As part of Walgreens' recent initiative to be a "leader in healthcare technology," the company is teaming up with Silicon Valley health startup Theranos to offer cheap, needle-free blood tests. What's more, the service will soon be coming to a drugstore near you, as they're planning to expand it to all 8,200 locations.
The revolutionary method of testing is a far cry from the blood tests we're used to. Instead, the Therano method is more akin to a painless little finger prick. Except with just that single prick (and the resulting 25-50 microliters of blood), Walgreens will be able to perform up 70 different blood tests. And all it takes is the "nanotainer" you see below.
As far as pricing is concerned, Theranos has promised to keep its prices to at least under 50 percent of Medicare's own, and as you can see on the company's website, most of those fall well below the $10 range. And as soon as you take the tests, a secure connection can blast the results over to your doctor, who would then see them in a matter of hours as opposed to days.
While there's no definite timeline in terms of when we might start seeing the rollout take place, Walgreens' five-year healthcare plan would likely put it sooner rather than later. [Pharmacy Times via Engadget]
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