| Health testing startups like Function Health and Superpower are about to face more competition — and it’s the very type of business they depend on that’s drumming it up. |
| A few weeks ago, Labcorp unveiled a sweeping package of diagnostic tests focused on longevity, hormones, heart health and other hot wellness areas. The offering looks a lot like what those testing startups are offering directly to longevity-obsessed (or -curious) consumers for hundreds of dollars a year. |
| Function and Superpower rely on third party labs like Labcorp and Quest Diagnostics for their tests. Still, I was surprised that Labcorp seemed to be undercutting its customers. |
| Leslie Saltzman, Labcorp’s co-divisional director of consumer health, told me the lab giant is targeting primary care doctors with the tests. It’s increasingly seeing them order different tests than they previously did, and more doctors identify as integrative or functional medicine practitioners, focusing on treating the root causes of chronic disease. Plus, more patients are asking for preventive diagnostics. |
| “I have patients that are coming in with the tests from Function Health, and I know a lot of other physicians are experiencing the same kind of thing, where if their own doctors aren't ordering the tests, they're going elsewhere,” said Saltzman, who practices internal medicine. |
| But to Labcorp, it’s not so much about helping primary care doctors compete as it is about preventing fragmented care and disjointed advice, Saltzman said. |
| Maitham Dib, CEO of Junction, a startup that provides infrastructure for ordering lab tests, said Labcorp’s move signals a shift in mainstream healthcare toward prevention: “Historically, it's been very hard to have any sort of preventative healthcare being done within the traditional healthcare setting.” |
| That’s exactly the pitch of the buzzy testing startups — that they can offer tests that primary care typically doesn’t. I wonder if many traditional doctors will take Labcorp up on its new offering. They’re set up to deliver services that are reimbursed by insurance, and Labcorp’s wellness tests will be out-of-pocket for patients. But if patient demand (and the fear of losing patients) is strong enough, maybe we’ll see traditional care systems start to change. |
| - Shelby |
