AmeriHealth Caritas, a Medicaid managed care organization, has partnered with Palo Alto-based Theranos, which is working on a smaller, cheaper, alternative to common lab blood tests, to offer Theranos' services to its Medicaid members.

AmeriHealth Caritas operates in 16 states and DC. It serves more than 6.6 million members.

Theranos uses a lab-on-a-chip technology to run multiple blood tests on just a few drops of blood, whereas traditional labs need to draw a comparatively large amount of blood and require a different sample for each test. This also allows the company to offer the tests very cheaply, with many available for less than $15. Theranos’ laboratory test results are also available more quickly and often these turn around will be a few hours compared with a few days or weeks. The company also has an iOS and Android app that makes it easier for users to review their data and locate a nearby testing location. 

Theranos already has its tests in the market via partnerships with hospitals and with select Walgreens pharmacies. Its CEO Elizabeth Holmes has expressed that the company’s mission is the democratization of blood testing, allowing people to learn about health conditions early and act on that information.

"Regardless of how old you are, where you live, or how much you earn, every American should have access to quality health care," AmeriHealth Caritas CEO Paul A. Tufano said in a statement. "Our goal is to give the disadvantaged in our country ─ the poor, the chronically ill ─ the dignity and respect that comes with having a health care experience comparable to what most Americans enjoy ─ an experience based on an informed, consultative relationship with a health care professional."

Tufano added that he hopes that access to this technology will push members engage with physicians more often.

Last week, Theranos received its first voluntary FDA 510(k) clearance, for its herpes simplex 1 virus IgG (HSV IgG) test. Although the FDA clearance is just for one test, it’s the first step in validating hardware and software that Theranos uses widely across its tests, technology that the company has kept closely under wraps for the past decade.