Wearable Recovery System (Behaivior)

Behaivior is determined to end the deadliest drug epidemic in American history, the opioid crisis. Preliminary data from the CDC indicates that US overdose deaths during 2020 possibly exceeded 90,000, the largest number of opioid-related deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period (The Washington Post). Recovery, our patent-pending platform, acts as a guardian angel on your wrist, using a wearable device and mobile application that monitors physiological and activity data for individuals in recovery from substance misuse and other mental health struggles. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, our solution augments the current reactive treatment model by predicting and providing intervention for a relapse before it becomes too late, a tool that is especially critical to deploy during the COVID-19 pandemic, when access to medical care and social support is diminished.

Behaivior is combating the reactive interventions typical of gold-standard treatments of the opioid epidemic. Because interventions typically occur after a relapse, high-risk PiRs often don't receive care when they need it most. We have developed an answer to the question: what if a relapse could be predicted in advance, and tailored support given beforehand in order to stay the recovery course? Our solution does just that, functioning as a guardian angel on your wrist and using machine learning and AI to rapidly and accurately identify high-risk PiRs. We are headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an area hard-hit by the opioid crisis. In the US alone, the largest spike in opioid-related overdose deaths in over two decades occurred during 2020 (The Washington Post). People are more likely to die when using drugs alone (American Psychological Association), but with Behaivior’s 24/7 wearable system, dangerous isolation can be mitigated. Beyond the immeasurable value of quality of life and lives saved, our solution will also save upwards of $1.2 trillion annually (Florence, Luo, & Rice, 2021) in healthcare, criminal justice, and treatment costs, not accounting for additional lifetime neonatal abstinence syndrome costs that continue to increase (Bloomberg Law).

Recovery is a wearables platform that processes data from wearable devices with custom artificial intelligence models to identify periods of relapse risk for people in recovery and then provide digital interventions in real-time. These data are used to suggest wellness methods at low-risk levels and to provide alerts to caregivers at higher levels. Stratification of patient risk is currently a time-consuming and inefficient process. Recovery solves this problem by utilizing AI to rapidly and accurately identify high-risk PiRs.

The core artificial intelligence/machine learning models are trained on data from rigorous pilot studies organized by Behaivior. These models, which include custom neural networks in addition to other prediction techniques, can be modulated on an individual basis with user data to provide a unique prediction model per user.

Recovery can also alert the PIR’s care team and social support.

PiRs may share location data with pre-approved support network members for in-person administration of overdose reversal medication or removal from a trigger area to a support group meeting. The software contains customized intervention options and alerts the subscriber that they may need to take positive action. Additionally, the software can aid in detecting overdose, enabling quick access to life-saving responses.

Behaivior has created a solution to help stem the tide of the opioid epidemic. Results achieved from research and clinical studies funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Carnegie Mellon University, among others, validated the consumer application. Through machine learning algorithms, we can detect in advance that someone with opioid addiction is in a high-risk craving state, which allows for the provision of a life-saving, just-in-time intervention.

Our Recovery system incorporates a wearable device and phone application to monitor the biometric and behavioral data of users. This unique, proactive approach has been shown through clinical studies to greatly lower opioid relapse rates, provide greater bodily and emotional mindfulness, and improve treatment adherence for people in early recovery from substance use disorder.

Unfortunately, the majority of recovery or sobriety maintenance tools used by individuals have mixed success rates at best. Many people in recovery end up relapsing repeatedly, despite their desperate best efforts. Historically, the tools used to help people in recovery have been reactive rather than proactive. They take action only after people return to using again or after they overdose. More tools are needed that provide high-quality, individualized care. Given that only 10-20% of people struggling with addiction receive treatment, a tool that can be used both alone as an adjunct to treatment, enhancing treatment protocols, is needed. That is where Behaivior’s recovery tool comes in. Our NIH-funded clinical studies have shown a 50% reduction in average relapse rates among outpatient OUD patients.

We have conducted over 200 customer discovery interviews with treatment providers, people in recovery, and other stakeholders in the substance misuse recovery space. We have incorporated feedback gained from user testing and are currently conducting pilot studies to further refine our algorithms and gain feedback from our target population.

Behaivior’s relapse prevention technology uses custom machine learning algorithms to solve a national crisis. Behaivior’s solution provides a remote recovery system that has been shown to be effective both as an adjunct to other evidence-based treatment protocols or alone, as a life-saving tool for those who have been underserved by existing treatment methodologies. 

Our solution allows for 24/7 access to real-time interventions, which could have mitigated many overdose deaths during COVID. Along with this, technology can help bridge the isolation of pandemics and disease outbreaks. Our goal is also to use our technology to strategically assist historically underserved populations.

Behaivior is conducting pilot studies and we have been awarded over $500,000 in grant and award funding.

