The companies recently announced that Posit Science, a brain training software company, is partnering with Highmark Wholecare to help 7,000 members improve balance and reduce falls.
For a one-year demo program, high standard — which provides Medicaid and Medicare plans to people in Pennsylvania — identifies members at high risk of falls.These members now have access to some Positioning Scienceexercises through its BrainHQ app. These activities target visual processing speed and accuracy and hopefully help the brain adjust body movements to prevent falls. For example, a game might display something on the screen and then quickly disappear. Users have to decide what they are seeing, and if they do it right, the game will speed up. If they get it wrong, the game will slow down.
“Do that, and your brain becomes faster and more accurate,” said Henry Mahncke, chief executive of San Francisco-based Posit Science. “It sounds like a small thing, but really everything you do with your brain depends on its speed and accuracy.”
In addition to the exercises on the app, members have virtual access to a 12-week coach with whom they can discuss their goals and learn how the training will help them. At the end of the 12 weeks, Mahncke said, members “graduated” but were still able to participate in events. They can also repeat the 12-week coaching if needed.
“All that coach can do is say, ‘Hey, how does this improve what you really care about?'” Mahncke said. “Maybe you want to feel more stable on your feet when going down stairs…or maybe you have grandchildren you want to play with.”
The program is offered free to eligible members, and Highmark pays Posit Science to provide the service. Beth Dimpfl, senior product advisor at Highmark, said the insurer chose to include BrainHQ in its plans because it wanted to offer benefits beyond typical healthcare.
“Health and well-being is much more than doctor visits, blood pressure checks, mammograms and colonoscopies,” Dimpfl said. “There are many things that make a person healthy, and that’s certainly part of it.”
Other brain applications include brightness and promoteBut Mahncke said the company is different from those consumer apps available on the Apple App Store because it’s been validated through clinical trials. The fact that the company was selected by health plans like Highmark also differentiates Posit Science’s BrainHQ from its competitors, he touts.
In addition, the company has partnerships with about a dozen Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, but those are not the same as it does with Highmark, Mahncke said. The MA program offers BrainHQ as a population health benefit, which means they make it available to all members, not for specific conditions. Unlike Highmark’s programs, these programs do not offer structured lessons with instructors.
While the partnership with Highmark started with a select group of members with a high risk of falling, Dimpfl said the company will conduct an analysis by the end of the demo year to determine if the program can be expanded.
“We need to see results,” Dimpfl said. “We need to be able to go through the process and do the directional analysis, but the partnership is already off to a good start…as long as we continue to do the directional analysis, it’s definitely a good direction.”
Photo: Jolygon, Getty Images.
