How Cardinal Health is helping patients overcome barriers to preventive care by delivering diagnostic tests directly to their homes.
In an ideal world, all patients receiving healthcare would attend regular check-ups, take diagnostic tests when necessary, and follow up with clinician-recommended treatments.
“However, the reality is that many circumstances can disrupt the intended flow of care from providers to patients,” said Steven Denman, Director, Laboratory Business Development and Gaps in Care Programs at Cardinal Health.
These are known as “gaps in care” or discrepancies between recommended healthcare best practices and the level of actual care provided to the patient.
Gaps in care are pervasive across healthcare and can undermine both the quality and equity of medical services. Examples of gaps in care include missed healthcare services recommended by a provider – such as a cancer screening – or a delayed follow-up visit with a doctor. Additionally, many patients do not adhere to their prescribed treatments and skip or delay critical care for a variety of reasons, including language barriers, the inability to take time from work to see a doctor or transportation-related challenges. These factors can also lead to gaps in care.
“Amplifying these common gaps are obstacles that patients experience across the U.S. healthcare system – including rising treatment costs, increased comorbidities, condition progression, complexities from later-stage diagnosis, and reduced quality of life,” Denman said. Noncompliance also places a major strain on healthcare resources, which can cost systems an enormous amount of time and money, as they’re often treating issues that could have been identified sooner through early detection.
The benefits of early detection and preventive care
Chronic diseases are at an all-time high in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 60% of adults1 are living with chronic illness, and life expectancy, as a result, is dropping nationally.
Early detection of disease is generally more cost effective than treating advanced disease states. “Solutions that focus on early detection, routine screenings and lifestyle interventions can offer profound benefits to patients, providers and payers by identifying health issues before they become severe,” Denman said.
Preventive care services involve regular check-ups, health screenings, vaccinations and other lifestyle changes. Health-promoting activities such as stress management, good sleep and hygiene also fall under the umbrella of preventive care. By prioritizing these preventive measures, individuals can take proactive steps to safeguard their health and well-being for the long term.
Commercial insurance providers and federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid are measured on various dimensions of performance, including clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction and adherence to best practices. For example, HEDIS (Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set) is a standardized set of performance measures developed by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a leading healthcare accreditation organization. Many health plans use HEDIS scores to measure clinical quality and service performance; more than 235 million people are enrolled in plans that report HEDIS results.2 These scores are based on more than 90 measures across six domains, and nearly one-third of the measures are related to gaps in care.2 Health plans are ranked based on these scores which impact financial performance, accreditation and market competitiveness.
“Because payers are scored on the value of care provided to their members, it is financially advantageous for them to employ solutions that aim to reduce and close gaps in care,” Denman said. Also, investing in preventive care helps reduce the incidence of costly emergency room visits, hospitalizations and complex treatments for advanced diseases, which can help reduce insurance premiums and promote higher reimbursements and more sustainable healthcare spending.
Closing the gaps
At-home testing is a relatively new development in healthcare that eliminates physical barriers between patients and their testing. By sending diagnostic screening kits directly to patient homes, they’re more likely to complete recommended screenings, potentially detect health issues early and minimize long-term medical expenses. “Meeting patients where they are can help make it easier for them to stay up to date on recommended screenings and manage existing conditions,” Denman said.
The flexibility of at-home testing can also be beneficial when the type of health screening required can only be done at home, when there are privacy concerns and/or when geographical/language barriers to care exist.
The value of at-home testing goes beyond convenience. In one study3 of 1.1 million adults aged 50 to 75 from 2000-2019, Kaiser Permanente was able to reduce colorectal cancer incidence and mortality by 30% and 50%, respectively, from their at-home screening program.
“Results like these show that extending health care into the home has value beyond convenience,” Denman noted. “The increase in preventative care and early-stage detection can increase longevity and reduce the overall cost of care.”
Cardinal Health is teaming up with technology providers, labs and collection system manufacturers to enable at-home testing programs that are managed from beginning to end. “Cardinal Health has decades of experience in the diagnostic supply market and a dedicated lab kitting facility with capabilities for personalized, direct-to-home kitting,” Denman said. “Cardinal Health also offers a comprehensive range of products and services tailored for clinical laboratories, including distribution solutions, custom solutions and lab-specific programs.”
Denman said Cardinal Health’s collaboration with experts in diagnostic technology allow them to provide a variety of benefits for at-home testing, including:
- Kits personalized with the health plan or health system branding, sent directly to the patient’s home: Helping ensure that the health plan or health system’s brand is visible can increase trust in communications with patients.
- Patient/member communications and timely notifications to give visibility, support and results: Examples of these communications include heads-up letters to notify people of an upcoming gap closure effort, paper and digital instructions with multiple language options, optional notifications to track the sample and lab result status with easy-to-reach live agents to assist in collection support.
- Full integration with the laboratory to capture and share results: A big part of a successful gap closure program is providing timely analysis and results, Denman noted. “The labs involved in these programs take this very seriously and emphasize efficient sample analysis.”
- Full-program visibility to track every step, from distribution to specimen collection to results: Real-time visibility includes detailed tracking of kit shipment, kit registration, kit return, lab reception, sample status and result. “We’ve found this visibility is critical to enabling necessary program adjustments and allowing health plans and health systems to improve their coordination across programs and patient follow-up,” Denman said.
Extending care to where patients are
At-home testing solutions extend care directly into the home, making testing easier to access and providing privacy for sensitive tests, potentially making the patient feel more comfortable with completing the process. These solutions may be part of a patient’s health plan or health system, allowing for direct coordination with primary care physicians.
“The solutions also provide uniquely personalized and high-quality patient experiences, with features designed to gain trust and increase engagement,” Denman said. “These extras can make a big difference in the patient experience – removing additional barriers to compliance even after the test reaches the patient’s home.”
One payor saw significant improvements just one year into implementing these solutions, including a 25% increase in sample return rate and a 40% increase in gap closure rates. Sample rejection rates even decreased by 35%.*
Physical features of the tests include a simple design with clear instructions and labeling with a recognized name of the patient’s health plan or health system. The patient also enjoys regular updates and an easy way to contact someone for further understanding or support.
“These elements can contribute to higher compliance and test return rates that close important gaps in care,” Denman said.
Steven Denman is Director, Laboratory Business Development and Gaps in Care Programs at Cardinal Health, where he leads new strategic offering development with a special focus on diagnostic testing in the home for payers and health systems.
1 Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). About Chronic Disease. cdc.gov. Oct 4, 2024. Accessed from: www.cdc.gov/chronic-disease/about/index.html. Accessed on Aug 19, 2025.
2 National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). HEDIS Measures and Technical Resources. ncqa.org. www.ncqa.org/hedis/measures/. Accessed on Aug 19, 2025.
3 San Francisco Chronicle. At-home tests dramatically reduced death rates for this kind of cancer, study finds. sfchronicle.com. www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/home-colorectal-cancer-screening-kaiser-20301331.php Accessed on Aug 19, 2025.
*Data provided by Spot Health for payor customer with 2024 results vs. 2023 results for all gaps-in-care tests that had data available in both periods.