Behaivior’s system, Recovery, is a first-of-its-kind proactive approach to substance misuse, using a predictive wearable technology and machine learning system to detect and prevent impending relapse. It can serve as an adjunct to current treatment protocols such as Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) or as a stand-alone to prevent gaps in care that can greatly set back a person’s recovery journey. Our innovation as currently adapted for opioid misuse can lower relapse and overdose rates and improve treatment adherence. We will soon be adapting the system to be generalizable to other substance use disorders and conditions such as PTSD, eating disorders, and depression/anxiety, all of which become more pervasive and harder to address during a disease outbreak. Even if physical closeness is not possible during a disease outbreak, Behaivior’s system allows for 24/7 access to care, support, and potential intervention if needed - functioning as a guardian angel on your wrist.

By providing a remote monitoring and alerting tool and digital onboarding (COVID-19 adaptations), care providers benefit from a safer and more effective staff allocation, being able to attract and retain new clients through the provision of high-quality, customized care, and reduction of care gaps. Relapse and overdose often result in PIRs leaving treatment early or shifting to different providers. Studies show that longer durations of care are associated with greater treatment success. Reducing addiction relapse and overdose is critical because it not only saves lives but also saves money by reducing recidivism, re-treatment, and re-hospitalization.

Our revenue model numbers below are focused solely on our OUD-focused tool. We will be expanding our tool to help those struggling with other substance use disorders and mental health issues. We plan to conduct R&D to expand our tool within the first year of a commercial product release and these numbers will then increase accordingly to service the 30 million people globally who suffer from substance use disorders and a deficit of tools supporting mental health. 

An MVP system has served almost 100 people in early recovery with opioid use disorder in our clinical studies. 

1. In one year we will be serving 126,000 people with our OUD relapse prevention system

2. In five years we will be serving 2,016,000 people with our OUD relapse prevention system

Currently, we are addressing the potential financial barrier through applications to grant funding opportunities. We are also exploring opportunities for investment. We will continue to reach out to our network to seek the connections and expertise required to move into each new market. 

We measure progress with care providers and people in recovery in our pilots through regular interviews and surveying. We also measure company progress through reviews of our milestones with advisors and stakeholders. We measure team health and progress through regular check-ins with all team members.

2 Full-time

2 Part-time

The Behaivior team is comprised of experts with extensive human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence, and machine learning experience. They have successfully developed, deployed, and evaluated treatment support solutions for chronic disease management, medication reconciliation, and workflow management. Other expertise includes UI/UX design, behavioral technology, data science, software development, and business development.

Behaivior prioritizes human-centered design, incorporating feedback and user testing by people in recovery as we iterate on our app design. We have continuously conducted extensive customer discovery, interviewing stakeholders along the way, including people in recovery, treatment centers, and county executives.

Ellie Gordon, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Behaivior LLC, is a behavior change technologist, designer, and biotech entrepreneur. For more than 12 years, her work has primarily focused on improving people’s lives through technology. She has successfully created, organized, led, and managed teams for everything from hackathons and code fests, to other science-based startups and initiatives, to community development and research projects. She did a TEDx Pittsburgh talk as a behavioral technologist speaking about the design elements of what Behaivior is developing.
 Through her research, she has become a subject matter expert on behavior, opioids, addiction, wearables, and using technology for sensing.

Behaivior intentionally provides hiring and training opportunities for employees that may face work barriers, including mothers and family care providers, women of color, and those who are historically marginalized. Behaivior provides flexibility and compassion for balancing home/family management and caring for mental health and fosters open communication among team members about self-care needs, plus regular guidance and resources for accessing help. Behaivior Founder and CEO Ellie Gordon believes strongly in helping empower more women and minorities to not just get into the tech sector and STEAM fields, but to thrive there. She is breaking barriers while doing so and providing people from all walks of life, especially those with a non-traditional career path, learning and professional growth opportunities. She has worked with local universities and programs like the Center for Women and the Innovation Works Diversity Intern program to hire and train over 20 interns, over half of whom are women of color and/or marginalized community members. She provides opportunities for those who may face barriers in their career, such as employees who have left the workforce for several years and are looking to return and gain skills and experience at a tech startup. 

Team discussions include sharing of gratitudes and strategies for mindfulness and stress management, as well as a prioritization of gender/race equity and inclusion through sharing anti-racism resources and resources on how to use de-stigmatizing language for people in recovery. At Behaivior, everyone’s contributions are valued, and feedback is encouraged.

Behaivior has the potential to improve the lives of countless people. With the use of a revolutionary approach to addiction through our Recovery application, we have the unique opportunity to prevent relapse and overdose before it starts. Early trials have demonstrated that this method is highly effective at improving recovery in PiRs and the Recovery app is well-received among patients and healthcare providers.

As an MIT Solver, Behaivior will accelerate our launch and build additional organizational sustainability. We will expand our small team by hiring additional full-time employees to focus on business development, outreach, product development/design, marketing, and commercialization steps as we move beyond our pilot stage into a product launch. 

With more bandwidth, we would be able to both keep an eye on and outpace competitors as well as better understand the market landscape in order to see what is missing and improve our solution to fill the gaps.

