Press
Press announcement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BeCare Link Health Monitoring Platform Leverages Artificial Intelligence to Empower Neurologic Patients and Improve Health Outcomes
Launches its first mobile application focusing on Multiple Sclerosis
New York City, May 11, 2023 – BeCare Link, an AI-driven platform for quantitative assessment of neurologic function, today announces the launch of its first subspecialty product, BeCare MS Link – a mobile application that provides the most comprehensive, remote, and objective neurologic assessment available for MS patients. The app was created to address the dire nationwide shortage of neurologists and the complexity of performing and interpreting neurologic exams. The challenges facing neurologic patients and their providers result in delayed diagnosis and detection of disease progression, which can irrevocably alter the course of an individual’s disease.
Unlike other MS apps, BeCare MS Link generates quantitative measures to monitor and detect changes to neurologic status through its proprietary, patented machine-learned technology,” says Larry Rubin, Co-Founder and CEO of BeCare Link. “It enables patients to conduct their own assessments based on objective measures from the palm of their hand, as the mobile app mimics in-person clinical examinations.”
Validation studies with Weil Cornell and Yale School of Medicine confirm that the AI-generated BeCare MS Link score is concordant with the disability scores generated by healthcare providers during in-person clinical visits. Results from the application’s 13 gamified activities plus the “About Me” questionnaire provide comprehensive data covering the same range of in-office tests customarily performed by physicians.
Early results from the BeCare MS Link app show that out of more than 4,000 early adopters, 58 percent used the app at least twice a year in 2022. In addition, in a patient satisfaction survey, 99 percent found the app user-friendly and easy to follow.
“Our mission is to help patients with neurologic issues become their own health advocates and to supply clinicians with the tools needed to treat patients more efficiently and effectively,” says Dr. Charisse Litchman, MD, FAHS, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of BeCare Link. “The healthcare industry is continuously evolving, and this is just a starting point for BeCare Link’s role in improving patient outcomes.”
Coming in the Summer of 2023 is a general neurologic app with multiple potential applications. Additional plans include apps for Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and ALS. Each new app will address different neurologic disease states, is tailored to the unique assessments needed, and is guided by neurologists subspecializing in the individual disease states.
About BeCare Link
BeCare Link was founded in 2017 by CEO Larry Rubin and his sister-in-law, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Charisse Litchman, who lost their wife and sister, Dr. Beth Deutch, unexpectedly in December 2014 following the progression of an undiagnosed disease. The company’s vision is to fundamentally change how patients and medical professionals understand and manage chronic neurologic disorders, remove biases, and find new treatments with better outcomes. Patients can download BeCare Link on their mobile devices via Google Play and the App Store. Learn more at www.becarelink.com.
BeCare Link Health Monitoring Platform Leverages Artificial Intelligence to Empower and Improve Patient Outcomes of Multiple Sclerosis Patients
BeCare Link, an AI-driven platform for quantitative assessment of neurologic function, announces the launch of an updated version of its first sub-specialty product, BeCare MS Link, first released in 2018 – a mobile application that provides the most comprehensive, remote, and objective neurologic assessment available for MS patients. The app was created to address the dire nationwide shortage of neurologists and the complexity of performing and interpreting neurologic exams. The challenges facing neurologic patients and their providers result in delayed diagnosis and detection of disease progression, which can irrevocably alter the course of an individual’s disease.
“Unlike other MS apps, BeCare MS Link generates quantitative measures to monitor and detect changes to neurologic status through its proprietary, patented machine-learned technology,” says Larry Rubin, Co-Founder and CEO of BeCare Link. “It enables patients to conduct their own assessments based on objective measures from the palm of their hand, as the mobile app mimics in-person clinical examinations.”
Validation studies with Weil Cornell and Yale School of Medicine confirm that the AI-generated BeCare MS Link score is concordant with the disability scores generated by healthcare providers during in-person clinical visits. Results from the application’s 13 gamified activities plus the “About Me” questionnaire provide comprehensive data covering the same range of in-office tests customarily performed by physicians.
