EverlyWell Leverages Big Data to Enable At-Home Self-Testing and Personalized Health Insights
What is the current state of processing and mining of big healthcare data, and how will it evolve in the future? VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat) will publish a series of reports on the domestic and international big healthcare data sector, covering typical case studies, investment and financing activities, and industry landscape, to serve as a reference for investors, entrepreneurs, and healthcare institutions.
Personal health data constitutes one of the key sources of medical big data, such as step counts and sleep duration recorded by wearable devices. A healthcare technology company called EverlyWell is also engaged in health big data monitoring. However, unlike others, it does not merely provide simple assessments of sleep or physical activity; instead, it explores a wide range of indicators related to an individual’s physiological condition.
What is EverlyWell’s background? This SeptemberAt the Startup Battlefield competition held during TechCrunch Disrupt 2016, EverlyWell stood out from 25 contestants to become one of the six finalists.
EverlyWell Founder and CEO Julia Cheek at the Startup Battlefield Competition
EverlyWell’s business centers on analyzing bodily fluids to provide users with detailed insights into specific aspects of their health, processing big data to deliver personalized medical recommendations. Most importantly, these tests can be completed without visiting a hospital.According to EverlyWell, after a three-month trial run, the company has acquired 1,500 users across 45 states—85% of whom are women—with a monthly user growth rate of 200%. Among all customers, 15% have requested more than one test. EverlyWell’s service offers a more convenient alternative, sparing users the cumbersome routine procedures associated with visiting a doctor.
EverlyWell, based in Austin, Texas, is offering a service called the “Health Status Test,” which enables individuals to measure indicators such as hormone levels, blood glucose, and cholesterol from home, thereby gaining a clearer understanding of their health status. Julia Cheek, the company’s founder and CEO, stated,““The individual being tested only needs to provide urine, blood, or saliva samples for laboratory analysis, and results will be available within five days. While our testing certainly cannot fully replace the role of a private physician, it does offer far greater depth than simple activity tracking or sleep monitoring.”
In May, the company’s products began pilot operations, offering customers eight health tests priced from $79 to $399: food allergy test, thyroid activity test, sleep and stress test, cholesterol and lipid profile test, metabolic test, heavy metal body burden test, inflammation and vitamin D test, and women’s health and fertility test.
Taking the health test involves just three steps: First, apply on EverlyWell’s official website, and customers will receive a bodily fluid collection kit within three business days. Second, collect the required bodily fluid samples and mail them to EverlyWell’s nationally leading laboratory testing center. Third, EverlyWell authorizes a board-certified physician to carefully evaluate the test results, generate an easy-to-understand assessment, and post it to the user’s private EverlyWell account for viewing and sharing.
EverlyWell Test Results vs. Traditional Physical Examination Reports
When we undergo routine medical checkups at hospitals, are the reports we receive similar to the black-and-white table shown on the right side of the image above? Hemoglobin, basophil count, white blood cell count… Each indicator requires individuals to search online and carefully interpret its meaning, causing considerable confusion for non-medical professionals. In contrast, the EverlyWell test report shown on the left vividly presents the significance of each indicator, its impact on health, and the risk level for certain diseases through visual graphics, accompanied by detailed explanations and personalized expert recommendations.
Cheek stated that medical examination reports are typically presented in the HL7 format, a standard commonly used for laboratory reporting. However, to optimize user experience, EverlyWell converts these into easy-to-understand results and precautions. For instance, customers who undergo food allergy testing can view their reports on the EverlyWell website, which details potential allergens and provides nutritional advice on how to avoid daily exposure to these triggers.
“Our health guidance is grounded in objective test results,” said Chief Medical Officer Murdoc Khaleghi. “Every analysis report published online is subject to peer review and evaluation by medical experts, ensuring a high level of authority. We even provide links to relevant literature under different topic tags to facilitate customers who wish to delve deeper into specific medical information.”
Founder Cheek stated that over the past two decades, the medical practice of conducting at-home health tests has gradually evolved. From pregnancy tests and HIV screening to the recently surging popularity of genetic testing, all these developments point to the emergence of this trend, and the services offered by EverlyWell represent a natural extension of this “self-testing” model.
“People today want to better understand their health status, but they dislike the cumbersome process of medical checkups. EverlyWell meets this need by eliminating the hassle of scheduling doctor’s appointments while offering an expanding range of testing options,” said Halle Tecco, founder of Rock Health and an early investor in EverlyWell.
However, when it comes to medical testing, users are most concerned about the reliability of the results. A while ago, Theranos, which claimed to be able to conduct up to 70 tests with a small amount of blood, was exposed as a complete fraud, forcing related medical testing companies to act more cautiously. But Cheek said that EverlyWell has not been affected.
The underlying reason is that the penetration of medical tests, such as genetic testing, remains relatively low, and public awareness is limited, creating opportunities for unscrupulous vendors to exploit loopholes. In contrast, the tests offered are routine and have long been widely adopted, and all EverlyWell testing laboratories hold federal certification in compliance with the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA). “Customers want to know whether the health analysis provided by EverlyWell physicians is highly credible,” said Cheek. “The answer is yes; we are very open and transparent.” EverlyWill not engage in deceptive practices against consumers, as seen in the case of Theranos.
EverlyWell’s Core Team: Medical and IT Professionals
EverlyWell’s team structure is clearly defined: CEO and Founder Julia Cheek, Head of IT and Operations Erik Cardenas, Chief Software Engineer Jory Hatton, and Chief Medical Officer Murdoc Khaleghi, offering a glimpse into its strategy of integrating healthcare with IT technology.
Founder Julia Cheek previously served as an executive at MoneyGram in Dallas. It was the difficulties she encountered while seeking medical care, and her profound dissatisfaction with the poor experience of conventional medical testing, that inspired her to establish EverlyWell. Just last year, she suffered from unexplained chronic fatigue and pain. “I consulted five specialists, yet none could resolve my issue. In the end, I was left with a $2,000 medical bill and a stack of reports I couldn’t understand.”
EverlyWell was founded in June 2015. Although the company originated in Dallas, CEO Cheek relocated it to Austin this February following advice from seed-round investors. EverlyWell raised $2.5 million in its seed round; combined with a financing round last July, its total funding currently amounts to approximately $3 million. In April this year, the company won second place and a $25,000 prize in the Alumni Track category at Harvard Business School’s annual New Venture Competition (NVC) for healthcare companies.
Cheek expressed strong confidence in the company’s future: “We will continue to expand EverlyWell’s range of medical tests, committed to creating a world-class user experience in the field of internet healthcare.”
Series Report:
[Big Data in Healthcare] $30 Billion in Sales! SHYFT Analytics Is Expanding Aggressively
[Medical Big Data] Zephyr Health: Market Insights Consultant for Pharmaceutical Companies