Why Integrated Cognitive Assessment & Telehealth Developments Are Heating Up At Start of 2021

Financialnewsmedia.com News Commentary

PALM BEACH, Fla., Jan. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- There has been a lot of activity and progress made in the cognitive assessment and training in healthcare market during the pandemic. Cognitive assessment evaluates important areas of brain function. These areas include memory, concentration, processing speed, language, and reasoning capabilities. Cognitive assessments are critical to complete wellness because they have set a personalized benchmark of brain health for future comparison. A baseline cognitive assessment provides a reference point to measure against in case of problems or concerns (major illness or brain injury). Cognitive training or brain training is a tool, which can be utilized by educators and healthcare professionals to supplement and help enhance the therapeutic interactions with clients. Improved economic condition coupled with growing literacy rate is expected to be a key factor that drives the global cognitive assessment and training market. Cognitive evaluation and training is a formal test that assesses person's psychological functioning and speed of information processing. These tests help in defining and focusing on individual needs more efficiently. Rise in the aging population and increased healthcare spending is also expected to be a major driver for industry growth over the foreseeable future. Smartphone and tablet proliferation has resulted into easy accessibility of these tests, thereby providing avenues for industry expansion over the next seven years. Dementia is expected to remain as one of the major neurological diseases globally, and the capability of these solutions to detect such neurological disorders may contribute towards future cognitive assessment and training market growth. These solutions are expected to provide several benefits such as psychological education for individuals, personality management, and sports management. Active healthcare tech companies in the markets this week include Cognetivity Neurosciences Ltd. (OTCQB: CGNSF) (CSE: CGN) (CGN.CNQ), Teladoc Health (NYSE: TDOC), Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM), UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), CareDx, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNA).

A recent report from MarketsAndMarkets projected that the cognitive assessment and training market is projected to grow from USD 3.2 billion in 2020 to USD 11.4 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 29.3% during the forecast period. The report said: "Businesses in various verticals are planning to deploy a diverse array of cognitive assessment and training solutions to carry out assessments and track and improve brain health. With the growing focus on mental health and the ability of cognitive assessment and training solutions to be leveraged virtually, the market is witnessing significant growth. Companies are trying to improve brain fitness by increasing the number of developing solutions and applications to enhance neuroplasticity. However, after developing brain training solutions, companies need to get clinical approvals for launching their products to be used on people. As it takes a year to develop a clinically-validated brain fitness solution, it restrains the faster growth of the cognitive assessment and training market. The time duration for developing these solutions is vast, as professionals focus on creating solutions for training that contain complex algorithms to provide appropriate exercises for the brain. Moreover, with the increasing cases of Alzheimer's, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and other cognitive dysfunctions have led to the need for effective solutions that use the latest technologies.

Cognetivity Neurosciences Ltd. (CSE: CGN) (OTCQB: CGNSF) BREAKING NEWS:  Cognetivity Neurosciences expands ongoing UK government-funded study to include Covid-safe remote cognitive assessment - Cognetivity Neurosciences (the "Company" or "Cognetivity") today announced the expansion of its UK government-funded study on the use of its Integrated Cognitive Assessment (ICA) to identify early-stage cognitive decline in people at risk of developing dementia.

Known as ADePT (Accelerating Dementia Pathway Technologies), the study was launched in January 2020 to investigate the capacity of the ICA to drive major improvements in dementia care pathways in the UK's National Health Service (NHS) and beyond. Cognetivity is collaborating on the project with Sussex Partnership NHS Trust and the charity Alzheimer's Research UK, and receiving grant funding from the UK's innovation agency, Innovate UK, which has invested over £2.5 billion in British businesses since 2007.

So far, participants in the study have been taking ICA tests in person at NHS facilities. However, the project's expansion, as announced today, will entail the delivery of iPads to participants' homes and enable them to take the cutting-edge digital assessment remotely, without travelling to hospital and putting themselves at risk of exposure to Covid-19.

Commenting on the announcement, Dr Naji Tabet, consultant old age psychiatrist at Sussex Partnership NHS Trust and the study's chief investigator, said, "Cognetivity's ICA provides a much-needed cognitive assessment platform, where patients at home can remotely undertake a more thorough assessment. Currently specialist clinicians are finding virtual assessments challenging, and this challenge is even more acute in primary care due to overwhelming demands on doctors' time during this pandemic. An effective assessment tool which can inform colleagues' views about referrals to Memory Assessment Clinics without the need for face-to-face consultation is very timely".

The expansion brings the project in line with wider Covid-related developments in the world of healthcare. Since the study commenced early last year, there has been an immense global surge in the popularity of telemedicine: doctors and patients alike have come to appreciate the value of remote consultations, and the global telehealth market is now projected to grow to more than 900% of its 2019 value by 2027.

