Telephos · PHAROS

PHAROS by Telephos

The brain speaks before it forgets.

Changes in mood, motivation and behavior are often the first signs of brain change, ahead of memory loss. PHAROS helps primary care notice them, act on them, and see sooner whether care is working.

The earliest signal

It starts quietly.

Before a memory slips, families often notice something else. A change in mood. A loss of interest. A personality that doesn't feel quite like theirs.

  • “He stopped going to his Thursday chess club. He says he just can't be bothered.”
    Decreased motivation
  • “She's anxious and tearful over things that never used to bother her.”
    Emotional dysregulation
  • “He snaps at the grandkids, and he's made three impulse purchases this month.”
    Impulse dyscontrol
  • “She says things to strangers that would have mortified her a year ago.”
    Social inappropriateness
  • “He's sure the neighbors have been moving things in his garage.”
    Abnormal perception or thought

Illustrative examples of the five domains of mild behavioral impairment.

Clinicians call it mild behavioral impairment.

MBI describes new, lasting changes in mood or behavior that begin after age 50 and persist for at least six months. They can appear before memory problems do, which makes them one of the earliest signs worth checking.

They're also easy to put down to stress, or to getting older. So they often go unrecorded.

PHAROS starts looking here Where care usually begins
Mild behavioral impairmentMood, motivation, behavior
Mild cognitive impairmentMemory and thinking
DementiaDaily life affected
Time

The gap

Primary care should catch it. Today, it slips through.

Missed

No one is looking for it.

Early behavioral change isn't part of a routine primary care visit. The signs go unrecorded, or get treated as stress.

ServicePaidStaffed
Cognitive care plan
Monthly care management
Caregiver support

Unstaffed

The care is paid for. The people aren't there.

Medicare pays for cognitive care plans, monthly care management and caregiver support. Most independent and rural clinics don't have the staff to provide them.

Unmeasured

Six weeks of waiting.

It takes about 42 days to tell whether a treatment is working. When it isn't, the patient has lost six weeks.

The platform

One platform. Three jobs.

PHAROS pairs an AI assessment with remote nursing and response tracking, so a clinic can find early brain change, manage it and measure it without adding staff.

  1. 01 AI assessment

    Find

    An AI-scored assessment, in the clinic or over video. Two cameras and a wearable capture how a person responds, and PHAROS flags possible signs of mild behavioral impairment, mild cognitive impairment, dementia and psychiatric symptoms for the clinician to review.

  2. 02 Remote nursing

    Manage

    Remote registered nurses, provided with our partner SingleThread, run monthly check-ins and keep care plans current. Their notes go straight back into your EHR. Your clinic delivers the care without hiring anyone.

  3. 03 Response engine

    Measure

    The same readings, repeated over time, show how a patient is responding to treatment. The aim is a reliable read by day 14 instead of day 42, so care can be adjusted sooner.

PHAROS · AssessmentReady for review08:12
  • Camera A
  • Camera B
  • Wearable
Assessment complete100%
Behavioral changeMBI · Review
Memory and thinkingMCI · Monitor
Mood and anxietyMonitor
DementiaNot indicated
Illustrative screenPatient 0417 · 68
PHAROS · Care planRemote nursing · SingleThread
Patient 0417Care plan active since September
MBI pathway
  • SepCare plan agreedWith clinician, patient and daughterDone
  • OctMonthly check-inRemote RN · 34 minDone
  • NovMonthly check-inScheduled · Nov 12Next
  • DecCare plan reviewWith clinicianPlanned
Nurse note · Oct 14

Sleeping better. Daughter reports fewer evening episodes. Walking group twice a week. Next check-in in four weeks.

Written to EHRCare plan updated
Illustrative screenNo new hires
PHAROS · ResponseDay 14 of treatment
EARLY READ · DAY 14 DAY 42 DAY 0 14 28 42 SYMPTOM SCORE
5Readings
−32%From baseline
ImprovingDirection
Illustrative screenCamera + wearable readings

Inside PHAROS

One assessment. Many signals.

PHAROS combines what two cameras see with what a wearable measures, and scores them together. Repeat it over time and the same signals show how a person is changing.

  • Inputs: camera A, camera B, wearable.
  • Outputs for clinician review: behavior (MBI), cognition (MCI), dementia, psychiatric symptoms.
Illustrative signal viewPHAROS flags. Clinicians decide.
  • Multimodal

    Camera and wearable signals are read together, which gives a fuller picture than a questionnaire alone.

  • Repeatable

    The same assessment can run again and again, so change over time becomes measurable.

  • Where care happens

    It runs during a clinic visit or over video, so rural and homebound patients aren't left out.

