves towards a more value-based care model, the responsibilities of personal health management are being passed to individuals. Companies are increasingly looking to assist their employees as they navigate how to best manage their own health. With hybrid business models and remote work opportunities expanding the geographic area of where any one company’s employees can be based, having a customizable portal puts employees at the center of their own health management, no matter where they are located.
Being able to set up a laboratory test remotely or schedule reminders for check-ups helps employees best manage their own personal care, during the pandemic and beyond. As a company’s greatest asset is the health of its employees, many are now looking to implement new portals that will assist them in better managing their healthcare moving forward.
For employers, health portals are playing a critical role in helping companies safely bring employees back to the office. Employers can easily implement COVID-19 testing protocols, manage results and contact trace if needed. Beyond the pandemic, health portals benefit employers by helping their employees take control and better manage their own health. Healthcare is one of the top benefits employees seek, and being able to offer these health portals as a benefit helps attract and retain top talent.
For employees, health portals help facilitate self-care management by utilizing modern virtual and digital health technologies. The portals provide a central and secure place to digitally house employees’ important medical records and help coordinate appointments or lab tests. As telehealth takes off, having digital access to pertinent medical information makes managing your own healthcare easier.
Can you describe ixlayer’s “Pre-Primary Care” program?
There is a lot of waste in the U.S. Healthcare System as the focus has been more around caring for a person after being found sick (a.k.a. fee for service care model). In order to move toward a value-based care model, there is a need for a pre-primary care self screening paradigm that puts the consumer at the center of their own health management; one designed to help everyone in the population stay healthy, minimizing sickness, and stratifying those individuals that are at higher risk of a certain indication toward planned focused care.