​Hospitals are overextended, and patients who need regular hospital care are waiting longer and longer for their appointments. And patients who cannot get the regular care they need often end up in the emergency room. Out-of-hospital medical lab services could help keep patients out of the emergency room. The French government is even looking at including these services in France's next national healthcare financing legislation.

In fact, a first large-scale test rollout to assess the solution's potential for use nationwide started recently. The eighteen-month Di@pason project will bring Avalun's connected treatment pathway to a cohort of 10,000 patients on blood thinners.

Avalun is a spinoff of CEA Tech institute Leti and develops a connected portable lab (the LabPad). The startup utilizes a unique patented lensless imaging technology; INR (an indicator of how long it takes the blood to clot) is calculated by analyzing the images captured by the device. The test can be completed at the point of care using a single drop of blood from a finger prick, and the results can be obtained in minutes rather than hours—up to twelve in today's healthcare system. The pathway relieves some of the pressure on medical testing labs and helps patients get the care they need sooner. If the results of this first large-scale test are good, the care pathway could be expanded to 700,000 patients.

Taking part in this large-scale test will position Avalun to continue to develop out-of-hospital care pathways that meet patients' needs while keeping all healthcare professionals in the loop. Avalun's LabPad is being used to measure INR for this project. However, the company is developing other tests for the LabPad and will be ready to release them as soon as the necessary government approvals are obtained