___________
FDA Has Cleared New Cognitive Screening Tests (Alzforum):
“The Food and Drug Administration recently cleared, meaning it deemed safe, two tests that may help doctors screen for cognitive decline. One is the so-called Cognision system from Neuronetrix, a company based in Louisville, Kentucky. It is an electroencephalography (EEG) device that allows non-specialists to measure electrical activity in the brain with a portable, hand-held recorder…The other is a cognitive assessment battery that can be administered on a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet. Called the Defense Automated Neurobehavioral Assessment (DANA) and developed by AnthroTronix in Silver Spring, Maryland, this set of tests measures items like reaction time, spatial discrimination, and memory…
The Patient Affordable Care Act of 2010 requires that Medicare pay for an annual wellness visit—including a test for cognitive impairment. Because the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has not identified specific tests for reimbursement, primary care physicians are left to choose. Guidelines formulated by an expert panel convened by the Alzheimer’s Association recommend several quick tests, including the AD8, the General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition, and the Memory Impairment Screen, but they did not evaluate DANA…”
Learn more: