Sutter Health, serving 3.5 million patients and consistently ranked among the top U.S. health systems, is one of California’s largest and most respected healthcare organizations.
Now, they’re leading the way, again: Adopting Neurotrack’s breakthrough digital screening technology to tackle early detection of cognitive decline.
A winning idea
The initiative was born out of Sutter's inaugural innovation challenge. Seeing an opportunity to address systemic issues like detection gaps and delayed diagnosis, Dr. Shawn Kile, chair of Sutter’s Neuroscience Service Line and practicing neurologist, consulted with Neurotrack and proposed an idea that beat out hundreds of competitors to win: patient-led cognitive screening more accessible to their 65+ population.
The competition to solve healthcare's biggest problems was fierce:
- Nearly 150 employee teams entered
- 246 ideas were submitted
- Around 17,000 votes were cast
- 9 finalists went on to pitch Sutter's executive team
- The winning concept, "a self-administered smartphone-based cognitive screen for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia," was chosen for its potential benefit to both patients and clinicians.
Scaling an evolution in cognitive care
At Modern Healthcare’s Hospital of the Future Virtual Briefing, Sutter Health's Chief Innovation Officer Chris Waugh highlighted Neurotrack as a critical component of their dementia strategy and shared the story of the internal innovation challenge that sparked the idea — a testament to Sutter’s commitment to reimagine care.
Check out the on-demand replay of Waugh's closing keynote (the story of Neurotrack and Sutter’s partnership begins around 5:40) or dive into a portion of the transcript below.
Maria Castellucci, Modern Healthcare:
"How are you scaling innovations successfully across Sutter Health? What are some examples you can share with us?"
Chris Waugh, Chief Innovation Officer, Sutter Health:
"So I’ll start with ideas from the field. Each year we run an annual, system-wide innovation challenge and anyone can submit an idea on the platform. We then pass it through: Is it aligned, is it feasible, is it aligned with the strategy? And then the employee community votes up. We create semifinalists, and those finalists get a lot of support, and then we pick one.
"An example of one that’s scaling right now: We picked a cognitive screener using digital tools that can be used at home. And the whole idea is that if we can screen more people for cognitive decline, we can treat people earlier in the process and have much better patient outcomes.
"We found a partner called Neurotrack, and they’re helping us with the screening. And then we’ve reimagined how the workflow works so that people can get care faster, not have to wait so long to see a neurologist, and get into some interesting new treatments that are becoming better and better. Especially if you can catch the disease state rate early."
A technology company and clinical consultant in one
The Sutter Health partnership is just one example of how Neurotrack goes beyond the competition — delivering hands-on support and best-practice guidance during the most critical planning and implementation phases. This valuable, high touch service ensures cognitive screening programs launch faster, run smoother, and empower care teams to identify and support patients in need quickly.
Neurotrack has led the way in improving the detection and care of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias since 2012. The company's thoughtfully designed software is both easier for to older adults to use, and more efficient for busy care teams to add to in-clinic and remote workflows. Neurotrack's FDA-registered platform also meets or exceeds Alzheimer's Association criteria for brief cognitive assessments.
Sutter Health is among many leading health systems that rely on Neurotrack's digital cognitive screening technology. In fact, Neurotrack's customers collectively provide care to roughly 5 percent of US seniors.
Ready to streamline your cognitive screening efforts? Contact Neurotrack's strategic partnership leaders for a brief consultation.
