Moneta Health Provides Early Alzheimer’s Therapy You Can Access on a Landline
Serial healthtech entrepreneur Paul Campbell and bioengineer Jen Flexman, PhD, have teamed up to bring an AI-powered early-intervention Alzheimer’s treatment to market, one that brings hope to patients and caregivers through a familiar medium and is covered by Medicare.
Investors, learn how you can become a Health Moonshot Champion and support Health Transformers
like Paul Campbell and Jen Flexman, PhD.
Origin Story
“At the core of Moneta Health is my mom,” says Paul Campbell.
Campbell had been working in digital health since 2010 when his mother, a former nurse, said something to him that now feels prophetic. She looked at his work – a startup that Campbell pitched as a mental health coach in your pocket – and she told him his next big venture should be something that helped seniors.
Fast forward a few years and Campbell’s mother was diagnosed with early dementia.
“Unfortunately, the healthcare system offered little hope and limited early-intervention treatment options, especially non-drug alternatives,” Campbell wrote recently online. “There was also a lack of personalized education and support for families and caregivers. I realized very quickly that millions of people around the world are going through the same thing.”
In 2021, Campbell met Jen Flexman, PhD, and the wheels began to turn. Flexman did a PhD in bioengineering and got immersed in neuroscience. She worked with a team of engineers and radiologists to study the aging brain by analyzing large imaging datasets. She moved into the world of commercialization with Canada's largest diagnostic lab and then joined Babylon Health during an incredibly rapid period of growth for the company.
Flexman was at the nexus of a telehealth revolution, but she saw a flaw. Too many of these app-based platforms were being created for relatively healthy young people. Where did that leave seniors who actually use the vast majority of healthcare services?
In Paul Campbell, Flexman found an industry veteran with a passion for dementia care and a track record for building successful startups. The two set their sights on developing an early-intervention behavioral therapy platform for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD).
Under the Hood
Generally, patients will come to Moneta Health after having received an initial diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or early dementia.
“Getting those diagnoses is very emotional and what compounds that negative experience is that a lot of physicians don’t provide many options for what you can do next,” says Flexman.
Moneta aims to be the standard of care for this scenario, the go-to accessible cognitive rehabilitation therapy resource for any physician – likely a primary care physician or a neurologist – diagnosing early cognitive decline.
Patients are referred to Moneta by a provider. The Moneta program is a recurring monthly course of treatment and is covered by Medicare. The first step in the patient experience is meeting with one of Moneta’s therapists by phone.
“We have an amazing, compassionate team of speech language pathologists who are specialized in dementia and cognitive impairment,” says Flexman. “They will really spend a good amount of time doing cognitive testing and understanding the patient and their daily life.” Patients often come with specific concerns, like no longer being able to remember names or the steps in their favorite recipes, and Moneta’s therapists can quickly begin working on a plan tailored to their needs and, if needed, those of their caregiver.
So far so good. But here is what might be Moneta’s elegantly simple secret sauce. The entire program is handled over the phone, with a powerful technology platform behind the scenes. Not an app, not a webpage. It doesn’t even require a smartphone. Any landline will do. For the Moneta team, virtual care was essential – many patients are in so-called neurology deserts without access to high-quality care. But it was also essential to lower the barrier to entry as much as possible. Many seniors lack the devices or the internet bandwidth for virtual care.
After the therapist completes a cognitive assessment with the patient, they begin receiving calls from Moneta’s AI voice assistant, Mona™. The patient is prompted through a traditional phone call – no need to remember to log in to anything, ever – to complete the cognitive restorative and compensatory activities set out by their therapist. If a patient misses a call or wants to do extra practice, no problem: they can simply call Mona back at any time.
“There's a huge clinical benefit to being able to do these activities on your own time, rather than simply waiting for when a therapist is available to do it with you,” says Flexman.
Moneta’s programs can target specific cognitive deficits, like short-term memory or language. They also provide education on strategies for improving cognitive function in daily life.
Patients participate in the program for an average of two months, getting intensive care from therapists, and then they can be transitioned to a maintenance program, interacting primarily with Mona, the AI assistant.
“We definitely want to support a patient journey that is not just one and done,” says Flexman. “This is a chronic condition. It's neurodegenerative. People have different stages of decline that they need help with, and we want to be there every step of the way with the individual.”
For patients, the Moneta program offers a path to greater independence. Moneta’s early results show a statistically significant increase in patients' average quality of life score and other cognitive measures. In the words of one patient, “I learned to deal with one task at a time and to give my complete attention to that task rather than multitasking. I also learned to be patient with myself.” Other individuals report more self esteem and the confidence to navigate communication with family and friends more effectively.
Our Take
Moneta Health is like physical therapy for the brain, delivered through a traditional phone call for maximum accessibility.
It’s an elegantly simple sounding idea, but the Moneta team has a few important things going for them that make us particularly excited to support them.
In Campbell and Flexman, they have a powerful combination of experience, combining digital health operational ability with engineering and deep knowledge of neurodegeneration.
They’re also very smart in their go-to-market strategy. By showing strong early results in terms of improving cognitive function and patient quality of life (with more trials to come), they’re securing big name referring partners. They’re also tapping into known reimbursement codes, so that they can generate revenue to feed product development.
And, as we have found to be so important in this market of long sales cycles, Moneta’s team has the personal passion necessary to commit long term. Campbell is doing this for his mom and so many moms like her.
Under the leadership of Paul Campbell and Jen Flexman, PhD, Moneta Health has the potential to become an essential piece of the care continuum for Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Join us in welcoming them to StartUp Health’s Alzheimer’s Moonshot Community.
Connect with Moneta Health via email
Call for Alzheimer’s Innovation
With support from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and Gates Ventures, we’ve launched a new global initiative created to develop a collaborative innovation community alongside leading companies, research teams, and stakeholders with a mission to accelerate progress in prevention, diagnosis, and management of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Learn more and apply for an Alzheimer’s Moonshot Fellowship.
Become a Health Moonshot Champion
Health moonshots are fueled by passionate families, foundations, and industry organizations committed to achieving health moonshots. Learn how you can join other champions of the T1D Moonshot or one of our other global health moonshots.
Follow us on social media for daily updates on Health Transformers: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Published: May 30, 2024