Adaptive Testing Technologies (ATT) and bioccess™ Sign Agreement to Commercialize the CAT-MH™ Mental Health Adaptive Test in Latin America

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[Orlando, FL, March 21, 2021] - Adaptive Testing Technologies (ATT), a Chicago-based company; and bioccess™, an Orlando-based market access consulting firm dedicated to helping innovative Medtech companies succeed with their market expansion plans in Latin America, announced that they have entered into a partnership agreement to market and commercialize the CAT-MH™ –the only multi-dimensional clinically validated adaptive behavioral health measures in the world –in Latin America.

Mental health disorders represent a daunting challenge to the global healthcare system, and the problem is rapidly growing. There is a need for cost-effective, precise, and easy-to-deploy methods to measure mental health disorders in large populations. Without such measures, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers cannot accurately measure the mental health state of their clients nor be able to see the effect of measurement-based care.

Speed and accuracy have been two conflicting pressures on behavioral health clinicians. Clinicians must make a relatively rapid assessment of psychopathology and suicidality, and given the risk of mortality in suicidal patients, the assessment should accurately reflect risk. The CAT-MH™ is both quick and precise.

Traditional mental health measurement has been based on classical test theory, in which a patients’ impairment level is estimated by a total score, which requires that the same items be administered to all respondents. These items are weighted equally so that the response to the question ‘I am sad’ is weighted of equal importance as the response to the question ‘I feel that those around me would be better off if I were dead.’ Clearly, this approach is far from optimal. An alternative to full-scale administration is adaptive testing in which different individuals may receive different symptom items that are targeted to their specific impairment level.

Over the past 20 years the CAT-MH™, through rigorous peer validated academic research, has developed a new behavioral health measurement paradigm based on multidimensional item response theory (MIRT). Within CAT (Computerized Adaptive Testing), an individuals’ initial item responses are used to determine a provisional estimate of their standing on the measured trait to be used for subsequent item selection. Based on MIRT (multi-dimensional item response theory) procedures, estimates of items (e.g., difficulty, discrimination) and individuals (e.g., the severity of depression) can be obtained to more efficiently identify suitable item subsets for each individual. MIRT weighs more severe items more heavily than less severe items in deriving an assessment score. MIRT also provides an estimate of uncertainty that can be used to assess the significance of change for an individual. The CAT-MH™ adaptively selects a small optimal set of items from a large bank of approximately 1,500 items and the K-CAT™ (youth version) has a separate item bank of 2,120 items. Instead of fixing the items and allowing the precision of measurement to vary, the precision of measurement is fixed and allows the items to vary. The result is a dramatic increase in the precision of measurement with a dramatic decrease in the burden of measurement for the patient and the complete elimination of clinician burden.

Since 2010, bioaccess™ has provided clinical research and market access consulting services to foreign medical device manufacturers looking to succeed with their first-in-human clinical trials or with their commercialization plans in Colombia and the rest of Latin America.

"About 80% of people in Latin America are not treated for a mental disorder or neurological disease. That's 520+ million people! Patients in the region need access to innovative digital medical technologies like the CAT-MH™," said Julio Martinez-Clark, bioaccess™ Co-Founder & CEO.

"We are excited to partner with bioaccess™. Their expertise within Latin America will enable them to bring these new tools throughout the region and make an impactful difference in behavioral healthcare," said Yehuda Cohen, ATT’s CEO.

Large-scale screening and monitoring in integrated primary care and behavioral health care settings is a natural application of the CAT-MH™ and is already in practice in several major institutions including the University of California, the University of Chicago, Indiana University, the State of Tennessee, the U.S. Department of Defense/Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Cambridge Health Alliance.

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About Adaptive Testing Technologies, Inc. (ATT)

Founded in 2011 ATT has developed the first multidimensional CATs (computerized adaptive tests) for mental health assessments. CATs are available for depression, mania/hypomania, anxiety, attention deficit disorder (ADD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychosis, substance use disorder, and suicidality in adults. Read more at www.adaptivetestingtechnologies.com.

About bioaccess™

bioaccess™ is a contract research organization (CRO), regulatory, and market access consulting company that delivers a full spectrum of offerings from bench to commercialization foreign Medtech companies can have long-term success in Colombia and the rest of Latin America. Read more at www.bioaccessla.com.