ixlayer and L.A. Care Health Plan Win the 2025 Fierce DEI Award for “Outstanding DEI Initiative in Patient Care”
Award recognizes innovative at-home screening program that closed care gaps and advanced health equity for underserved populations
SAN FRANCISCO, CA/June 18, 2025 – ixlayer, an award-winning provider of cloud-based platforms powering direct-to-patient healthcare, and L.A. Care Health Plan, the largest publicly operated health plan in the United States, have been awarded the prestigious 2025 Fierce DEI Award for “Outstanding DEI Initiative in Patient Care.” The accolade was announced today by Fierce Healthcare, recognizing the organizations’ collaborative effort to deliver personalized, at-home health screenings to underserved communities in Los Angeles County.
The Fierce DEI Awards celebrate and recognize outstanding achievements in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) within the healthcare industry. This program honors organizations, initiatives, and individuals who are making significant strides in creating a more equitable and inclusive healthcare environment.
The joint initiative between ixlayer and L.A. Care addressed significant disparities in preventive care by distributing over 70,000 at-home diagnostic kits for colon cancer, diabetes, and kidney disease screenings. Tailored outreach strategies, including multilingual materials and personalized communication, led to a 20-25% test return rate—more than double the typical return rate without ixlayer. This equated to thousands of returned kits helping to address low screening rates in L.A. county.
“This is a high honor that affirms our commitment to leveraging technology to reduce friction in the patient journey,” said Pouria Sanae, co-founder and CEO of ixlayer. “Our partnership with L.A. Care presented a powerful opportunity to demonstrate how scalable and impactful our platform can be for partners—bringing essential health testing and services directly to patients, on their terms. It’s about putting people in control of when and how they engage in their care.”
The program’s success also yielded significant cost savings, with a 3:1 return on investment for kidney health evaluations and a 2:1 return for colorectal cancer screenings. By focusing on proactive outreach and tailored communication, the initiative not only improved individual health outcomes but also contributed to broader community well-being.
“L.A. Care’s mission is to provide access to quality healthcare for Los Angeles County’s vulnerable and low-income communities and elevate the safety net” said Edward Sheen, MD, MPH, MBA, Chief Quality and Population Health Executive at L.A. Care Health Plan. “This includes delivering personalized solutions that expand access to care, overcome barriers to health screenings, increase early disease detection rates, and advance health equity. This partnership with ixlayer reflects our commitment to meet community members where they are and serve them with new innovative solutions.”
The 2025 Fierce DEI Awards received numerous submissions across nine categories, with finalists evaluated on innovation and impact, measurable outcomes, sustainability and scalability, and ethical considerations.
ABOUT IXLAYER
ixlayer [pronounced: I-X-layer] is an award-winning provider of cloud-based platforms that power a seamless, end-to-end direct-to-patient healthcare experience. The name reflects our core strength: “i” for robust data and technology infrastructure and “x” for exceptional user experience. ixlayer offers ixEngage–a proprietary solution for biopharma that seamlessly integrates with all healthcare ecosystem partners from at-home sample collection kits to labs and at-home prescription delivery, ixlayer’s patient-centric technology accelerates the path to diagnosis, supports optimal care, drives operational efficiency, and improves health equity and outcomes for all. To date, ixlayer has activated over four million patient care journeys, simplifying the complex web of a patient’s healthcare journey. Learn more at www.ixlayer.com.
ABOUT L.A. CARE HEALTH PLAN
L.A. Care Health Plan is the largest health plan in Los Angeles County serving more than one of every four Angelenos. It is also the largest publicly operated plan in the country. L.A. Care offers four health coverage plans including Medi-Cal, L.A. Care Covered™, L.A. Care Medicare Plus and the PASC-SEIU Homecare Workers Health Care Plan, all dedicated to being accountable and responsive to members. As a public entity, L.A. Care’s mission is to provide access to quality health care for L.A. County’s low-income communities, and to support the safety net required to achieve that purpose. L.A. Care prioritizes quality, access and inclusion, elevating health care for all of L.A. County. For more information, follow us on X, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Jennifer Perciballi
Oak+Cannon for ixlayer
jennifer@oakandcannon.com
Mayra Suárez
L.A. Care, Media Relations Specialist III
MSuarez@lacare.org
CLICK HERE to learn more about how ixlayer works with biopharma leaders to integrate a complete end-to-end, direct-to-patient experience into their marketing campaigns.
About ixlayer
ixlayer has the only end-to-end, direct-to-patient platform built for biopharma and optimized for patient choice. We help biopharma companies connect with patients from testing to treatment with speed, transparency, control and impact.
