-- BeCareLink is a Digital Health Startup company (https://becarelink.com) improving the care of patients with Multiple Sclerosis and other neurological conditions by creating novel tools to quantify neurologic and cognitive function through gamified activities and questionnaires that are performed at home and analyzed through AI. The activities are performed on Android and I-phones and the data is transmitted securely to a medical provider of the patient’s choice via a physician portal. Additionally, patients can track their own progress and use the app to decide when they need to contact their medical providers for a decline in their clinical status.
Data collection is so complete that it equals most in-office assessments that can normally be completed only once a year in specialty clinics, which have long wait times and are often geographically distant. The scoring of the neurologic examination is often more precise than can be completed outside of a MS center and reduces the disparity in assessment by different clinicians. The validity of the captured data and the AI interpretation was demonstrated by trials at Weill-Cornell Medical Center and Yale School of Medicine.
This puts symptom reporting directly in the hands of patients, who can utilize the App on a prescribed basis and report findings immediately to their clinician. The App enables recurring data collection to monitor the progression of their disease. Further, the app data travels with the patient when switching doctors and/or hospital systems which allows the new treating clinician a better insight into the history of the patient’s illness. The result is improved care through optimized treatment plans.
The founders who created BeCareLink were inspired by personal loss from tragic medical errors arising from a lack of access to care and inadequate monitoring . Their hope is that these errors would not happen to others by making monitoring of medical conditions more accessable and reliable . The app can be downloaded for free by any patient from the google app store or apple store. The patient will never be charged for using the app.
Along with clinician-patient communications, the BeCareLink App provides critical de-identified data for clinical researchers, enabling them to collect trial data to measure the efficacy of new medications, devices, and other treatments. An added benefit is that now clinical research can be conducted directly from patient homes, reducing the need for travel to test sites which can be both distant and difficult for patients with neurological disorders.
Charisse Litchman, MD, neurologist and Chief Medical Officer, says that the AI (artificial and predictive intelligence) enabled in the App improves the care of the patient in two ways: “First, the patients are empowered to track and view their own symptoms on an at-will basis, providing a new measure of control over disease progression. Second, the App provides the quantity and quality of information to the primary care provider or neurologist that would otherwise be available only from a specialty center which might be able to see patients only once a year.”
A full interview with CMO Litchman is viewable here:
https://gotohealthmedia.com/empowering-patients-to-monitor-their-multiple-sclerosis-symptoms-and-neurologic-function-from-home-charisse-litchman-md/
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