Medinteract and Summit Medical Group announce roll-out of COGselftest
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following release was provided by Medinteract and its COGselftest which were previously profiled on teknovation.biz at https://www.teknovation.biz/2012/10/04/dougherty-intend-entrepreneur-pursuing-alzheimers-disease-start-up-vengenance/.)
Knoxville, TN – Medical Interactive Education, LLC (Medinteract), a cognitive wellness company, and Summit Medical Group, a leading primary care provider, announced today that the Medinteract COGselftest (CSTTM) will begin to rollout in Summit locations throughout East Tennessee. The CST, a computer-based, clinically-validated cognitive wellness screening tool for consumers, will roll out this fall to Summit’s 220 physicians and more than 70 nurse practitioners in 58 sites serving approximately 300,000 patients in East Tennessee. The CST has been shown to detect cognitive impairment in its earliest stages and is uniquely capable of differentiating the various forms of disease, including Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal dementia. The test is available on portable computing devices, including the Apple iPad, can be self-administered, and takes about eight minutes to complete.
“Summit shares our commitment to improving the identification and treatment of cognitive loss,” said Medinteract founder and president Andrew Dougherty. “We believe that early screening in the primary care setting is the key to improved management and treatment of cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer’s disease. We are providing our partners with the first clinically-proven, electronic test capable of differentiating the various forms of dementia so that effective treatment plans can be administered to delay onset of symptoms. We are excited to announce our collaboration with Summit and look forward to continuing to deploy the CST with our primary care physician group partners.”
“Providing innovative, quality disease screening and diagnostic services to our patients is a priority for Summit,” commented Jack Kam, Vice President of Ancillary Services and Business Development at Summit Medical Group. “As the first major primary care provider organization to offer the CST, Summit continues to deliver on that priority. We tested the CST through a 6-month pilot program and were impressed with the quality and depth of information that the test results provide our physicians, as well as the ease-of-use of the test. We look forward to working with Medinteract to make a difference in the fight against Alzheimer’s and related dementias.”
The CST is the first test to screen all six cognitive domains, which is critical to accurately detect the various forms and degrees of impaired cognition and tailor an appropriate management plan for the patient. The test is reimbursable by Medicare in a physician’s office, takes less than 10 minutes, and provides an immediate and objective cognitive score that can be tracked over time. In peer-reviewed research and ongoing clinical trials, the CST demonstrates over 98% accuracy rates in identifying cognitive impairment.
Dr. John Dougherty, Chief Medical Officer of Medinteract, stated, “The goal of the CST is to accurately identify those patients with early cognitive impairment. Through early and accurate identification, one can delay symptom progression – if one can simply delay symptoms by five years with appropriate medication and exercise, one can reduce the number of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease in the U.S. by six- to-eight million.”
About Medinteract
Medinteract was founded in 2004 by Dr. John Dougherty, Medical Director of the Cole Neuroscience Center, with the purpose of improving the identification and treatment of cognitive impairment. The company’s CST is the first rapid, clinically-validated electronic test that differentiates the various forms of dementia. The test is available through Medinteract’s rapidly growing physician network and will soon be available directly to consumers online. Please visit www.cogselftest.com for more information.
About Summit Medical Group
Summit Medical Group was formed in 1995 by 37 primary care physicians, and has since grown to comprise 220 physicians at 58 practice locations in 11 East Tennessee counties. Summit employs over 1,100 employees, has four ancillary imaging centers, three after-hours Summit Express Clinics, four physical therapy centers, and a central laboratory that runs 4.7 million tests annually. Summit provides healthcare services to an average of 81,000 patients each month and is dedicated to offering value-based care coordination and improved clinical outcomes through the region’s largest Accountable Care Organization, Summit Health Solutions. For more information about Summit Medical Group, visit www.summitmedical.com.
