Fountain Health Now Fully Covers Cost of Combinostics’ Tests

Insurer Fountain Health now will fully cover Combinostics’ artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools to support the early detection, differential diagnosis, and prediction of progression in patients with neurodegenerative disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS).

The decision to cover the company’s cloud-based AI platforms, cMRI and cDSI, makes Fountain Health the sole insurer to provide total coverage for  testing that includes AI-powered analysis of brain imaging, according to a press release from the insurer.

In the U.S., MS is the second-most expensive chronic condition, with diagnosis and treatment costing $28 million annually. Other prominent challenges include the ability to accurately differentiate between Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, as well as the exponentially high costs of disease diagnosis and treatment. The prevalence of age-related dementia is expected to rise from 57 million to 85 million by 2030.

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Combinostics’ AI-powered platforms support clinicians in the early detection, differential diagnosis, and ongoing management of MS and other neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory disorders, including Alzheimer’s and other dementias, traumatic brain injuries, and epilepsy. A differential diagnosis is the process of distinguishing between two or more conditions that share similar signs or symptoms.

Combinostics’ cMRI provides radiologists with AI-enabled quantification of MRI imaging results, which are compared with reference data adjusted for variables such as age, sex, and cranial volume. It enables the identification of subtle patterns and brain changes that are disease-specific and might be difficult to detect with visual assessment only. The tool also allows radiologists to compare scans taken at multiple points in time.

The cDSI platform, meanwhile, merges and analyzes integral clinical and demographic data from patients to help neurologists with diagnoses, testing decisions, disorder trajectory predictions, and treatment management.

Combinostics’ Dementia Differential Analysis and cMRI reports also make patient management easier and promote better communication among neurologists, radiologists, patients, and caregivers.

“Full coverage of cMRI and cDSI is just another avenue for Fountain Health’s commitment to saving lives through preventative health,” said Robert J. Rossiter, Fountain Health CEO.

Fountain Health and preventive medicine company Fountain Life work together to ultimately provide access to important tests and diagnostics.

“While the best medical minds are working every day to learn more about neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, we’ve always known that everyone’s best chance at treatment and management of symptoms is early detection,” said William Kapp, MD, CEO of Fountain Life. “Making life-altering testing like cMRI and cDSI accessible to more people is exactly what is needed to change the narrative around the treatment of these disorders.”

Through early diagnoses and condition-appropriate treatments, the partnership’s overarching goal is to improve patients’ and caregivers’ well-being and life quality.

“We are thrilled to partner with Fountain Health, and we look forward to supporting their clinicians and patients,” said Richard Hausmann, Combinostics’ CEO. “This is an exciting step forward to provide the best possible care for patients with neurological disorders.”

Last year, Combinostics partnered with Arterys to bring AI imaging solutions to the diagnosis and care of MS patients and those with other neurological conditions.