  • Clinician in the loop

    PHAROS surfaces signals for review. It supports the clinician's judgment and doesn't replace it.

From six weeks of waiting to two.

Today, whether a treatment is working is usually judged at around day 42. PHAROS tracks repeated readings from the start of treatment. Our aim is a reliable read by day 14, and a planned 180-patient clinical study is designed to test it.

In your clinic

Your clinic hires no one.

PHAROS brings the assessment, the nurses and the documentation. Your clinicians stay in charge of care.

  1. 01Assess

    PHAROS runs during a visit or a video call.

    PHAROS
  2. 02Review

    Flagged signals go to the clinician, who decides next steps.

    Your clinician
  3. 03Plan

    A care plan is agreed with the patient and their family.

    Your clinician
  4. 04Follow up

    Remote nurses check in every month and track progress.

    Remote RN
  5. 05Document

    Notes are written back to your EHR.

    PHAROS
  6. 06Adjust

    Repeated readings show how the patient is responding, and the plan is adjusted sooner.

    Your clinician
For clinicians

A structured way to check for early brain change, with clear flags to act on and an earlier view of whether treatment is working.

For practice leaders

Deliver the cognitive and behavioral care Medicare already pays for, without recruiting a care management team.

For patients and families

Changes that worried you are taken seriously sooner, with a nurse who checks in every month.

Clinic economics

Care that pays its own way.

Medicare already covers cognitive assessment, care planning, monthly care management and caregiver support. Many independent and rural clinics can't offer them because they don't have the staff. PHAROS brings the assessment, the nursing and the documentation, so your clinic can.

  • Assessment and care planningA structured check for early brain change, and a care plan agreed with the patient and family.
  • Monthly care managementRemote nurses check in every month and keep the plan current.
  • Caregiver supportFamilies are part of the plan and of every follow-up.

Coverage depends on each patient's eligibility, documentation and payer mix, and billing decisions stay with your clinic. We'll walk through what PHAROS could mean for your practice when we talk.

How a site goes live

Proven at every site before it goes live.

Each new site starts in shadow mode. PHAROS runs alongside routine care and goes live only when its results hold up against expert clinicians.

  1. 01 · Shadow
    90days
    Watch, don't act.

    PHAROS collects shadow data next to routine care. Nothing changes for patients during this period.

  2. 02 · Quality gate Two thresholds to pass.
    ICC · agreement
    AUC · accuracy

    ICC measures how closely PHAROS agrees with expert raters. AUC measures how well it tells apart people with and without the condition.

  3. 03 · Live
    Go
    Care begins.

    Flags reach clinicians, remote nursing starts, and response tracking begins.

Working with

  • Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Research CenterUniversity of Michigan · Research partner
  • Mid Michigan Health CentersPrimary care · Michigan
  • New England Institute for NeurologySpecialty neurology clinic

Team

The people behind the light.

  • Ioannis Tarnanas, PhDChief Executive Officer

    Applied neuroscientist working on digital biomarkers since 1998. Founder of Altoida (FDA Breakthrough Device designation). Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School.

  • Daniele Re, PhDChief Scientific Officer

    Neuroengineer and AI researcher in cognitive neuroscience, computer vision and machine learning. Former postdoctoral researcher at Tel Aviv University; owns the platform from research prototype to production.

  • Javid MuhammedaliChief Technology Officer

    AI product leader with 20+ years building large-scale SaaS and AI systems, including at Google. Previously at Care.com and McKinsey.

  • Samy Sidhom, MD, MBA, MPHFractional Chief Medical Officer

    Physician executive in clinical strategy, population health and digital care models. Executive MBA, MIT Sloan.

Advisors

  • Bruno Giordani, PhDStrategic Advisor

    Clinical neuropsychologist in cognitive assessment across aging, MCI and neurodegenerative disease.

  • Peter McAllister, MDStrategic Advisor

    Neurologist; Director, New England Institute for Neurology and Headache. Principal investigator on many CNS trials.

  • Antonis Argyros, PhDComputer Vision Advisor

    Professor of Computer Science, University of Crete, and researcher at FORTH.

  • Randall HyerFractional Chief Business Officer

    Advises Telephos on business development and US partnerships.

Telephos

See it sooner.Act on it sooner.Know sooner.

Get in touch

Tell us who you are and we'll point you to the right person.

For clinics

Bring PHAROS to your patients.

We work with independent, rural and group practices, and with FQHCs. Tell us a little about your clinic and we'll walk you through how a site goes live.

  • How many clinicians you have
  • Roughly how many patients over 50 you see
  • The EHR you use