The Orange County Vital Brain (OCVB) Program believes strongly that the proactive management of cognitive health in primary care settings is critical to maintaining a high-level of overall health in an aging population. After all, advancing age is well correlated with the prevalence of conditions that require increasingly complex protocols of self-care, and administering effective self-care requires cognitive vitality.
To support physicians in their efforts to manage the cognitive health of their patients, the OCVB Program strongly recommends a two-step process. First, use of the Healthy Brain Checklist, a free, one-minute form that patients aged 50 and older should complete at each routine visit to indicate what, if any, changes in cognition they may have noticed. The form can be scored at a glance and, depending on the results, there may be no further need to evaluate cognitive health at that time.
You may download and re-print the Healthy Brain Checklist here
If however, the patient indicates certain changes that correlate with mild cognitive impairment, the OCVB Program recommends administration of the MCI Screen as a second step. The MCI Screen is a ten-minute, self-scoring assessment that is 97% accurate in detecting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to any underlying medical condition. Poorly controlled chronic conditions, depression and anxiety are the most commonly causes of MCI, but thyroid disorders, sleep apnea, strokes, and emerging Alzheimer’s disease are also detected by this short assessment.
Identifying subtle changes in cognition, thoroughly diagnosing the underlying cause, and treating those causes in a timely manner is the optimal approach to maintaining healthy patients who can administer effective self care, stay physically fit and socially active, and who will be fully satisfied by the care you provide.
The MCI Screen is computer aided, requires Internet connectivity, and must be administered by office staff, though no medical credentials are required for administration. Please click here for background on the research behind the MCI Screen, and here for guidelines on gaining attractive reimbursement for assessing cognitive health in your clinic.
The MCI Screen is computer aided, requires Internet connectivity, and must be administered by office staff, though no medical credentials are required for administration. Please use the following links to learn more and sign up for a free trial account:
Summary of published research on MCI Screen use and
accuracy
Gaining optimal reimbursement for assessing cognition
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