Early results from the BeCare MS Link app show that out of more than 4,000 early adopters, 58 percent used the app at least twice a year in 2022. In addition, in a patient satisfaction survey, 99 percent found the app user-friendly and easy to follow.
Our mission is to help patients with neurologic issues become their own health advocates and to supply clinicians with the tools needed to treat patients more efficiently and effectively,” says Dr. Charisse Litchman, MD, FAHS, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of BeCare Link. “The healthcare industry is continuously evolving, and this is just a starting point for BeCare Link’s role in improving patient outcomes.”
Coming in the Summer of 2023 is a general neurologic app with multiple potential applications. Additional plans include apps for Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and ALS. Each new app will address different neurologic disease states, is tailored to the unique assessments needed, and is guided by neurologists subspecializing in the individual disease states.
About BeCareLink
BeCare Link was founded in 2017 by CEO Larry Rubin and his sister-in-law, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Charisse Litchman, who lost their wife and sister, Dr. Beth Deutch, unexpectedly in December 2014 following the progression of an undiagnosed disease. The company’s vision is to fundamentally change how patients and medical professionals understand and manage chronic neurologic disorders, remove biases, and find new treatments with better outcomes. Patients can download BeCare Link on their mobile devices via Google Play and the App Store.
BeCare Neuro Link Provides a Quantitative, AI-Enabled Mobile App, General Neurologic Exam for Screening for and Monitoring of Neurologic Diseases
BeCareLink, an AI-driven platform for quantitative assessment of neurologic function, today announces the launch of its second subspecialty product, BeCare Neuro Link – a mobile application that provides the most comprehensive, remote, and objective neurologic assessment available for any neurologic or potential neurologic patients. The app was created to address the dire nationwide shortage of neurologists and the complexity of performing and interpreting neurologic exams. The challenges facing neurologic patients and their providers result in delayed diagnosis and detection of disease progression, which can irrevocably alter the course of an individual’s disease
After helping thousands of patients monitor their clinical progress with their MS through BeCare MS Link, BeCareLink has released BeCare Neuro Link which offers a general neurologic exam. It is a revolutionary application designed to screen for as-of-yet undiagnosed neurologic conditions and to monitor response to treatment for known neurologic disorders. The objective measurements are derived from game-like activities on a mobile phone and results are reported to the user through written reports to decide if there is a neurologic problem that requires attention. The activities are designed to mimic exams performed in a neurologist’s office. This is the perfect screener for patients who have a family member with dementia or keep walking into a room and can’t remember why. As well as cognition, it also looks for tremor, walking abnormalities, motor, and sensory dysfunction and even vision abnormalities.
“Our mission is to help people who suspect they may have a neurologic disorder or have already been diagnosed with one become their own health advocates and to supply clinicians with the tools needed to treat patients more efficiently and effectively,” says Dr. Charisse Litchman, MD, FAHS, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of BeCareLink. “The healthcare industry is continuously evolving, and this is just a starting point for BeCareLink’s role in improving patient outcomes.”
BeCareLink will create additional apps for patients already diagnosed with concussion/traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and ALS. Each new app will address different neurologic disease states, is tailored to the unique assessments needed, and is guided by neurologists subspecializing in the individual disease states.
Fact Sheet
The BeCare MS Link is the most comprehensive, remote assessment with quantitative neurologic measures to detect changes and monitor neurologic status over time.
Patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) can conduct their own neurologic assessments based on objective measures from the palm of their hands, as the mobile app mimics in-person clinical examinations.
The BeCare MS Link addresses the growing crisis of accessibility to quality neurologic care due to:
· Shortage of physicians
· Increased demand for neurologists
· Increased wait times and appointments
· The inherent subjectivity of neurologic exams
· Diminishing treatment resources affecting all neurologic patients
The BeCare MS Link solution addresses clinicians’ and patients’ unmet needs by providing remote comprehensive, timely data to help monitor and improve care.
