Best Practices: Mindful Urgent Care
COO Adam Banks on making mental healthcare more accessible for New Yorkers.
Almost every day the front pages of newspapers address problems with mental health and addiction in the US, frequently it is referred to as a crisis. When a New Yorker has a mental health emergency, they can face a months long battle just to get an appointment with a mental health provider, faced with this long wait, many people seeking help turn to the emergency room. Adam Banks, COO of Mindful Urgent Care, is addressing the mental health crisis by co-founding a clinic that offers same-day, walk-in appointments for those seeking treatment for psychiatric issues and addiction. He spoke with us about how the clinic came into being, and how his background as an airline pilot has informed his current role.
What are the founding principles of Mindful Urgent Care?
In a nutshell, Mindful Urgent Care exists as a primary resource for mental health, including addiction recovery. In a crisis, patients just don’t know where to go or what resources are out there; yet a patient wants and needs to be treated immediately. When patients call a psychiatrist, they are often quoted a four-week wait to see a doctor; medications might take another four weeks to become effective. On top of the wait, the doctor probably doesn’t accept insurance. To anyone in crisis, the thought of waiting two months until they start to feel better is unbearable. Faced with this waiting period and costs, patients can only seek treatment in an ER. We are addressing the mental health crisis, by making services accessible. With Mindful patients can start treatment today, and avoid an ER visit.
How did you get involved in the company?
The project was incubated in a new venture challenge at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. I have grown healthcare companies similar to this, and sold one to United Health Care. I joined immediately as the mission hit me at a very personal level, being 10 years sober myself (more on that later in this interview). Last spring we won two business plan competitions, got a little seed money from the university, which was very much behind us, and we were off. In less than a year we have opened two clinics. We’re opening three more in Manhattan in 2019. We’ll also be expanding the services that we offer increasing the level of acuity that we can handle.
What do you like about this work?
This is the most impactful work that I have ever done. We normalize mental health concerns and take away any stigmas. Patients can be in a crisis on their first visits to us, and with the right treatment in a few weeks, when they check back in with us, it is common to get hugs and high fives. Our work allows people to return to their life, work, and family. I really enjoy working with addiction; you could say that I finally found my life’s work.
You are a former airline pilot, not many people can claim that on their LinkedIn profile.
I grew up in a really small town, in an economically depressed area. My neighbor was an airline pilot and he had a really interesting job to me. He took me under his wing and taught me to fly. I was one of the youngest pilots hired at an airline. It certainly was an amazing job. I was flying the morning of September 11th. Not only was that traumatic, it changed the trajectory of the career of a pilot, and advancement stagnated. I knew that I had to diversify my career; I started working on building a physical therapy company. I learned how to operate a healthcare services company as I grew that startup. It takes years to develop skills in healthcare operations. Just sending a bill to an insurance company requires a whole body of knowledge unparalleled in any other industry. At the time, what I didn’t know didn’t hold me back from growing a great company, the one that I eventually sold to United Health Care.
Are there parallels between being a healthcare executive and an airline pilot?
This is a good question. Every day, my training as a pilot seeps into how I manage. Airlines have operations and logistics down to an amazing science. Sure, we all get upset when a bag is lost, but considering all the moving parts (literally and figuratively) involved in moving thousands of people and their personal belongings every hour, airline operations are extremely accurate and effective. I look to mirror the precision of an airline with our operations.
Every patient is different and I liken this to landing an airplane. Every landing is different: the weather, the length of the runway, the weight of the airplane. Setting up an airplane for a safe landing is very standardized, three miles from the runway the landing gear is extended. This is done 100% of the time, with 100% accuracy. Each landing requires the expertise of a skilled pilot, just as each patient requires the expertise of a doctor. Doctors treat each patient with the individualized care and treatment that they need. However, the patient’s journey through a practice, such as scheduling, insurance billing, and follow up can be standardized with the same precision and accuracy of an airline operation. I am always improving our set-up “for the landing” with the doctor so that the process and experience is high quality for the patient.
For obvious reasons, both of these industries are heavily regulated. Navigating startups in highly regulated industries makes fast-paced innovation difficult. Domain expertise is very important in both flying and healthcare. I am used to looking for ways to be innovative in regulated industries.
You’re 10 years sober, you seem very open about that; does your sobriety affect the way that you manage?
I am very proud of my sobriety. It is certainly the hardest, and the best, thing that I have done in my life. Having traveled the exact journey of our patients gives me a unique, first-hand understanding of the services we need to offer and how to offer in a way that a patient is receptive to receiving. Someone who has gone through addiction can offer a level of understanding that is unique. To scale that empathy, we like to hire people that have gone through the same. An interview at Mindful is probably not like an interview at any other company, a history that a candidate would never tell at an interview, is normal conversation at Mindful — anyone that has been through addiction is welcome to send me their resume.
Vital Signs
Favorite Restaurant My favorite restaurant is ABC Vegan. While I’m not vegan, I would be if I could afford ‘abcV’ every day. The chicken-of-the-woods mushrooms blew my mind. I will admit that my guilty pleasure is a 99-cent slice of pizza.
What do you do to unwind? Starting this company has taken a lot of gusto for the past year. My fiancé and I hike in the Hudson Valley almost every weekend. I attend a lot of 12-step meetings, the longer I am sober, the more meetings I go to. They keep me grounded.
How do you stay on top of news in your field? Nearly every day in the newspaper there’s an article on the front page that relates directly to the work that we’re doing. We often address the news and ask how we could help, how we could intervene.
Best customer amenity? Well, it’s really our providers. They’re very up-to-date on what’s happening in mental health, in part because many of them also do teaching rotations in critical care environments; they know what it is like on the front lines.
Learn more about Mindful Urgent Care here!
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