BOSTON– Linus Health, a digital health company focused on transforming brain health, today announced that its groundbreaking brain health platform is generally available for healthcare delivery organizations across the US. Designed to facilitate early detection of brain disorders and proactive intervention, the SaaS-based platform combines robust digital cognitive assessments with actionable recommendations for providers and patients. With research linking up to 40% of dementia cases with modifiable risk factors, the practical, scalable, and accessible platform can unlock opportunities for millions of people to improve their cognitive trajectories. Given the growing role primary care providers (PCPs) will play in getting ahead of brain disorders, the platform was purpose-built to expand brain care delivery in primary care while streamlining PCP workflows.
Projections estimate that the number of people in the US with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias will more than double over the next 30 years – from 6M to almost 13M – as the population ages. The expected rise in brain disorders amplifies the need for timely detection and intervention – a key driver behind Linus Health’s mission. The Core Cognitive Evaluation™ is a cornerstone of the company’s new platform, delivering quantitative and qualitative insights about a person’s brain health in under 10 minutes. It combines an objective, next-generation assessment – building on Linus’ DCTclock™ test – with a digital questionnaire to provide visibility into both a patient’s current cognitive status and future dementia risk and inform recommendations for providers and patients.
The new platform incorporates and expands on Linus Health’s DCTclock, an iPad-based, AI-enhanced version of the long-standing paper-based Clock Drawing Test. Unique in its use of AI to analyze both a patient’s final clock drawings and their drawing process, DCTclock delivers greater sensitivity than traditional cognitive tests and earned recognition on TIME’s 100 Best Inventions of 2021 list.
The Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative, an organization leading an unprecedented global response to Alzheimer’s disease, recently launched an initiative to expand early detection of Alzheimer’s with more proactive, innovative screenings. Four of the seven flagship sites involved chose Linus’ solution. “We’re excited to be working with Linus Health as part of the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative’s initiative to foster more widespread cognitive screening in primary care,” said Deanna Willis, MD, Endowed Professor of Primary Care and Population Health Research and Vice Chair of Research, Department of Family Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine. “The platform is helping us expand and enhance our services to meet our communities’ evolving cognitive care needs.”
Going beyond scores, the platform provides integrated clinical decision support, which Linus Health’s medical team curates, alongside assessment results. “To make it feasible for more brain care to occur in primary care, we need to empower PCPs with both efficient assessments and actionable guidance,” said Alvaro Pascual-Leone, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer of Linus Health. “Our platform enables them to screen for, identify, and act on cognitive issues early – and without the complexity they face today.”
To empower patients to take steps to preserve and promote their brain health, the platform also creates personalized action plans for each patient. The auto-generated plans make it simple for PCPs to harness a growing set of evidence-based lifestyle and health interventions to support their patients.
“With the strain on specialists only rising, digital innovation has the power to bring specialist-level insights into primary care in a whole new way,” said David Bates, PhD, CEO of Linus Health. “This launch is a major step in our mission to change the brain health outlook worldwide, which starts with supplying PCPs with new tools to bolster their efforts to protect their patients’ brain health.”
