It’s an unfortunate truth that access to healthcare often depends on where we live. When early diagnosis and intervention are so important to the management of disease, any delay can have a devastating impact. That’s part of what makes modern technology so useful. It can put the resources you need in the palm of your hand – at least, that’s what one company is trying to do with its brain health services (https://longevity.technology/news/isaac-health-lands-5-7m-to-target-brain-health-care-gaps/).
So why is it that location is such a big deal when it comes to healthcare? Well, if you’re in New York, Chicago or L.A., there are big, fancy hospitals full of specialists, and there are clinics specifically for the poor and marginalized. If you live in the middle of nowhere, you could have to travel miles to see a doctor or pick up a prescription. That means you need a vehicle, time off work, and possibly childcare. Everything just gets more difficult, especially if you have a rare or complex condition that’s beyond the expertise of a general practitioner.
In the case of dementia, the progressive nature of the disease and the lack of a cure mean early diagnosis is essential. If you can spot cognitive decline early, perhaps even while it’s a mild cognitive impairment rather than full-fledged dementia, you can make plans, adjust your lifestyle and generally put yourself in the best position to manage things in the long term.
Isaac Health is based in New York, but it has identified 20 states that it calls “dementia neurology deserts”. These are the places where most cognitive impairments and dementia aren’t diagnosed, let alone followed up with the most up-to-date treatments. It plans to use its latest $5.7 million in seed funding to try to fix that.
Predictive machine learning is a key part of Isaac Health’s strategy. It hopes to use this modern technology to diagnose, treat and manage a range of conditions, with dementia the most prominent. First, however, it needs to build its relationships with various healthcare providers and systems so it can reach more people. That’s where the seed funding will come in useful.
Founded in 2022 by Dr. Joel Salinas, a neurologist who studied at Harvard before working at Massachusetts General Hospital as Assistant Professor of Neurology, Isaac Health is taking a proactive approach to brain health, even outside of medical facilities.