Using the BeCare MS Link
- Download the app from the Google Play store or the App Store.
- Create a user ID and log in.
- Complete background questions about health history and quality of life.
- Perform 13 gamified activities to assess your motor skills, ambulation, sensation, vision, cognition, and speech patterns. Completing the questionnaire and assessments should initially take 30 minutes.
- It is recommended to complete all activities within four days to calculate a score and capture an accurate snapshot.
- Users should complete the assessments 48 hours before their next appointment with a healthcare provider.
- Users should complete the activities monthly or as symptoms change to keep track of disease progression by assessing multiple aspects of neurologic function.
5. Completing the activities on a mobile phone generates highly precise, quantifiable data about the user’s MS status.
Technology
BeCare Link uses a proprietary, patented machine-learned technique for generating gold-standard disability scores using data supplied by the BeCare MS Link mobile app.
The FDA and Health Canada have cleared the BeCare MS Link mobile app. The mobile data is encrypted, and transmission is HIPAA compliant. In addition, validation studies with Weil Cornell and Yale School of Medicine confirm that the AI-generated BeCare MS Link score is concordant with the disability scores generated in clinics by a healthcare provider.
Spokesperson Bio
Larry Rubin, CEO, BeCare Link
Dr. Rubin is the Co-Founder and CEO of BeCare Link, an AI-driven platform for quantitative assessment of neurologic function. Dr. Rubin is responsible for the platform’s development, including using machine-learned techniques to assess and provide quantitative measurements of neurologic function to improve patient care. Patients and their healthcare providers can use this technology to assess clinically significant changes in neurologic conditions.
As a pioneer in artificial intelligence, Dr. Rubin has spent much of his career dedicated to innovating technology within the healthcare space. Notably, Dr. Rubin’s work has resulted in developing a new machine learning model based upon a stochastic optimization technique and securing multiple patents. In addition to his role with BeCare Link, Dr. Rubin currently consults with Forepont Capital Partners on Machine Learning & Medical Technology.
Before founding BeCare Link, Dr. Rubin spent over a decade as Chief Technology Officer and Chief Financial Officer at HerSpace Breast Imaging. As CTO, Dr. Rubin developed and implemented proprietary software solutions for real-time imaging and medical data analysis and decided the company’s technology and radiology equipment acquisitions.
Before that, Dr. Rubin was Chairman and CEO of OuterCurve, a mobile and wireless enterprise telecommunication services provider in the financial service sector. He was responsible for all the company’s management, financial, research, and development efforts. OuterCurve received substantial investment from Research in Motion, Time Warner, and Dell Computer.
Dr. Rubin started his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories, where he was an accomplished co-inventor and published author on artificial intelligence, algorithms, and simulation. He earned his bachelor’s degree in math and computer science from Brooklyn College and later a Master of Public Health in math and computer science from New York University’s Courant Institute.
Spokesperson Bio
Charisse Litchman, MD, FAHS, Chief Medical Officer, BeCare Link
Dr. Litchman is the Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of BeCare Link, an AI-driven platform for quantitative assessment of neurologic function. Since its inception in 2017, Dr. Litchman has helped guide the company’s vision and goal of fundamentally changing the way patients and medical professionals understand and manage chronic neurologic diseases, remove biases, and find new treatment options with better outcomes.
Trained at Yale School of Medicine and Cornell-New York Hospital, Dr. Litchman has had a successful neurology private practice for 25 years, was on the faculty of Yale School of Medicine, worked with a Contractor Research Organization monitoring pharmaceutical trials, and created a migraine service at a telehealth company.
Early in her career, Dr. Litchman noticed that their doctors often dismissed patients with severe and debilitating headaches. Inspired to care for this underserved population, she pursued a sub-specialty in headache disorders and, in 2012, became a fellow of the American Headache Society.
