Cancer has managed to be the most expensive condition increasing employers’ costs. Seeing this issue as an opportunity to collaborate Carrum Health and GRAIL have teamed up to create a solution. Carrum Health is a value-based platform that helps employers and employees find easy access to Centers of Excellence. The collaboration will allow GRAIL’s Galleri early-detection cancer test to be offered as a benefit option to Carrum’s self-insured employers.
Though musculoskeletal conditions were once the leading factor increasing employers’ healthcare costs, a recent survey by Business Group on Health shows that cancer has now taken that position. GRAIL’s Galleri test aims to remedy this by detecting cancer early when it is still inexpensively treatable. The test uses blood samples to find signs of cancer in DNA and then locates the signs in the body. A clinical study conducted around Galleri found that the test could locate the source of cancer signs with 97% accuracy.
Megan Hall, GRAIL vice president of medical affairs, suggested that the test should still be used in conjunction with existing screenings. She noted that “the Galleri test should be used in addition to recommended cancer screenings, such as mammography, colonoscopy, prostate-specific antigen test or cervical cancer screening.”
Employees who return a detected cancer sign will be routed through Carrum’s platform and connected with a Center of Excellence. Specialists are available on the platform to help patients find their way through the care process.
Deirdre Saulet, market vice president of oncology at Carrum Health, commented on the partnership as well, stating that “Hearing a cancer diagnosis is paralyzing, overwhelming, very traumatic. So at that point, there’s a really nice movement through the Carrum continuum, through our oncology programs where you’ve got the diagnosis, and then we can help support.” She said that the thought process is “if we can get ahead of this, we can diagnose cancers earlier, and that means those cancers will be less costly. And even more importantly, it will lead to a higher likelihood of survival.”
Carrum and GRAIL’s decision to form a partnership is an opportunity to help employees receive cancer diagnoses earlier and find treatment fast. The end goal will be to also benefit employers by decreasing their cost while also improving survival rate.
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