Editor's note: This story has been updated with the timing and size of the pilot.
Scottsdale, Arizona-based Magellan Health announced today that it has launched a pilot of Boston Children's Hospital spin-out Neuromotion Labs' Mightier, a biofeedback video game platform designed to help children regulate their emotions.
Since June 22, the managed care company has begun supplying members with autism or other behavioral health conditions a Mightier tablet carrying 25 games that require the player's focus. This is paired with a heart rate-monitor wearable that monitors members' natural reaction to stress, and adjusts the game to become more difficult, thereby encouraging children to manage their emotions to find success in the game.
Alongside these tools, the program provides caregivers with: a dashboard for tracking a child's progress, access to a support network of other parents and regular one-on-one coaching with a licensed clinician who can adjust the program as needed.
“Children are increasingly being diagnosed with behavioral health disorders and the impact is felt by the entire family,” Matthew Miller, SVP of behavioral health at Magellan Healthcare, said in a statement. “We are proud to launch this pilot with Mightier as a cost-effective, outcomes-based treatment. By teaching children how to navigate daily challenges through visual technology they learn how to cope and properly manage their stress in a meaningful and fun way.”
The pilot is slated to run for six months, and will provide the Mightier program to 100 children, a representative told MobiHealthNews.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT?
The companies say that over three-quarters of families using the Mightier platform report improvements in their children's condition. Magellan will be taking those results a step further, exploring whether Mightier's program can deliver an additional benefit to its existing network of behavioral healthcare- and autism-care clinicians, and whether it does so at a reasonable cost.
The pilot is also being launched in the midst of a global pandemic, when stress is high and at-home behavioral health interventions are in greater demand.
"Our solution meets kids and families where they are: at home," Jason Kahn, chief scientific officer for Mightier, said in a statement. "The pandemic amplifies this need even further; we need new ways to support kids and families. Our digital program can play a significant role by providing evidenced-based, personalized interventions from the comfort of home.”
THE LARGER TREND
Mightier's program has been distributed to more than 25,000 families over the past three years, and since its launch has raised more than $10 million in funding from investors. But the company isn't alone in its focus on video games as a delivery mechanism for behavior care.
Best known in the digital therapeutics industry is Akili Interactive, which this summer received De Novo clearance for its ADHD video game-therapeutic EndeavorRx. Similar ADHD platforms that have seen pilots in and out of the U.S. include ATENTIV, Braingaze and CogoLand.
