OptumHealth Introduces New "Brain Health" Capabilities

Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience
Article Date: 09 Jul 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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OptumHealth announced that it has signed a three-year agreement to exclusively license Brain Resource Ltd.'s behavioral health technology in the U.S. managed care market. Brain Resource provides an innovative Web-based assessment of an individual's "brain health" that can be used by health professionals to make better treatment decisions.

"This easy-to-use assessment provides useful information quickly to use in providing people with the right treatment," said Gregory A. Bayer, Ph.D., chief executive officer for OptumHealth's behavioral solutions business. "This can improve outcomes for people while helping them reduce their overall health care costs."

OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions will work with Brain Resource to provide clinicians with a Web-based assessment that measures general cognition (how people process information) and social cognition (how people manage their emotions). This 40-minute assessment is based on well-known and validated tests of memory, attention, executive function, and response speed, and mood, social skills and emotional resilience. Once the assessment is completed, within seconds, it is compared with thousands of profiles in the Brain Resource International Database - the largest international database quantifying individual differences in brain function. Based on these scores, a set of "decision rules" automatically recommends the most appropriate treatment for the client. The doctor is provided this "decision-support" for their final treatment considerations.

When used by trained clinicians as a tool that is part of the total spectrum of health care, this unique information can be helpful in the treatment decision-making process in several ways. The results could help a physician select the appropriate class of medication for someone who is depressed or determine when psychotherapy might be helpful for that patient. For children, the assessment can provide more insight into attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and appropriate treatment options for the individual.

"The partnership of OptumHealth and Brain Resource begins the transformation of mental health services to more personalized medicine with recommendations tailored to individuals' functioning," Bayer said. "It continues our application of ever-more effective interventions to improve our member's health and well-being."

OptumHealth will incorporate the Brain Resource assessment as a part of its core products to help clinicians identify at-risk patients, select the most effective treatment, provide direct measurement of treatment outcomes and encourage patients to engage with providers and take better care of their mental health. Participation in the assessment will be completely voluntary and results will - as with other OptumHealth member information - be used in accordance with all privacy laws and in the proper professional contexts.

"This is an important step in the right direction for personalized medicine," said Evian Gordon, Ph.D., chief executive officer for Brain Resource. "OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions is the perfect innovative partner to bring these capabilities to the behavioral health industry - not only to better serve the individual, but to also better serve primary care providers, employers, public sector entities and health plans."

OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions' capabilities are designed to improve outcomes and lower overall medical costs for customers. These capabilities include:

- Helping members with chronic medical conditions manage potential behavioral health issues that might impede medical treatment and clinical improvement

- Reducing short-term mental health disability-claims costs by helping disabled members return to work quickly

- Analyzing a customer's pharmacy claims data to pinpoint opportunities to help him or her adhere to medical prescriptions, and to identify problem-prescribing patterns

- Improving outcomes through employee assistance programs; work-life resources such as financial, legal, eldercare and childcare services; and support from master's-level specialists that work with members to help them achieve their wellness goals

- Creating greater access to care through telephonic, online services and online self-directed interactive wellness programs

About OptumHealth

OptumHealth helps individuals navigate the health care system, finance their health care needs and achieve their health and well-being goals. The company's personalized health advocacy and engagement programs tap a unique combination of capabilities that encompass care solutions, behavioral solutions, specialty benefits and financial services. Serving more than 61 million people, OptumHealth is the nation's largest health and wellness company. It is a business unit of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH).

OptumHealth

Brain Resource Ltd.

Brain Resource is a publicly listed international company with 20 years of integrative neuroscience research experience. There are more than 120 sites around the world using aspects of its standardized methodology. An independent scientific network has published more than 150 papers using the Brain Resource International Database. Clients include many of the major global pharmaceutical companies.

Brain Resource Ltd.