testing

How can underwriters extract real-time health insights from medical data and physician-ordered laboratory tests? RGA’s Jackie Waas, Vice President, Underwriting Research & Development, leads a thoughtful discussion with Brian Lanzrath, Director of Analytics, ExamOne. The pair explore the ways underwriters can address gaps from incomplete medical data, better explain ExamOne’s predictive modeling decisions to stakeholders, and master the technology through product line and use cases.

A recent article published by Clinical Reference Lab and ExamOne showed the protective value for tobacco testing exceeded $4 billion. Using the same time frame (2015-2022) and 18 million record dataset, we now describe the additional value associated with testing for undiagnosed diabetes and hypertension worth $2.6 billion. 

Take your meds. No heavy physical activity. No food after bedtime (fasting) if there is a blood draw. These are typical instructions given prior to physician checkup and a life insurance exam.

In this whitepaper, multiple RGA experts address the status quo of testing for the purposes of early disease detection and look forward to the future of screening. 
 

Dr. Achim Regenauer discusses how far we are along the road to having multi-cancer early detection tests – essentially powerful liquid biopsies – in the clinical setting. It appears that this is much closer than previously assumed, and that these tests will complement, rather than replace, current detection options.
 

According to the Foundation for a Smokefree America, smoking is the single most preventable cause of death and disease causing more fatalities than cocaine, auto accidents, AIDS, alcohol, heroin, fire, suicide and homicide combined.
 

Incorporating a health exam into the life insurance application process helps insurers identify unknown or undiagnosed conditions in applicants. And the best tool for measuring cholesterol is a blood test with a lipoprotein profile.
 

A series of clinical trials examining biomarkers to reduce cancer deaths by around 20% could revolutionize cancer care. What does this mean for insurers?
 

This Heart Month, we examine three contributing factors insurers can consider when reviewing a life insurance applicant’s laboratory and medical history. We also highlight some early research that has been published on what complications COVID-19 may cause to the cardiovascular system.

Over the past three decades, the global prevalence of diabetes has risen to record levels. There has been a corresponding increase in the use of the glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) test to assess or detect diabetes. An increasing number of underwriters are now also considering using HbA1c as a good blood biomarker for mortality.