ALISO VIEJO, Calif., Nov. 20, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CNS Response, Inc. (OTCBB:CNSO)
CNS Response Chairman Thomas Tierney and CEO George Carpenter provided testimony in support of HR 5059, the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, at the request of the of the House Veterans Affairs Health Subcommittee on Health.
In July, the company provided testimony to the Veterans' Affairs Committee, noting the growing role of predictive analytics in reducing harm from mental health medications chosen by trial and error. Thomas Tierney said, "The news today is very positive, and it is our belief that HR 5059 may accelerate adoption of predictive analytic tools like PEER."
Unlike most areas of medicine, treatments in mental health are often not guided by any physical measure of brain function. PEER is a clinical registry and recommendation engine which provides physicians with objective information on medication response. Previous PEER trials have demonstrated that doctors with more information achieve better outcomes, with less trial and error.
A 2012 study of PEER found a statistically significant link between reduced trial and error prescribing and reduced suicidality, with an 85% reduction in suicidality for patients whose treatment was guided by PEER. The US military is currently doing a large clinical trial of PEER, with "promising early results" shared with Congress in April. Statistically significant results have been reported for physicians who followed PEER recommendations vs physicians who did not follow PEER, including:
- 75% greater improvement in Suicidality scores
- 144% greater improvement in Depression scores
- 139% greater improvement in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) scores
- 43% more patients remained in treatment, with more than 50% improvement in treatment efficiency
Improved treatment efficiency should be especially important to the Committee as it could contribute to reduced wait times and increased access to VA mental health clinicians.
In September, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel committed the military to "system-wide improvements in quality and safety", mandating reductions in preventable medical error across the board. "We believe tools like PEER can make a major contribution to both the measurement and the reduction of preventable error," said Carpenter. "With the passage of the Clay Hunt SAV Act, we believe we can effect the same kind of improvements in the Veterans Health Administration."
Full transcript of CNS Response Congressional Testimony will be posted at: http://veterans.house.gov/hearing/legislative-hearing
About CNS Response Inc.
CNS Response (www.cnsresponse.com) provides a unique set of reference data and analytic tools for clinicians and researchers in psychiatry. While treatment for mental disorders has doubled in the last 20 years, it is estimated that 17 million Americans have failed two or more medication therapies for their mental disorders. The Company's Psychiatric EEG Evaluation Registry, or PEER Online, is a new registry and reporting platform that allows medical professionals to exchange treatment outcome data for patients referenced to objective neurophysiology data obtained through a standard electroencephalogram (EEG). Based on the company's original physician-developed database, there are now more than 37,350 outcomes for over 9,900 unique patients in the PEER registry. The objective of PEER Online is to avoid trial and error pharmacotherapy, which is the dominant approach for treatment resistant patients.
To read more about the benefits of this patented technology for patients, physicians and payers, please visit www.cnsresponse.com. Medical professionals interested in learning more can contact CNS Response representatives at PEERinfo@cnsresponse.com.
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Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties as set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements made herein.