- Key insight: Learn how at-home biometric kits are shifting employer preventive-care strategies.
- What's at stake: Low engagement risks higher long-term health costs and workforce disruption.
- Expert quote: Thommen - At-home testing removes barriers, normalizes preventive care and enables earlier detection.
Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review
For more than 20 years, Karla Thommen has facilitated
"He had all these separate symptoms … I learned that there were things I was seeing that I never would have thought, nor he would have thought, were indications of heart disease," said Thommen, TPG's managing director of people operations.
She now works with the American Heart Association and speaks to TPG's employees about "silent symptoms" of heart disease, advocating for
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So in 2024, the company added Reperio Health to its healthcare offerings — an at-home biometric screening kit that uses Bluetooth devices and a finger prick to detect health factors such as blood pressure, body mass, cholesterol and heart rate. Users enter their health information, take the test, get immediate results, and if their employer opts for it, a virtual meeting with a clinician for advice on next steps. TPG added this option when it became available in 2025.
The ability to do lab work and connect with a provider from home removes logistical barriers to employer-sponsored preventive care, Thommen explained — something that only a third of employees take advantage of when it's offered, according to Reperio's research.
"We are so good at getting our pets off to the vet or our kids and loved ones off to the doctor when something's not right, yet we can create a lot of excuses for what we're experiencing," she said. "A lot of folks aren't getting their regular preventive care … [therefore] they don't know if there is a potential risk that has gone unattended. If something goes unattended, it's going to become an emergency room visit, a hospital stay, an irreversible chronic condition or a catastrophic event."
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Continued engagement
Until this year, TPG were eligible for lower healthcare premiums if they sought care such as regular biometric screenings and elected for a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA), and could accrue points for participating in company-provided wellness education events such as webinars. Over 95% of the workforce participated, Thommen said. Now the lower premium is available to everyone, but the established health-focused mindset — and easy-to-use services — keeps engagement high, she explained.
"We are a world of automation and convenience, and our younger workforce requires that as well," she said. "[Our employees] were so impressed with the tech and the immediate results and what they could get just from being in their own dining room."
With employees' health information, Reperio clinicians can also check in about other areas of wellness, such as mental health, when they should get other screenings such as a colonoscopy, and lifestyle improvement. They can also see other benefits employees have access to, and help them navigate care through these channels.
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When employees get used to staying ahead of their health, they have a better chance of avoiding preventable conditions that lead to poor health and high care costs, Thommen said. Making it easy to access testing and expert providers is an important part of getting this routine established.
"[You can] identify it early and get the cure that you need," she said, "or you identify it, and you have peace of mind that your numbers are good."
