Latest / The Mental Health Evolution / Ep 1: Welcome to the New Chapter of the Podcast

Transcript

Ep 1: Welcome to the New Chapter of the Podcast · The Mental Health Evolution

• 0:04
  (Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) This podcast is part of the Frederick podcast network.
• 0:08
  Learn more at listenfrederick.com.
• 0:10
  Welcome to Mental Health Evolution, a podcast about what's changing in mental
• 0:15
  health and why it matters.
• 0:17
  I'm your host, Rachel Harrison, inviting you into honest conversations with
• 0:21
  people from all perspectives in the field, clinicians, tech founders,
• 0:26
  investors, insurance companies, and all the folks in between.
• 0:29
  Let's explore what's working, what's not, and what's next.
• 0:36
  Welcome to the first episode of the Mental Health Evolution podcast.
• 0:42
  This has been a project I have been working on behind the
• 0:46
  scenes for over a year, and it is so exciting for me
• 0:49
  to be here talking to you.
• 0:51
  In this episode, I want to talk about where we have been
• 0:54
  and what this podcast will look like going forward.
• 0:58
  So I'd also like to give you a few nuggets of information
• 1:01
  to take with you.
• 1:03
  If you were a follower of our Mental Health Entrepreneur podcast, thanks
• 1:08
  for sticking with us through the rebrand.
• 1:10
  You know that we took about a six-month pause and really
• 1:14
  worked on exactly what we want to bring to this podcast, and
• 1:19
  what we're changing, and what we're keeping the same.
• 1:21
  So here we are with the Mental Health Evolution podcast.
• 1:25
  Both of these podcasts, by the titles you can tell, are about
• 1:28
  mental health, and the first really led here to this second one,
• 1:32
  because we talked so much about spotlighting innovative things in the mental
• 1:37
  health entrepreneur that were happening in the industry, and what people were
• 1:41
  doing to promote mental wellness in their communities.
• 1:44
  They were all really exciting discussions, and they kind of lend themselves
• 1:49
  to what we're going to be talking about now, which is how
• 1:53
  the industry of mental health is evolving.
• 1:56
  There are so many changes happening very quickly, and we wanted to
• 2:01
  have a platform to raise the conversation.
• 2:03
  So some may know, and some may not, but since COVID, really
• 2:07
  our industry has attracted the attention of much bigger players in business.
• 2:13
  There has been greater awareness of mental health, mental wellness, the needs,
• 2:18
  and also the awareness that it's been difficult for people to find
• 2:22
  a provider.
• 2:23
  I know as a provider having a practice, it is clear that
• 2:28
  there's been like, there was like a firehose period where we just
• 2:31
  couldn't meet the need.
• 2:32
  A lot of people just needing support, understandably so, with all that
• 2:36
  happened during COVID, and all that is still impacting us since then.
• 2:41
  But that spotlight also opened up opportunities and ideas for entrepreneurs,
• 2:47
  for tech companies, for insurance companies, and for venture capitalists
• 2:52
  funding to see an opportunity to come in, bring their skills, bring
• 2:57
  their business acumen, and see what they can do in our field,
• 3:02
  where previously, not exclusively, but a lot of mental health practices have
• 3:08
  historically been run by clinicians, or by small business owners, those kinds
• 3:13
  of things.
• 3:14
  So now we find ourselves with all kinds of things happening, and
• 3:18
  as I've said before, happening very quickly.
• 3:20
  So we want to elevate this conversation here on the podcast for
• 3:25
  a few reasons.
• 3:26
  First, we want to highlight this for consumers.
• 3:29
  If you are a person looking for mental health support, if you
• 3:33
  have a family member looking for that, a friend looking for that,
• 3:36
  this is for you, because I would like to highlight the things
• 3:40
  that people need to understand when they are looking for care, so
• 3:44
  that the power of choice rests with the consumer and the person
• 3:48
  who is looking for health care, and understanding what a tech company
• 3:52
  is going to provide that might be different than what a local
• 3:56
  mental health provider would provide, because these different entities operate
• 4:00
  by different rules, different training requirements, and different ethical
• 4:05
  considerations.
