INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
All over the globe, the population of people who are aged 65 and older is growing faster than every other age group
According to United Nations data, by 2050, one in six people in the world will be over age 65, up from one in 11 right now
Meanwhile, in Europe and North America, by 2050, one in four people could be 65 or over.Unsurprisingly, startups increasingly recognize
opportunities to cater to this aging population
Some are developing products to sell to individuals and their family members directly; others are coming up with ways to empower those who
work directly with older Americans.BrainCheck, a 20-person, Houston-based startup whose cognitive healthcare product aims to help physicians
assess and track the mental health of their patients, is among the latter
Investors like what it has put together, too
Today, the startup is announcing $8 million in Series A funding round co-led by S3 Ventures and Tensility Venture Partners.We talked earlier
today with BrainCheck cofounder and CEO Yael Katz to better understand what her company has created and why it might be of interest to
You started BrianCheck with David Eagleman, another neuroscientist and the CEO of NeoSensory, a company that develops devices for sensory
subspecialty of clinical psychology called neuropsychology, where patients are given a series a tests and each is designed to probe a
But the tests were classically done on paper and it was a lengthy process
We digitized them and gamified them and made them accessible to everyone who is upstream of neuropsychology, including neurologists and
your product work, and how is it administered?YK: An assessment is all done on an iPad and takes about 10 minutes
We meet doctors at conferences and we publish blog posts and white papers and through that process, we meet them and sell products to them,
because it helps them report on and optimize metrics like patient satisfaction
Medicare created a new code to compensate doctors for cognitive care planning though it was rarely used because the requirements and
knowledge involved was so complicated
one-on-one work, so we created a tech solution that uses the output of tests to provide clinical support to physicians so they can manage
their patients based on these assessments?YZ: There are nine modifiable risk factors found to account for a third of [dementia cases],
including certain medications that can exacerbate cognitive impairment, including poorly controlled cardiovascular health, hearing
impairment, and depression
physical conditions like cancer and treatments like chemotherapy can cause brain fog
We suggest a care plan that goes to the doctor who then uses that information and modifies it
have massive cognitive deficits
can you tell readers who might worry about their privacy as it relates to your product?YK: Our software is HIPAA compliant
We make sure our engineers are trained and up to date
The FDA requires that we we put a lot of standards in place and we ensure that our database is built in accordance with best practices
Unfortunately, companies big and small have to be ever vigilant about a data breach.