The ICA offers numerous advantages over traditional pen-and-paper examinations, including its short duration and high classification accuracy, coupled with the absence of a practice effect or any cultural or educational bias. Nevertheless, it is the computerised nature of the ICA and its ease of use, eliminating the need for the presence of a healthcare professional, that positions it particularly well to enable the switch from in-person to unsupervised, remote assessment as the era of telemedicine dawns.

Dr Tabet's positivity about the expansion of the study was echoed by Dr Chris Kalafatis, Cognetivity's Chief Medical Officer, who added: "Tragic though the effects of the pandemic have been, Covid has given the world a wake-up call as to the enormous benefits telemedicine can bring. There's no doubt that the ICA, as a digital tool, can save lives by all too importantly limiting the spread of the virus. But it can also improve quality of life by enabling vast improvements in the efficiency of dementia pathways and the detection of early-stage cognitive decline. The ADePT study, especially in its expanded form, offers us the unique opportunity to enable the ICA to do both."  Read this full release and more news for Cognetivity Neurosciences at:  https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-cgn/ 

Other recent developments in the healthcare tech industry include:

Teladoc Health, Inc. (NYSE: TDOC), the first and only comprehensive virtual care system, and DexCom, Inc., the leader in real-time continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), recently announced that joint Livongo for Diabetes and Dexcom members will now receive CGM-powered insights, a new set of features and reports that help members more easily visualize their health information and understand how lifestyle decisions affect their blood glucose levels. By combining Dexcom CGM data with additional signals from Teladoc Health, including activity data and food intake, CGM-powered insights offer members a complete health profile and recommendations that support ongoing diabetes management. In January of 2020, Livongo, which merged with Teladoc Health in October, and Dexcom announced the first phase of their strategic relationship, a data sharing agreement for Livongo for Diabetes members using Dexcom CGM technology.

"Teladoc Health's partnership with Dexcom further empowers whole person health through an innovative combination of advanced technology and human expertise," said Amar Kendale, chief product officer of Teladoc Health. "Our focus is to offer a consumer experience that makes it easy, safe and affordable for people to manage their health with confidence. We are excited about our continued work with Dexcom and new features that enable smarter care, leading to measurable consumer behavior change and better health outcomes." 

Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) – a 50 percent owner of Wisconsin health care company iCare – recently announced that it will acquire the remaining 50 percent of iCare from the company's co-owner, Centers for Independence, Inc. (CFI). The joint venture dates back to 1994 and serves members in Wisconsin through Medicaid and Medicare offerings.

iCare currently serves 44,000 members through Wisconsin's Medicaid SSI program, BadgerCare program, and Medicare D-SNP plans for people who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.

"As Humana continues its work to expand its Medicaid business, we are excited to fully participate in Wisconsin Medicaid and leverage our innovation, strong capabilities and deep Wisconsin employment base to better support Medicaid recipients across the state," said John Barger, Senior Vice President and President of Humana's Medicaid Business, Humana Healthy Horizons. "Given our successful joint venture with CFI, Humana's long-standing commitment to Wisconsin – including coverage offerings across Medicare, Medicaid and Commercial product lines – we look forward to serving more beneficiaries and deepening our community presence through this transaction."

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH)  Optum, a diversified health services company and part of UnitedHealth Group, and Change Healthcare (NASDAQ: CHNG), a health care technology leader, have agreed to combine. Change Healthcare will join with OptumInsight to provide software and data analytics, technology-enabled services and research, advisory and revenue cycle management offerings to help make health care work better for everyone. 

This combination unites two technology and service companies focused on serving health care. Their combined capabilities will more effectively connect and simplify core clinical, administrative and payment processes - resulting in better health outcomes and experiences for everyone, at lower cost. Change Healthcare brings key technologies, connections and advanced clinical decision, administrative and financial support capabilities, enabling better workflow and transactional connectivity across the health care system. Optum brings modern analytics, comprehensive clinical expertise, innovative technologies and extensive experience in improving operational and clinical performance.

CareDx, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNA), a leading precision medicine company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of clinically differentiated, high-value healthcare solutions for transplant patients and caregivers, recently announced it has agreed to acquire TransChart LLC, an Ohio-based provider of electronic health record software supporting the needs of US transplant centers. The transaction is expected to close in January 2021.

TransChart provides electronic medical record software to hospitals throughout the United States to care for patients who have or may need an organ transplant. TransChart builds on the CareDx digital offerings, which include Ottr transplant electronic medical record software and XynQAPI transplant quality management solutions. This acquisition will expand CareDx's EMR coverage to over 90 centers in total.

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