• 4:06
  And we'll dive more into that on each episode.
• 4:09
  Secondly, clinicians and business owners in the field need to understand what's
• 4:14
  happening because of these changes, and how it will impact how we
• 4:18
  work, how we work with insurance companies, how we work with clients
• 4:22
  and patients, and how we will or will not be able to
• 4:26
  financially support our practices.
• 4:28
  There are some big changes happening, and I think we have to
• 4:31
  be aware of the ethics, and we have to be able to
• 4:34
  make decisions for ourselves and for our practices that we run.
• 4:39
  Lastly, the business and entrepreneur community will benefit, I think, from
• 4:43
  this podcast, hearing what's happening, hearing how it's viewed from different
• 4:48
  angles, knowing what some of the trends are, looking for opportunities.
• 4:52
  I always love to support creativity and innovation, and supporting the human
• 4:58
  side of every business is kind of key to what we're talking
• 5:02
  about here because mental wellness touches us all.
• 5:05
  So to this end, we are going to raise the conversation.
• 5:09
  We're going to have guests from all sides of the industry who
• 5:12
  will talk about their perspectives, the concerns they see, and brainstorm
• 5:16
  issues.
• 5:17
  There will be some hard questions, and we're not really looking to
• 5:21
  answer something for you, but to let you listen to the perspectives
• 5:25
  of different people and draw your own conclusions.
• 5:28
  We will start each episode with a topic and a little background
• 5:31
  or article reference, and then move to our guest to understand their
• 5:35
  background, to ask some big questions, and then spend some time sifting
• 5:40
  through what this might mean for all of us.
• 5:42
  Today, since this is a solo episode, I wanted to at least
• 5:46
  bring a little tidbit here, and I'm looking more for a point
• 5:51
  of reference, a historical perspective, and so I chose an article.
• 5:56
  It was an article in the Mercury News which highlighted what's been
• 6:01
  happening in the pharmaceutical industry.
• 6:03
  So they have experienced something similar to what we are experiencing, only
• 6:08
  they're in a different place along the journey.
• 6:11
  So the article was titled Independent Pharmacies Say They're Being Squeezed Out
• 6:17
  by Shadowy Middlemen Tied to Big Health Chains.
• 6:20
  So curiously, as I started to read, the article goes on to
• 6:24
  talk about how the independent companies in the market, in the pharmaceutical
• 6:29
  market, have been edged out.
• 6:32
  And if you think about it, where do you get your prescriptions
• 6:35
  filled?
• 6:36
  Do you have any issues with how that goes?
• 6:38
  Chances are you probably get your prescriptions filled by a bigger pharmacy,
• 6:43
  maybe CVS, maybe Rite Aid, maybe Walgreens.
• 6:46
  You may have feelings about how that goes or doesn't go for
• 6:49
  you.
• 6:49
  There's a lot of technology used.
• 6:51
  I know I get text reminders and I get messages when things
• 6:55
  are ready.
• 6:55
  All of those great things.
• 6:57
  And where I live, when I got to thinking about it, I
• 7:00
  am only aware of one independent pharmacy that is still pretty active
• 7:04
  here in our community.
• 7:05
  It's in a downtown part of our community, but all of the
• 7:08
  others are connected to bigger conglomerates, bigger companies.
• 7:13
  And all of this change did not happen overnight.
• 7:16
  It was largely these healthcare conglomerates that made plans and rolled out
• 7:21
  their plans.
• 7:22
  It was designed for business and it was designed for ease of
• 7:25
  patience.
• 7:26
  Neither of those things are bad motivation.
• 7:29
  I think this process, though, is one for us to look at
• 7:32
  in the mental health industry as well, because it tells the story
• 7:35
  of how insurance companies partnered with or were funded by venture capitalists
• 7:40
  to create the larger companies that we see today.
• 7:43
  It shows how funding in the billions can change an industry and
• 7:48
  decide what it will look like because money talks.