A former Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Litchman has published articles on headaches and multiple sclerosis and served as an editor of the first textbook on a rare soft tissue tumor. She earned a Medical Editing and Writing certificate from the University of Chicago.
As Chief Medical Officer of BeCare Link, Dr. Litchman is addressing the need for more objective, sensitive measurement of neurologic function that often makes clinical trials and drug development for neurologic patients long, expensive, and yield low-quality data. Remote, ongoing monitoring enhanced by artificial intelligence empowers real-time detection of subtle changes in neurologic function. The result: improved patient outcomes. Studies at Yale School of Medicine and Weill Cornell provide empiric proof of BeCare MS Link’s convergent validity with traditional, in-clinic neurologic exams.
Spokesperson Biographies
Larry Rubin, CEO, BeCare Link
Dr. Rubin is the Co-Founder and CEO of BeCare Link, an AI-driven platform for quantitative assessment of neurologic function. Dr. Rubin is responsible for the platform’s development, including using machine-learned techniques to assess and provide quantitative measurements of neurologic function to improve patient care. Patients and their healthcare providers can use this technology to assess clinically significant changes in neurologic conditions.
As a pioneer in artificial intelligence, Dr. Rubin has spent much of his career dedicated to innovating technology within the healthcare space. Notably, Dr. Rubin’s work has resulted in developing a new machine learning model based upon a stochastic optimization technique and securing multiple patents. In addition to his role with BeCare Link, Dr. Rubin currently consults with Forepont Capital Partners on Machine Learning & Medical Technology.
Before founding BeCare Link, Dr. Rubin spent over a decade as Chief Technology Officer and Chief Financial Officer at HerSpace Breast Imaging. As CTO, Dr. Rubin developed and implemented proprietary software solutions for real-time imaging and medical data analysis and decided the company’s technology and radiology equipment acquisitions.
Before that, Dr. Rubin was Chairman and CEO of OuterCurve, a mobile and wireless enterprise telecommunication services provider in the financial service sector. He was responsible for all the company’s management, financial, research, and development efforts. OuterCurve received substantial investment from Research in Motion, Time Warner, and Dell Computer.
Dr. Rubin started his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories, where he was an accomplished co-inventor and published author on artificial intelligence, algorithms, and simulation. He earned his bachelor’s degree in math and computer science from Brooklyn College and later a Master of Public Health in math and computer science from New York University’s Courant Institute.
Charisse Litchman, MD, FAHS, Chief Medical Officer, BeCare Link
Dr. Litchman is the Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of BeCare Link, an AI-driven platform for quantitative assessment of neurologic function. Since its inception in 2017, Dr. Litchman has helped guide the company’s vision and goal of fundamentally changing the way patients and medical professionals understand and manage chronic neurologic diseases, remove biases, and find new treatment options with better outcomes.
Trained at Yale School of Medicine and Cornell-New York Hospital, Dr. Litchman has had a successful neurology private practice for 25 years, was on the faculty of Yale School of Medicine, worked with a Contractor Research Organization monitoring pharmaceutical trials, and created a migraine service at a telehealth company.
Early in her career, Dr. Litchman noticed that their doctors often dismissed patients with severe and debilitating headaches. Inspired to care for this underserved population, she pursued a sub-specialty in headache disorders and, in 2012, became a fellow of the American Headache Society.
A former Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Litchman has published articles on headaches and multiple sclerosis and served as an editor of the first textbook on a rare soft tissue tumor. She earned a Medical Editing and Writing certificate from the University of Chicago.
As Chief Medical Officer of BeCare Link, Dr. Litchman is addressing the need for more objective, sensitive measurement of neurologic function that often makes clinical trials and drug development for neurologic patients long, expensive, and yield low-quality data. Remote, ongoing monitoring enhanced by artificial intelligence empowers real-time detection of subtle changes in neurologic function. The result: improved patient outcomes. Studies at Yale School of Medicine and Weill Cornell provide empiric proof of BeCare MS Link’s convergent validity with traditional, in-clinic neurologic exams.