ViTAL Chats: Digital Health Series — Mental Health
Welcome back to ViTAL Chats, my name is Thy Nguyen, the host for today’s podcast. I hope you had a chance to listen to our first episode of the Digital Health Speakers series. Today’s episode will discuss how digital therapeutics and technology can improve care for patients’ mental health.
Mental health care is one of the most pressing challenges that the health system faces. Years of insufficient payment, infrastructure erosion, provider deficits, and stigma have created a fragmented patchwork of weak, under-coordinated and under-reimbursed treatment capabilities. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health: 44.7 million American adults — including 10 million adults covered by Medicaid — experienced a mental health illness, a number that is likely underestimated due to issues of stigma. Approximately 35 percent of adults with a serious mental illness are not receiving mental health treatment.
Fortunately, digital health nowadays can provide some scalable solutions that improve care and lower cost for patients with mental illness. It increases access to care with telepsychiatry and digital therapeutics. There’s a scarcity of mental health resources outside of hospitals and clinics. Digital health can help health systems fill the gaps in supply by broadening patient access points and their geographic footprint. An example of this type of solution would be a telepsychiatry service that supplies psychiatry professionals from distant geographies and decreases wait times for mental health services. Telepsychiatry can be deployed through provider consults or by providing direct services to patients. Another noteworthy solution is digital therapy for depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems. Since therapy is delivered online, it reduces, or even eliminates traditional in-person clinician time for low acuity diagnoses, increasing panel size for a limited supply of therapists.
The second way that digital health can improve mental health is addressing lengthy wait times through coordinated community networks. Even when there’s a supply of mental health providers to meet demand, ensuring that all patients and referring providers know how to access these resources can be challenging. And for all people seeking treatment, getting the right care at the right time is an increasing challenge. Health systems are now looking to partner with digital solution companies to coordinate available community and clinical assets into an integrated network to support mental health patients in a timely manner. An example of this type of solution would be a platform that identifies, unifies, and tracks all mental health resources and shows hospital staff an immediate and accurate inventory of available community resources and wait times. A key benefit of these types of solutions is their ability to recommend what is right for each patient and their acuity level, as well as monitor patient preference, which can lead to better results.
In addition, digital health solutions can help increase accessibility to treatments and help with the stigma often associated with the topic of mental health. A report from the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention found that only 35% of people with severe depressive symptoms said they’d had contact with a mental health professional. While strides have been made, stigma is still a major barrier to seeking and receiving the right treatment. Digital solutions are breaking down this barrier because they allow a person to access help in the way that makes the most sense for them. Solutions like digital therapy can be prescribed by providers to patients, but they can also be purchased directly by consumers if they wish to seek treatment privately. So rather than going to a provider for a referral, a person seeking help for depression or anxiety can now receive treatment from the safety and convenience of their home for everything from meditation to telepsychiatry and beyond. A significant benefit of this online treatment is the ability to account for cultural differences through images, videos, and personal stories that can be catered to an individual. At our Digital Health speaker event, we brought in 2 experts in the mental health field. Amy VanHaren, the founder of pumpspotting, shared in our Digital Health Speakers event that one in eight women encounter postpartum depression. However, they do not often seek help due to stigma, such as the belief that motherhood should come naturally. Therefore, Amy decided to create pumpspotting, a non-judgemental community that encourages mothers to share their emotions, concerns, and depressions. Sarah Cooper, the product designer of Medrhythms, discussed that digital therapeutics can extend the access to care beyond geographical boundaries. She also mentioned that during the product development, Medrhythms takes income background, languages, and perspective towards healthcare into considerations to make sure that the products can serve patients from all backgrounds.
While digital therapeutics and technologies are still new in mental health, they are indeed the promising game changer. We hope that this episode has taught you a little more about digital therapeutics in mental health and if you are interested in learning more, please watch the recording of our live Digital Health Speaker Event, where we brought in speakers from the Mental Health realm.
Thank you for listening. To learn more about Vital and stay updated with our events, you can follow us on social media, @vitalnortheastern, and check for updates on our website, www.northeastern.edu/vital.
Listen to ViTAL Chats at: https://anchor.fm/vital-podcast9/episodes/Digital-Health-Series-Mental-Health-elt2mf
