Startup Spotlight: MindMetrix
How MindMetrix equips individuals and healthcare providers with the right data to get results.
MindMetrix is revolutionizing mental health care with its groundbreaking comprehensive assessment tool. Designed for both primary care physicians and mental health providers, MindMetrix offers a robust, data-driven approach to supporting clinicians in their diagnoses. By leveraging over 60 industry-leading, peer-reviewed psychological rating scales, the platform identifies elevated probabilities for more than 60 conditions, ensuring diagnoses are based on well-established standards.
Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
The Startup
MindMetrix stands out by curating a wide array of psychiatric rating scales, all rigorously peer-reviewed and streamlined into one assessment flow, to deliver precise diagnostic insights. MindMetrix dynamically adapts to an individual’s presenting symptoms, enabling the assessment to be completed in under an hour. The full assessment allows for the identification of elevated likelihoods across a broad spectrum of mental health conditions, based on The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria.
The Challenge
Mental health is a critical and growing concern in the U.S. Despite advances in treatment, the accurate detection and diagnosis of mental health conditions remain a challenge, often due to a lack of sufficient data.
“Practitioners have less time than ever with their patients and pressure is high to prescribe — and get it right — the first time,” says Margot Nash, CEO of MindMetrix. “At the same time, a growing number of patients seek mental health care from their primary care physicians, who often lack the specialized knowledge to provide the right support.”
The Story
Many patients of Dr. Joel Young, co-founder of MindMetrix and medical director of the Rochester Center for Behavioral Medicine (RCBM), spent years and thousands of dollars on treatments with minimal relief before finding help at RCBM.
“A large portion of these patients had been previously misdiagnosed,” Nash explains. “Recognizing the need for a more data-driven approach, RCBM developed a first-of-its-kind diagnostic screening program.”
The program quickly gained recognition for its comprehensiveness and accuracy, earning RCBM a reputation for diagnostic precision. As the pandemic exacerbated the mental health crisis in the U.S., the need to make this innovative approach accessible to other practices became clear, leading to the creation of MindMetrix.
The Solution
The MindMetrix Assessment begins with a broad online symptom screening, similar to a therapy intake session, and progressively narrows down potential mental health conditions as you respond to each question. The assessment adapts in real-time, using a battery of industry-standard tests to measure symptoms. These tests come with published precision statistics, enabling MindMetrix to demonstrate how well symptoms align with specific mental health conditions.
By utilizing probability statistics and the published precision rates of each screening tool in a set of tools for each condition, MindMetrix presents results with a high degree of credibility. The tests included in each condition’s assessment were selected for their sensitivity (likelihood of a “true positive”) and specificity (likelihood of a “true negative”) at a designated clinical cutoff score. These statistics are used to weight each test’s result in context with the other tests in the set, producing what is known as the Elevated Likelihood — how much more likely you are, based on your results, to have the condition compared to the general U.S. adult population.
“The rise in AI diagnostics is a wonderful advancement; With the nuances in mental health, we think it is important to take a more transparent approach to supporting clinicians so that they can make the best decisions possible,” Nash says. “The tools to identify mental health conditions are out there, but they are often hidden in published literature, in many cases existing in paper-and pencil format. And, to be interpreted responsibly, they can’t be used in isolation. MindMetrix makes this possible without the administrative headache.”
The Future
“As of the past few months, we have officially launched MindMetrix for Providers and have begun licensing to providers outside of our proof-of-concept at RCBM,” Nash reports. This marks a significant step forward for MindMetrix as it continues to expand its reach and impact in the mental health sector.
About MindMetrix
MindMetrix helps providers make informed diagnostic decisions about a patient’s mental health, quickly. It provides a comprehensive online mental health self-assessment that patients can complete in just 45 minutes, delivering an in-depth PDF report for providers that identifies elevated probabilities for over 60 DSM-5 conditions, and recommended next steps for each. MindMetrix was developed by the Rochester Center for Behavioral Medicine, drawing on 25+ years of clinical experience and 60+ industry-leading, peer-reviewed psychological rating tools and tests. For more information, visit www.mindmetrix.com.
About MATTER
At MATTER, we believe collaboration is the best way to improve healthcare. The MATTER collaborative includes more than 1,000 current and alumni startups from around the world, working together with dozens of hospitals and health systems, universities and industry-leading companies to build the future of healthcare. Together we are accelerating innovation, advancing care and improving lives. For more information, visit matter.health and follow @MATTERhealth.