A Letter from CDI President & CEO Craig Strasnick
To our Healthcare Partners and Friends of CDI,
As we begin the New Year, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on the unprecedented 2020 and communicate how we are going to continue to align with the needs of our provider partners and their patients throughout 2021. Like the rest of the healthcare industry, CDI was met with unique challenges over this past year, and it is only because of our team’s dedication and determination that we have many significant accomplishments to commend.
COVID-19 Impact & Continuity of Care
Throughout the entire global COVID-19 pandemic, we are proud to say that CDI has never shut down its operations. To the credit of our entire team – and the culture of innovation and adaptability that we have worked so hard to maintain – we were able to safely and effectively implement a continuity of care program that helped thousands of patients and providers navigate unforeseen healthcare obstacles. All while to date successfully ensuring that the virus itself has not breached our walls or infected any one of our team members.
We also want to highlight our partnership with Functional Gut Diagnostics, which has helped the UK’s National Health Service as well as the region’s private physicians in tremendous ways during the COVID-19 pandemic. CDI will continue to work with key overseas stakeholders to introduce its entire portfolio of GI diagnostics – including breath testing and IBSchek® – in the growing UK and European healthcare market.
Company Performance
Due to the aerosolization dilemma, we saw many new providers seeking an alternative to in-office diagnostic testing. As the healthcare world turned to telemedicine and at-home diagnostic solutions, our customer base grew with new provider partners ranging from individual practitioners to preeminent hospitals and storied research institutions. Our promise remains the same to each new valued partner: to provide patient-focused, cost-effective, and scientifically reliable diagnostic services to patients living with functional gastrointestinal disorders.
Industry Developments & Guidelines
During 2020, CDI, through its MyGIHealth platform, was instrumental in helping optimize and expedite clinical trial recruitment and enrollment with multiple research and industry sponsors. Each trial is seeking developments in GERD, IBS-D/M, IBS-C, and SIBO related research.
Additionally, CDI’s diagnostic portfolio has been at the forefront of advancing guidelines in the GI field. Just last month, the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) released new guidelines for IBS that recommend a “positive diagnostic strategy” over a “diagnostic strategy of exclusion,” which directly aligns with our at-home, non-invasive diagnostic solutions. ACG also released updated guidelines for SIBO, including the adoption of Intestinal Methane Overgrowth (IMO), which CDI breath tests can help positively diagnose. Industry standards are also now encouraging at-home breath testing as a useful screening and diagnostic approach as the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 outbreak.
Service Updates & Outlook 2021
In 2020, our team spent considerable time enhancing and optimizing our operations to better serve providers and patients. Additionally, we launched an enhanced website with a streamlined, modern design, improved functionality, and easy access to essential information to help providers make well-informed decisions about diagnosing and treating functional GI disorders.
We also participated and sponsored events with Digestive Disease Week, ACG, The Rome Foundation, and Epicured’s Partners in Health program. And in November of 2020, we co-produced a 2021 trends webinar and released a downloadable trends and best practices guide for diagnosing and treating functional GI disorders.
Looking towards the future, CDI will continue to offer cutting-edge, safe, and scientifically validated solutions for providers and their patients. To combat rising healthcare costs, starting in 2021, CDI will begin accepting insurance for the IBSchek® Capillary Collection Kit and we will be significantly reducing the maximum out-of-pocket cost for the test, making it the most cost-effective, easily accessible, and clinically proven IBS blood test available.
I would personally like to recognize every single talented and hardworking individual at CDI who has navigated the most exceptional of circumstances during this past year. Together we have risen to improve the lives of patients and providers while simultaneously working with various stakeholders to drive positive impact at well-respected research institutions across the US and all around the world.
As we move into 2021 it will remain CDI’s collective mission and responsibility to take the lessons we’ve learned in 2020 and apply them in new, innovative, and impactful ways that continue to advance our contribution to patient-centric diagnostic testing, healthcare technology, and research. With a resilient 2020 behind us, the future of CDI is bright. We wish you and your families a fresh, happy, and healthy start to this New Year.
Sincerely,
