Study Term
2026 

Status
In Progress

Primary care is the frontline for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD), especially for rural, low-income, and underserved populations. However, early identification in primary care remains a significant challenge, often delaying trial enrollment and limiting timely access to emerging therapies. This pilot study will develop and test tech-enabled strategies to identify eligible patients in community-based primary care settings and connect them with trial opportunities. The study will be conducted within OCHIN, a national network of nearly 300 community-based health centers (CHCs) that share the same Epic electronic health record (EHR) system. Cognimark—an innovative technology that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) with standard healthcare data to enhance early detection of cognitive impairment— will be tested in 1-2 CHCs to identify a cohort of low-income and medically underserved patients who are eligible for ADRD trials. OCHIN EHR developers and CHC staff will help inform design of tools and processes to engage eligible patients and refer them to clinical trial opportunities.  

The OCHIN team will engage pilot CHC clinical and technical staff to iteratively develop EHR tools and workflows that can be used by CHC teams to refer eligible patients to ADRD clinical trials. The tools’ usability will be evaluated through clinician user testing and feedback surveys and by tracking metrics, such as feasibility of different engagement and outreach strategies and intent to refer. Iterative refinements will be made based on real-time data. In addition, the ADVANCE Community Partner Steering Committee and OCHIN’s Clinical Operations Review Committee will provide broader feedback on the feasibility of utilizing Cognimark for early detection and strategies for integrating clinical trial outreach and recruitment into CHC workflows.