Behaivior prioritizes health equity and it is important to us that communities in dire need, especially those historically underserved, can gain access to our offering. As an MIT Solver, we will be supported in conducting targeted community outreach to ensure that there is equitable and accessible reach of our product, not just to those who already have the means to afford it. With MIT Solve's assistance and expertise, we can expand outreach, and begin working with large insurance payers to achieve reimbursement, widening the reach of people who will be able to affordably add our tool to their treatment plan. 

As a health tech startup that has been funded primarily through R&D restricted funds, we have a limited budget for marketing, media, and outreach. Advice, mentorship, or partners in the areas of public relations and product/service distribution would be greatly appreciated.

Behaivior is always seeking partnerships with individuals, organizations, and companies that share our goal of improving the quality of life for those recovering from substance misuse. The most optimistic partnerships seem to be MIT’s Media Lab and the American Addiction Centers. MIT’s Media Lab would make an excellent partner due to its guiding principle of transformative technology research to improve the lives of others. Of particular interest is the Wearable Lab on Body project which aligns with Behaivior’s goals for wearable devices in several ways. A partnership with MIT’s Media Lab would help Behaivior in implementing even more effective research and development. In a similar vein would a partnership with the American Addiction Centers (AAC) be valuable. Their Addiction Labs represent leading research on the nature of drug misuse and would be an invaluable benefit to ensuring the Behaivior system has the greatest benefit possible.

Behaivior’s solution aligns with The RWJ Foundation’s focus on building a culture of health and reducing pressing health inequities, ensuring access of care for all, and bridging care gaps for the underserved. Our solution not only will help dramatically reduce relapse and overdose rates for people in recovery from substance misuse, but will teach lifelong emotion regulation and mindfulness skills that can be used for coping with future stressors and increasing well-being far after their stay in a recovery program ends. The already deadly and difficult reality of opioid addiction in the US was drastically exacerbated by the isolation and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our solution, if widely available, would have mitigated the record-breaking levels of overdoses and deaths due to people using alone without access to help or social support.

Funding provided by The RWJ Foundation will be allocated toward wide-scale commercialization and distribution of our system with partner centers across the United States, with the help of hired community outreach, marketing, and business development specialists. We will create intentional partnerships with local, regional, and national addiction support services to provide our system to those who are economically and socially disadvantaged, not just those with access to resources.

The increased stressors, trauma, and PTSD incidence faced by refugees puts them at heightened risk for mental health struggles as well as substance misuse (Source). This provides a strong case that they would be greatly served by a tool like Behaivior’s Recovery, which would allow them to have round-the-clock access to people they trust in their support network who understand their unique experience, as well as medical professionals who can provide institutional support. 

With funding from the Andan Prize for Innovation in Refugee Inclusion, Behaivior will be able to hire additional software development support in order to provide translation and language support for our application, Recovery, widening our access and inclusion for often overlooked populations struggling with substance misuse. We will hire community outreach coordinators to create intentional partnerships with centers serving refugee populations in our local area.

As a woman-owned and founded company, Behaivior prioritizes gender equity in resource access. Women have unique health needs, and it is paramount to have a tailored healthcare approach that is informed by women's perspectives. Women may be more swayed than men by familial influence in terms of a catalyst to substance misuse (Source), and therefore having a strong support system is important in their sobriety journey. Recovery, which allows PiR to create individualized reminders of their commitment to staying substance-free, as well as have one-touch access to support network members, can be a valuable add-on for women in their holistic care picture. 

With funding from the Innovation for Women Prize, Behaivior will be better positioned to help women in recovery from substance misuse to be supported in communities of care, access trusted medical support, and have reminders of their reason for pursuing sobriety. Funding will be put towards widening our outreach to ensure that women-specific recovery centers can have access to our tool.

AI has the potential to make revolutionary improvements to human health and wellbeing and Behaivior is built to make the most of the opportunities AI presents. Medical care today faces many challenges and the opioid crisis is among the greatest. While many companies and researchers have developed wearable devices to combat substance misuse, Behaivior stands out in its recognition of AI as a tool to radically improve the substance misuse recovery process.

The ability to use data to predict the incidence of craving states represents a massive advantage that is both financially beneficial and highly sustainable. By intervening before relapse occurs, recovery is massively improved which saves time and money while improving the lives of PiRs. This has the added benefit of requiring fewer medications throughout the recovery process and allows medical personnel to allocate resources to where they are needed most.

Because Behaivior’s process is so unique, there is an incredible opportunity for growth. With such promising data on the effectiveness of the Behaivior system and the widespread nature of the opioid epidemic, there is now the opportunity to benefit the lives of countless people and transform opioid misuse treatment. Further, with enough support, the Behaivior Recovery system can be adapted to address other forms of substance misuse such as alcohol and tobacco. This makes Behaivior a clear choice for the AI for Humanity Prize. The Behaivior system is one that demonstrates the opportunity to genuinely improve the medical system for the benefit of all of society.