Catapult Health has achieved a major milestone in preventive care thanks to the recent clinical laboratory permit from the New York State Department of Health. With this expansion, Catapult’s innovative, in-house lab can now process blood samples from anywhere in the U.S., ensuring millions of patients have access to convenient, comprehensive healthcare right from their home or workplace. This advancement further solidifies Catapult Health’s mission to revolutionize preventive care for employers and health plans nationwide.
Catapult Health uses state of the art automated Roche Cobas analyzers at its lab facility in Dallas to perform preventive care testing, including hemoglobin A1c, triglycerides, high density lipoproteins (HDL), low density lipoproteins (LDL), and total cholesterol. These blood tests complement the physical measurements (blood pressure, height, weight, abdominal circumference, resting heart rate) and psychological screenings (depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation) performed for each patient.
Blood samples are collected in the patient’s home, or at the workplace, using the innovative TASSO microsampling device which allows for virtually painless collection of capillary whole blood without a fingerstick. Each blood sample is transported via UPS overnight service to the Catapult laboratory in Dallas, where blood chemistry analysis is performed.
In addition to the laboratory having national CLIA certification and COLA accreditation, it also meets specific additional requirements by each state. State requirements are not new to Catapult Health, as their nurse practitioners have to hold a current license to practice in both the state where the NP is located and where the patient is during each VirtualCheckup video consultation.
“Our technology routes each patient to a Catapult NP who is licensed where the patient is physically located and who can converse with the patient in their preferred language, if English or Spanish. Other languages are accommodated using a medical interpreter,” said David Michel, CEO of Catapult.
“Until the pandemic hit, we administered all blood tests onsite,” Michel added. “The onset of COVID accelerated our creation of the first comprehensive preventive checkup delivered at home.” Each VirtualCheckup home kit allows an individual to administer some simple tests and to easily collect a blood sample. “We initially contracted with an external lab to process the samples but decided that to best meet our patients’ and clients’ needs, having an in-house lab was important.”
Catapult’s lab director, Dr. Jennifer Rood, has more than 30 years of experience directing labs. “How quickly and efficiently the Catapult lab has been able to become operational in all 50 states is impressive,” said Dr. Rood. “It is a very complex process. We have the instrumentation capacity to process 15,000 tests per day while maintaining high quality standards.” To ensure accuracy, proficiency testing is conducted throughout the year by a third party. Blinded chemistry samples are sent to the lab, where they are processed and the results are reported to the American Proficiency Institute. “This allows us to have confidence in the accuracy of our equipment, our processes, and our staff.”
