Technology transfer of behavioral economic tasks for assessing alcohol reinforcer pathology: Development and feasibility of a commercially-available tool for clinical practice

PROJECT SUMMARY
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) contributes to excessive disability, morbidity, and mortality in the United States. As
one of the nation’s leading causes of death, public health guidelines recommend consistent standardized alcohol
screening. However, screening for alcohol misuse is underperformed, laborious, and is susceptible to demand
characteristics and concerns about stigmatizing the patient. To combat these issues, BEAM Diagnostics, Inc.
developed Beacon, a commercializable alcohol misuse digital screening tool based on the theoretical framework
of reinforcer pathology dedicated to increasing standardized screening without stigmatizing the patient. In Phase
I of this project, we conducted a clinical study at a large multi-site healthcare system serving approximately 1M
patients per year and validated Beacon as demonstrating robust predictive accuracy of alcohol misuse and
positive reports of feasibility and acceptability from providers. The goal of this Phase II SBIR is to finalize
Beacon’s development into a fully realized commercial product, both as a stand-alone tool and as an integrated
tool within an electronic medical record (EMR) system. Aim 1 will iterate and optimize the user-experience and
accessibility of Beacon as a product, develop nationally representative norming, produce comprehensive clinical
reference materials, ensure offline capability, and Spanish-language translation. Aim 2 will be dedicated to
integrating Beacon into EPIC, a widely used electronic medical record system within a healthsystem partner, to
improve usability, workflow capabilities, and record-keeping of alcohol misuse directly into a patient’s medical
chart. In addition, Aim 2 will launch a wave-style education and implementation initiative to promote Beacon’s
use in three outpatient departments. Finally, BEAM will complete an Exploratory Aim seeking to validate Beacon
as a measurement-based care tool. At the conclusion of this Phase II project, BEAM will brought Beacon to
market as a digital screening app for AUD, both as a stand-alone product and an EMR-integrated version.PROJECT NARRATIVE
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) are major contributors to disability, morbidity, and mortality, yet the current
standardized screening measures in clinical practice are under-performed, laborious, and susceptible to demand
characteristics and concerns about stigmatizing the patient. To combat these issues, BEAM Diagnostics, Inc.
developed Beacon, a commercializable alcohol misuse digital screening tool based on the theoretical framework
of reinforcer pathology dedicated to increasing screening without stigmatizing the patient. This proposal, an
extension of a successful Phase I STTR, seeks to develop Beacon into a fully-realized product for use both as
a stand-alone tool and as an EMR-integrated solution for large healthcare systems to maximize standardized
screening in a variety of healthcare environments.