• 7:52
  And speaking to consumers, what they want and how and what they
• 7:57
  will support with their pocketbooks is important too.
• 8:00
  We all know that larger stores can often offer lower prices, and
• 8:04
  that's something that's very important to people as well.
• 8:07
  So this article talks about the way that this was done in
• 8:11
  the pharmaceutical industry was largely achieved by what they call pharmacy
• 8:16
  benefit managers, and those people influence what can be purchased, where it
• 8:21
  can be purchased, and at what cost.
• 8:24
  So the influence that this had, if you think about this, if
• 8:28
  someone who is connected to a conglomerate is choosing what's available, where
• 8:33
  it's available, and how much it will cost at a different location,
• 8:37
  that is going to favor the corporations that they're connected to.
• 8:40
  And the influence of all of that made it harder and harder
• 8:43
  for independent pharmacies to stay in business, and it made it easier
• 8:47
  for the conglomerates to offer what they needed to offer and to
• 8:51
  serve the communities.
• 8:52
  That was the story of pharmacies, at least from this one article,
• 8:56
  and there may be more perspectives there.
• 8:58
  I'm just referencing this as a historical perspective that's also in healthcare
• 9:02
  that we can look at to see what might be starting to
• 9:06
  happen in our industry, because we are already seeing this as well.
• 9:11
  In mental health, there are many insurance companies that are paying tech
• 9:15
  companies more per session.
• 9:17
  So a therapist that works for a tech company is likely getting
• 9:20
  paid more per session because the insurance company is paying that company
• 9:25
  more than they would pay an independent provider.
• 9:29
  Insurance companies are also creating their own mental health clinics.
• 9:33
  Some of these are created and don't charge a copay to the
• 9:37
  clients coming to see them.
• 9:39
  So that way, the conglomerates have the buying power of venture capitalist
• 9:44
  funding, as well as the policymakers, in this case insurance companies, making
• 9:49
  it more financially sustainable for them to provide services and get income
• 9:53
  from that.
• 9:54
  If you think about that, they are able to pay their staff
• 9:57
  more money, they get more per session, they do not have to
• 10:01
  charge consumers a copay, so it's cheaper for consumers, and then they
• 10:06
  own the company that's providing the services, so they get whatever margin
• 10:12
  and profit from that investment.
• 10:14
  And having a venture capitalist company invest in your company allows you
• 10:18
  to have money to spend to do all kinds of these things
• 10:21
  that smaller businesses or more independent providers would not have access to.
• 10:26
  I would love to get your thoughts on this.
• 10:28
  It is just business after all.
• 10:31
  It does have an impact on quality of care and on current
• 10:35
  providers.
• 10:36
  It does have an impact on consumers.
• 10:38
  And those are all the things that we want to talk about,
• 10:41
  that we want to ask about, that we want to dig into
• 10:43
  and get more perspectives about.
• 10:45
  I expect this podcast to evolve over time, just like our industry
• 10:50
  evolves over time.
• 10:52
  I hope that you will continue tuning in, and as always, we
• 10:56
  would love to hear from you.
• 10:58
  If you have suggestions on topics, if you have thoughts and ideas,
• 11:02
  please let us know.
• 11:03
  We're here to dig in, we're here to listen to all sides,
• 11:06
  we're here to think critically about what is going on, and hopefully
• 11:10
  shape the conversation or at least elevate it as we can.
• 11:14
  Thanks for joining the Mental Health Evolution Podcast.
• 11:18
  We're excited that you're here.
• 11:19
  We're excited for what's to come.
• 11:21
  Take care for now.
• 11:23
  Thanks for listening to the Mental Health Evolution Podcast.
• 11:27
  Join the conversation.
• 11:28
  Find us on socials, send us your thoughts, and tell us what
• 11:31
  you're seeing in your corner of the mental health world.
• 11:34
  Until next time, stay curious and keep evolving.
• 11:41
  Live radio, local podcasts, the Frederick Podcast Network at listenfrederick
• 11:45
  .com.