56% Got To Goal Using Telehealth App

56% of patients with mild anxiety and depression stopped using the mental telehealth app Silvercloud after just 8-10 weeks—not because it didn’t work but because it did.

This according to John Jesser of Amwell, a national healthcare company that provides virtual services and typically partners with health insurers.

What may be most compelling about the 56% is that it gives health insurers at least some semblance of predictability. One of the most difficult challenges with covering mental health therapy is how much will be needed. “It makes predicting cost very hard - is it 3 visits, 7, a year?,” says Melanie Mills, an MSW who has advised insurers. “I think if we can come up with specific protocols or targets for specific types of patient mental health scenarios then we can predict cost and let the therapy work.”

This is easier said than done but some of the leading managed care organizations are finding telehealth an important tool and increasingly want to invest in it.

Brian Wheeler, VP of Provider Collaboration & Network Transformation at insurer CareFirst BCBS says back in 2011 Carefirst started to build its own telemedicine platform. “We paid 100% fee for service via that platform but the market wasn’t ready for it. It wasn’t in the providers workflow and the patients and technology weren’t ready,” he said.

But in march 2020, Wheeler says many of Carefirst’s network of physician practices finally had capability for telehealth, even if it was very basic. “They were able to use Facetime or Whatsapp for a period of time.” And then the tech accelerated.

Wheeler acknowledges that insurers have recently learned a lot about the role of telehealth. “Our thoughts evolved when the pandemic hit,” he said. “I would say behavioral health blends very well into telehealth services. It assumes patients have a safe and private place to engage and not everyone in our community has that.

He said medication can be reconciled very well via telehealth and that telehealth makes sense for any chronic disease management. “It doesn’t have to be a physician that’s doing that. We need to think about consumer and make it more convenient for them.”

Behavioral health virtual services are just the start. Dermatology with a good high-resolution photo and even physical therapy make sense, Wheeler says. In both cases, this patient population may be dealing with co-occurring depression and anxiety related to their conditions. Novel companies that can combine services and leverage telehealth will have a an advantage, not just with insurers, but with consumers.