Your Prevent Defense against Disease

Affordable Lab Tests Now™

by Carol Cortright

The health care industry is one sticky wicket to navigate, with deductibles through the roof—if you’re lucky enough to have insurance. On the flip side, for the uninsured, it’s often a matter of paying the mortgage or buying groceries over getting some seemingly minor illness checked out.

Either way, the truth is that minor illness can lead to something major if it’s not caught in time.

Affordable Lab Tests Now (ALTN™) makes it easy. No insurance? No problem, they say. It’s a company run on passion and commitment, unhampered by the sterile corporate mindset that drives other enterprises. The ALTN™ team wakes up every day with one thing on their minds: empowering their clients to make the best decisions about their health and wellness.

For ALTN™ founder Alexandra Weixler, it’s personal. Her drive to create an avenue for people to take control of their own health care stems from years of wrangling with clinical depression. “Between all the blood work and other expenses, I went broke. I was guinea pig, on and off various drugs,” she recalls. “I got to the point where I was done. Being a zombie was no way to live.”  In the end, one simple blood test cracked the code and got her back on track—without a merry-go-round of medications.

After a two year recovery process, Weixler—a lifelong entrepreneur—felt ready to take on the challenge of starting a new company. Although her fitness industry background included operating Pilates studios in New York and Palm Harbor, her experience treating her own depression inspired her to start ALTN™ because she believes that “everybody has the right to take care of their health—with or without insurance.”

Weixler’s plan moves away from the model of other lab collection environments. A convenient retail site diminishes some of the clinical feel. ALTN™ amps up the comfort level with lounge chairs in a pleasant setting. Customer service goes above and beyond moving clients through an assembly line.

With one location now in New Port Richey, Weixler plans aggressive expansion, with new facilities opening every three to four months.  “We want to build relationships and bring back that element of caring,” she says, adding, “We give clients the opportunity to get healthy using a holistic approach.”

ALTN™ fosters preventative healthcare and administers some 14,000 different tests that inform clients of potential health risks. Popular tests include: vitamin/nutrition deficiency; food intolerance/allergy; cardiac; anti-aging; cancer markers; and infertility. ALTN™ also offers annual health tests for all ages, as well as important obesity testing for children and adults.

"But, “ Weixler emphasizes, “we don’t offer treatment—we’re strictly an avenue to point you in the right direction to put healthcare back in your own hands. We’re letting you know you don’t have to forgo important tests for fear of cost: we’re volume-driven and have the best prices.”

Test results are forwarded to the ordering physician. In addition, a trained specialist is available to assist patients in their understanding of certain lab results. However, all patients are directed back to their respective clinical providers for the best advice and plan of care.

Weixler assembled a team of partners that help run ALTN™, including her Chief Operating Officer Debra Connelly; Client Educator Stephanie Moore, NMD; and Account Representative Rhiannon Isaacson. Rounding out the lineup are Medical Director Mark Laflamme, MD; Pasco Business to Business Representative Steven Connelly; and Pinellas Business to Business Representative, Samuel Johnny.

Personal experience also led COO Debra Connelly to enter the health care profession. When she saw what a difference Hospice and home health care made in the lives of her own family when they required assistance, she realized she wanted to help make that difference, too.

Connelly believes in the company: “Our mission is to help the community—we’re geared for people who really need us; we’re not geared to be corporate. I can go home at night and know I helped someone. Our clients and their health matter to us. We’ll do anything we can to help somebody.”

“I want the best,” Weixler says, regarding how she assembled her staff. Client Educator Stephanie Moore’s reputation and twenty years’ experience in holistic and nutritional treatment surpassed all other candidates for the job.

Health issues affecting her own children motivated Moore to become a doctor of naturopathic medicine. A holistic approach, Moore says, “is the future of medicine—it’s very progressive; I want to stay one step ahead. ALTN™ is an interesting concept because it encourages people to take healthcare into their own hands. It’s very empowering.”

Moore cites a common issue, metabolic syndrome, which sets some people up for diabetes and how a visit to ALTN™ can help ward off serious problems. She explains, “They do a simple lab test like a lipid profile to show their predisposition. Then they’re given a diet to get control over insulin resistance so they can avoid chronic disease in the long run.”

Ultimately, Moore hopes to create a comprehensive directory of services so people can get the care they need. A big part of ALTN™’s referrals will include helping clients go the non-pharmaceutical route if they choose.

With fifteen years in the pharmaceutical industry, Account Representative Rhiannon Isaacson adds “scientific knowledge and an understanding how the lab needs to work together with patients to meet their needs” to the mix. Isaacson says ALTN™ “serves a needed market, especially as the healthcare model changes to stress prevention over treating afterwards.”

ALTN™ promotes awareness to practitioners and the public that there are options in testing and managing preventative healthcare. It presents a workable alternative for the uninsured, the self-insured and those with high deductibles.

“Our services are for everyone,” Isaacson says.” “Menopausal women can walk in and get an affordable hormone test. The same goes for anonymous and confidential testing for STDs and HIV.” She points out the catch-22 many people face: “Either ‘I can’t afford to get sick’ or ‘I can’t afford preventative care.’”

Client Educator Stephanie Moore sums it up: “You can’t take care of yourself unless you know what’s wrong with you. Lab tests are an inexpensive way to point out problems with high cholesterol, insulin, anemia, or something else that can be easily fixed, preventing something catastrophic from happening. Lab testing is imperative.”