A clinically validated measurement layer for stress, anxiety, and depression—built for healthcare, policy, and scale.
Built on measurement architecture first published in a 2009 international patent filing and validated in collaboration with Mayo Clinic.
Clinicians face a fragmented landscape of screening tools that don’t talk to each other. PHQ-9, GAD-7, PSS-10—each measures something different, on different scales, with different thresholds. There is no pre-diagnostic signal that works across conditions or systems.
Organizations face a behavioral health crisis they can’t quantify. Without a common metric, employers, health systems, and payers are forced to react to claims data rather than intervene early.
What’s missing is a pre-diagnostic measurement standard.
Stress Number™ is a clinically validated metric that measures stress, anxiety, and depression risk across three life domains: Home, Work, and Social.
Unlike single-dimension tools, Stress Number™ captures context.
It delivers a 0–30 score, validated by Mayo Clinic, with a clinical threshold of ≤23 identifying elevated risk.
It is:
One number. Three domains. Clinical precision.
The Stress Number™ is a clinically validated biomarker that quantifies stress-related risk across home, work, and social life. It provides a single, standardized measurement designed to function across clinical, organizational, and population contexts.
The Stress Number™ represents the first clinically validated behavioral health biomarker — a standardized measurement that quantifies stress, anxiety, and depression risk across home, work, and social domains. Validated through peer-reviewed research and developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic, it functions as a consistent measurement layer across clinical, employer, payer, and population health systems.
This marks a turning point: The Oxygen Plan™ is transitioning from experimental assessment tools toward infrastructure-grade measurement that supports decisions, stratification, and outcomes at scale.
| Standard Characteristic | A1C (Diabetes) | Stress Number™ (Behavioral Health) | Current Behavioral Health Practice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single standardized metric | ✓ One number (glycated hemoglobin %) | ✓ One number (0–30 score across three domains) | ✗ Multiple fragmented tools, no shared metric |
| Longitudinal tracking | ✓ Tracks change over time (quarterly) | ✓ Tracks change over time (configurable intervals) | ✗ Point-in-time snapshots, no consistent longitudinal record |
| Cross-setting comparability | ✓ Same metric across primary care, specialty, payer, public health | ✓ Same metric across clinical, employer, payer, population settings | ✗ Different tools in different settings, no comparability |
| Population stratification | ✓ Risk tiers drive care pathways and resource allocation | ✓ Validated cutoff (≤23) enables risk stratification at scale | ✗ Subjective assessment, inconsistent thresholds |
| Reimbursement alignment | ✓ Embedded in billing codes and quality measures | ✓ CPT billing pathway compatible | ✗ Limited reimbursement pathways |
| Non-diagnostic signal | ✓ Pre-diagnostic indicator | ✓ Pre-diagnostic signal for behavioral risk | ✗ Often conflated with diagnosis |
| Governance and stewardship | ✓ Governed by standards bodies | ✓ Governed by The Oxygen Plan Corporation | ✗ No unified governance |
Stress Number™ was developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic and validated through peer-reviewed research conducted by Mayo Clinic research personnel.
The research demonstrated ROC AUC performance of 0.88–0.92 against established clinical instruments (PHQ-9, GAD-7, PSS-10), with a validated cutoff threshold (≤23) identifying elevated risk.
Stress Number™ functions as a longitudinal measurement standard for behavioral health — analogous to how A1C functions in diabetes management — enabling consistent risk assessment across clinical, employer, payer, and population settings.
Results were published in a peer-reviewed journal—not a white paper, not a press release. This is the level of validation that health systems, payers, and regulators require before adopting a new measurement standard.
This is not a wellness estimate. It is a pre-diagnostic signal with clinical evidence.
CLINICAL COLLABORATION — Developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic and validated through peer-reviewed research (2018).
The Oxygen Plan™ operates as a measurement and routing layer:
1. User completes assessment
2. Stress Number™ generated across three domains
3. Risk stratification occurs
4. Guided referrals and follow-ups enabled
5. Outcomes tracked longitudinally
The platform integrates cleanly into existing workflows—supporting clinicians without replacing them.
Stress Number™ serves the organizations responsible for behavioral health at scale.
Health Systems & Hospitals — Pre-diagnostic screening, clinical triage, EHR-integrated measurement, and longitudinal outcomes tracking across patient populations.
Employers & Benefits Platforms — Population-level behavioral health measurement that supports early intervention, benefits design, and ROI accountability.
Payers & Managed Care — Standardized risk stratification, claims-aligned measurement, and evidence-based referral routing that supports value-based care.
Government & Public Health — National and state-level behavioral health surveillance, policy evaluation, and resource allocation supported by CPT-aligned billing.
Clinical Research & Academic Centers — A validated, replicable outcome measure for behavioral health studies, program evaluation, and cross-site comparison.
Precision in service of people.
Behavioral health data demands restraint.
The Oxygen Plan™ was built with governance, transparency, and ethical use at its core.
Measurement exists to support care—not to manipulate, monetize distress, or replace human judgment.
We believe infrastructure should serve people, not extract from them.
The Stress Number™ measurement framework originates from a 2009 international patent publication — one of the earliest system-level architectures for quantifying behavioral stress across life domains. What is now a clinically validated, institution-ready metric began as a published disclosure that predates the digital behavioral health category itself.
Founded by Eric Lucas — the named inventor on the original filing and a former Fortune 250 VP and Corporate Officer — The Oxygen Plan Corporation has developed this work over 18 years through clinical validation with Mayo Clinic, EHR-ready architecture, and systematic intellectual property development.
The infrastructure has been self-funded and deployed through enterprise and EAP channels, including sustained engagement with Microsoft and a government entity across a workforce exceeding 100,000 employees.
Clean cap table. One institutional investor. Debt-free. 100% infrastructure ownership. Designed for long-term stewardship.
This is infrastructure built deliberately for the long term stewardship of the category — not a product rushed to market.
The foundational measurement architecture underlying O2OS℠ was first disclosed publicly in 2009 through an international patent publication, predating the emergence of digital behavioral health as a recognized sector. The named inventor on that original filing, Eric Lucas, has continued to develop the architecture through clinical validation, platform engineering, and systematic intellectual property expansion over 18 years.
Today, The Oxygen Plan Corporation holds a comprehensive intellectual property portfolio spanning 27 patent families across six architectural layers — from foundational measurement methodology to governance infrastructure.
The infrastructure is built on:
This is not a feature set. It is a defensible infrastructure position with a documented lineage that predates the market it serves.
Patent activity is ongoing.
For qualified institutional inquiries, we provide structured access to foundational documentation including clinical validation, intellectual property timeline, and infrastructure overview. Access is reviewed individually.
A single Founding Institutional Steward seat is currently under consideration.
If you are exploring better ways to measure, understand, or support behavioral health at scale, we welcome the conversation.