Avant Institute, in partnership with neuroscience company Cognivue, announced it has received a grant to leverage the Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network (CPESN) to perform cognitive screening at pharmacies in communities nationwide. The grant comes from the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative (DAC), the organization leading a global response to Alzheimer’s disease.
The project implements Cognivue Clarity, a self-administered 10-minute cognitive performance screening tool, to increase access to digital cognitive screening assessments in 20-30 CPESN pharmacy sites across rural, urban, and underserved communities throughout the United States. This project provides training and onboarding for pharmacies to use Cognivue to screen patients and evaluate the results to make further recommendations and referrals.
Avant Institute President and Avant Pharmacy and Wellness Center CEO, Amina Abubakar, PharmD, AAHIVP said, “We look forward to providing training and education for pharmacy sites to meet the needs of high-risk communities for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. This grant provides an opportunity to address a significant need to fill the gaps in conducting standardized cognitive assessments for patients, and pharmacies provide an access point to reach underserved and rural communities. We are proud to be partnering with The Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative on this initiative to address patient care needs and advance the collaboration between community pharmacies and their local providers.”
Cognivue President and CEO Tom O’Neill said, “We are excited to partner with such an amazing innovative leader in Amina Abubakar and her organization, the Avant Institute. We believe CPESN and independent pharmacies can play an integral role in educating and screening patients for cognition.”
Avant Institute joins a global network of 12 grant projects, all part of the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative Healthcare System Preparedness project, which aims to advance how healthcare systems worldwide detect, diagnose, treat, and care for people with or at risk for Alzheimer’s.
Founding Chairman of the Board, Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative, George Vradenburg said, “We are excited to see how Avant Institute, Cognivue, and CPESN can be part of our efforts to create new pathways to early detection and look forward to helping to link and scale their successes to our partners around the world.”
CPESN USA Executive Director Troy Trygstad, PharmD, MBA, PhD said, “The pandemic highlighted the need for trusted and accessible testing, screening, and referrals for large swaths of the population, but in particular for those living in underserved neighborhoods or with cognitive limitations. Community pharmacies are likely to play an essential role in early identification, education, and warm handoffs for those at risk or in cognitive decline.”
The Avant Institute will have an opportunity to extend its impact by sharing best practices through DAC Learning Labs, communities of practice events, and others, all designed to share learnings and successes and encourage transformative action with healthcare systems around the globe.
Source: Avant Institute, Cognivue
Images: DAC, Avant Institute
