Everly Health, parent company of at-home diagnostics startup EverlyWell and pregnancy and fertility-focused Natalist, announced Monday it has tapped Anthem vet Dr. Liz Kwo as its next chief medical officer.
Kwo, who most recently served as deputy chief clinical officer at Anthem, said the position at Everly will allow her to focus on access, affordability and cost transparency in the lab-testing space.
“I’m an advocate of lowering the cost of healthcare in general – that’s what I did at Anthem – and increasing access and affordability of care,” she told MobiHealthNews. “So I really believe that all Americans should be able to have access to care at affordable prices. And about 70% of today’s medical decisions depend on laboratory test results.”
Kwo said she hopes to expand the company’s suite of services, particularly in the women’s health space and for chronic condition management. Many people put off preventive healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic, and women were more likely than men to skip services like check-ups and routine screenings.
“So it’s also a focus on how we help people who are not as mobile, the elderly, others who can’t go in and out, and back and forth between providers, to get access,” she said.
Patients are more comfortable accessing care from home now, and it’s impossible to put the digital health genie back in the bottle post-pandemic, Kwo said. But Everly offers more than at-home diagnostics. In October, the company announced it had acquired Natalist, which offers ovulation and pregnancy tests as well as vitamins and self-care items.
“I think some people see Everly as mostly a diagnostic company. And I think that’s what we are. But one thing that I really liked about it was the clinical support and our physician network that underlies the product experience and provides oversight,” Kwo said.
EverlyWell made its public debut in 2016 on the ABC show Shark Tank and has now raised more than $475 million in funding. In 2021, EverlyWell purchased at-home diagnostic testing company PWNHealth to form its parent company Everly Health.
“We can envision future patient journeys, whether it’s reproductive journeys to chronic care management journeys to trusted sources of care that we’re going to build. And we’re really excited to do that as the future of healthcare.”
