Healthy.io, the global leader in transforming the smartphone camera into a medical device, and Blue Cross of Idaho announced a new multi-year partnership that will provide innovative tools to help Idahoans lead healthier lives by promoting early detection of kidney damage and chronic kidney disease (CKD).
This multi-year collaboration will provide people across the state with access to Healthy.io’s Minuteful Kidney™ test, the only FDA-cleared at-home kidney test. Through this partnership, Blue Cross of Idaho employees and Medicare Advantage members will have an easy way to test for signs of kidney damage, with instant clinical-grade results that are shared directly with their primary care physician.
Beginning this month, test kits will be provided to select Blue Cross of Idaho employees ahead of a broad rollout with Medicare Advantage members in 2023.
Blue Cross of Idaho is at the forefront of closing key care gaps for members. The partnership with Healthy.io will help improve health equity—especially in rural and underserved communities—by increasing access to a critical test for at-risk Medicare Advantage members across Idaho. A recent study found that 38% of rural Idahoans reported their primary care physician was between 25-100 miles from their home.
“Minuteful Kidney plays an important role in improving health equity by increasing access to a critical test that can facilitate the early detection of CKD,” said Paula LeClair, US General Manager of Healthy.io. “We are delighted to be working with Blue Cross of Idaho to put this reliable, easy-to-use test in the palm of so many hands across the state.”
Providing easy-to-use at-home diagnostic tools, such as Healthy.io’s Minuteful Kidney test kits, helps vulnerable communities access much-needed healthcare services that are often out of reach. Healthy.io’s Minuteful Kidney service facilitates early detection of CKD by allowing patients to take the test anywhere they want, at any time.
CKD is referred to as a “silent killer” because it often doesn’t have symptoms until very late stages. One in three Americans is at risk, including those with diabetes and hypertension. Yet most don’t know they have the condition until it progresses to end-stage renal disease, eventually requiring dialysis and/or a kidney transplant.
People at risk for CKD should complete an annual albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) test, yet 80% don’t take the test. Healthy.io’s recent 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for home use of the Minuteful Kidney test marks the first time the FDA has granted clearance for a smartphone-powered home test to determine ACR. Now, patients can take a clinical-grade ACR test at their preferred time and location, with a simple smartphone scan. This is the first and only home test that allows patients to get immediate results without sending a sample to the lab.