The Challenge: A common situation at hospitals nationwide is a growing demand to initiate EEG monitoring in Critical Care Units as quickly as possible at any time of the day. But hospitals often have no EEG Technologist coverage at night and the staff EEG technologists who work the day shift are burning out from the increased on-call demand.  The lack of trained staff to apply EEG electrodes can mean that physicians wait many hours to evaluate and treat patients at risk for non-convulsive status epilepticus (NCSE). The Solution: At one hospital facing this issue, the solution has been the ..read more

The Challenge Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) is the leading cause of seizures in the neonate. Amplitude Integrated EEG (aiEEG) is often employed when EEG techs are not available.  aiEEG traces can be easily compromised by artifact and even a strong ECG rhythm, so pediatric neurologists prefer the standard cEEG when possible. Yet applying a standard set of EEG electrodes to newborns can be challenging and stressful to the neonate. Keeping electrodes in place on a baby’s head for extended recordings may also be an issue when the baby wants to move about. The Solution With the newborn ..read more

The Challenge This may be a more common occurrence than recognized. At a children’s hospital, a young patient on the autism spectrum would not lie down or sit still for an EEG procedure but would only stand for the EEG set up process. Attempts to apply individual EEG electrodes using the traditional approach proved difficult and stressful for the patient and, because of the patient’s activity, some of the electrodes would not stay on long enough to record the study. The Solution The EEG techs stopped using the traditional EEG electrode application process and decided to use the child-size Cort ..read more

2023 PFS Conversion Factor On November 1, 2022 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), published its Final Rule for the Calendar Year (CY) 2023 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS). The CY 2023 PFS conversion factor was set at $33.06, a decrease of $1.55 to the CY 2022 PFS conversion factor of $34.61. This conversion factor reflects the statutorily required update of 0% for CY 2023, expiration of the temporary 3% supplemental increase in PFS payments for CY 2022 provided by the Protecting Medicare and American Farmers From ..read more

Global ischemic injury to the brain occurs during and after oxygen deprivation secondary to cardiac or respiratory arrest in adults and children (TH after cardiac arrest). In neonates, a similar condition called hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) may occur during pregnancy, labor, and delivery or in the postnatal period. Therapeutic hypothermia (TH), also called Targeted Temperature Management (TTM), is a treatment to help the brain recover from hypoxic-ischemic injury. It consists of cooling the patient’s head or entire body below homeostasis, which is about 33.5°C or 92.3°F. Current data ..read more

The topic of Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) is not easy to discuss with patients who may be suffering from this condition. It is challenging to diagnose and treat, due to the confounding symptoms which make it difficult for both healthcare professionals and their patients. Yet, the prevalence of PNES rivals that of trigeminal neuralgia and multiple sclerosis, with a rate among the general population of 2-33 per 100,000. Once a conversation that was largely kept behind closed doors, as more conversations about mental health find their way into the light, so are discussions about ..read more

CortiCare is recognized for its commitment to quality patient care and has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval®. CARLSBAD, CA – October 1, 2021 – CortiCare, Inc., a leading provider of technology and electroencephalographic (EEG) services to the hospital and physician office markets, today announced that it has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for Ambulatory Accreditation by demonstrating continuous compliance with its performance standards. The Gold Seal is a symbol of quality that reflects a health care organization’s commitment to providing safe and qual ..read more

Invented in 1929 by the German psychiatrist, Hans Berger, electroencephalography (EEG) propelled our understanding of electrical activity in the brain. Most commonly used in hospitals to evaluate seizures, epilepsy, and sleep disorders, EEG is an increasingly valuable tool when it comes to diagnosing dementia, attention disorders, neurological sequela from cardiac arrests, and more. Unfortunately, EEG tests and EEG monitoring are currently underused when it comes to identifying common diseases and performing neurological assessments in hospital patients, particularly in the ..read more

Find out how CortiCare is evolving to meet the anticipated demand and market growth going forward into 2021 and beyond. A recent article in Healthcare Tech Outlook by Jeff Kuznia, Director of Marketing at CortiCare, summarizes the company’s multipronged approach to addressing the EEG service needs of its customers and the goal of improving patient care. “We anticipate continued growth in demand for these services and are evolving our company to meet the needs [of our customers]. This includes investment in our IT infrastructure to handle more data, improved diagnostic testing systems purpose ..read more

April 2021 By Dona Murphey, MD, PhD EEG plays an important role in inclusion/exclusion criteria for safety and efficacy evaluations and as biomarkers in clinical trials. Given the heterogeneity of understanding of the strengths and the limitations of EEG in this context, we provide a brief commentary to inform drug sponsors, contract research organizations, and academic partners on some of the questions to consider. Pre-Clinical Screening In drug development, fewer than 1% of compounds make it past pre-clinical testing in animals. Greater than 90% of those drop out in Phase 1, first in human t ..read more