Everly Health is teaming up with the National Kidney Foundation to improve education around chronic kidney disease, the company announced Monday. In addition, Everly Health is also expanding its diabetes monitoring and kidney health testing suite for health plans and employers.

Austin, Texas-based Everly Health is a digital health company for remote diagnostics and managing health conditions. It has three brands: Everlywell, which offers direct-to-consumer at-home health tests; Natalist, which offers fertility and pregnancy products; and Everly Health Solutions, which works with health plans and employers by providing at-home lab tests and virtual care to members and employees.

Through the partnership between Everly Health and the National Kidney Foundation, the two organizations will have co-branded educational information about the importance of kidney health screening. Everly’s health plan customers will identify the patients who are at risk of chronic kidney disease, such as being diagnosed with diabetes. Everly Health will ship a kidney health test kit to these patients in the mail, along with information on what the test is and why it’s important to take the test. If patients get abnormal results, then Everly Health will reach out with the next steps. 

“This program is [meant] to help drive education and awareness of kidney health, the importance of kidney health screening and the important risk factors for people to get more frequent kidney screening. … Chronic kidney disease is a serious issue in America and the National Kidney Foundation is a key cog,” said Gerwin Westfield, vice president of medical affairs at Everly Health, in an interview.

Everly Health also launched a new testing suite for health plans and employers. The suite includes a heart and kidney health test, diabetes monitoring test, kidney health test and heart health test. The testing suite has two collection methods: a blood sample and a urine sample. It helps close two Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures (the Kidney Health Evaluation for Patients With Diabetes measure and the Glycemic Status Assessment for Patients With Diabetes measure). It also helps health plans increase Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Star Ratings.

Chronic kidney disease affects about 37 million Americans, or about one in 7 adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet about nine in 10 adults don’t know they have chronic kidney disease. In 2019, treating Medicare enrollees with chronic kidney disease cost $87.2 billion, the CDC also reported. Everly Health hopes to move the needle on these stats through its partnership with the National Kidney Foundation and the expanded testing suite, Westfield said.

“If we get more broad screening and identify kidney health at an earlier stage, people can get appropriate treatment and slow the progression so that it doesn’t reach the end stage where someone needs either dialysis or a kidney transplant,” he said.

 Westfield added that following the Covid-19 pandemic, at-home testing has grown and become more accepted.

 “I think it only increases the availability for people to get the necessary testing that they need to manage their healthcare appropriately,” he said. “Because not everyone has the ability to take the day off of work to go to the doctor, to provide their sample in a lab.”

Everly Health is not the only at-home testing company, either. Other companies in the space include LetsGetChecked and Viome Life Sciences.