Latest / Becker's Healthcare Behavioral Health / Unlocking Scalable, Evidence-Based Mental Health Care Through Digital Innovation with Susannah Feinstein of Amwell

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Unlocking Scalable, Evidence-Based Mental Health Care Through Digital Innovation with Susannah Feinstein of Amwell · Becker's Healthcare Behavioral Health

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  Everyone. This is Molly Gammell with Becker's Healthcare.
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  Thank you so much for tuning in to
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  the Becker's Healthcare podcast series. Today, we'll be
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  talking about how virtual care, especially in primary
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  and mental health,
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  can improve access, patient outcomes, and operational efficiency
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  amid rising demand and provider shortages.
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  Joining me for today's discussion is Susanna Feinstein,
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  product manager for behavioral health at AmWell. Susanna,
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  thank you so much for joining me and
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  being my guest. Thank you so much for
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  having me. Well well, to get us started,
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  Susanna, can you can you please share more
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  about yourself and then a bit more too
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  about AmWell?
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  Of course.
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  So, hi. My name is Susanna Feinstein, and
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  I lead our behavioral health strategy here at
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  AmWell as a product manager for digital behavioral
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  health.
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  My focus is really on expanding
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  access to high quality mental health care through
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  digital innovations.
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  We're we're really working closely with health plans,
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  providers, and employers
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  to deliver scalable evidence based behavioral health solutions
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  that meet people where they are. So whether
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  that's at home, at work, or on the
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  go.
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  My background is I'm a licensed clinical social
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  worker,
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  and I'm very passionate about this topic. So
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  thank you for having me.
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  Well, I I feel like, Suzanne, there has
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  been so many
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  a proliferation of options for people when it
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  comes to digital health solutions. And interestingly,
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  research shows patients still want more. They want
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  greater access to digital health tools
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  to really help them manage their health. Many
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  organizations, including some of the ones you mentioned
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  there, health plans, employers, providers are are working
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  to meet this demand, just seeing it as
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  such an opportunity for patient satisfaction experience, creating
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  efficiency
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  even amid stacking gaps.
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  Let's step back a bit just to start.
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  What are some key trends that you're seeing
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  in the virtual care space, especially in primary
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  care?
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  And I'm curious what opportunities and challenges you've
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  really seen emerge.
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  Great question. Yeah. It's a huge issue. Over
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  one hundred sixty million Americans
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  live in mental health professional shortage areas.
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  So at AmWell, we're really addressing this by
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  offering a flexible
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  tech enabled platform
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  that connects individuals
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  with licensed therapists, psychologists,
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  psychiatrists,
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  and, of course, our digital programs as well.
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  Our solution really includes everything from live therapy
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  and psychiatry to more of that self guided
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  cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT modules on the
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  go.
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  And our goal there is really to help
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  to close the gap of access while supporting
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  a range of acuity levels, so the low
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  to moderate
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  all the way up to the moderate to
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  severe acuity levels. And one major trend, as
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  you said, like, what are some major trends?
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  One major trend that we've seen is the
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  shift toward whole person care.
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  So that's really the concept of integrating behavioral
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  health into broader care journeys and pathways.
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  We're also seeing increased demand for asynchronous
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  tools like digital CBT
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  or cognitive behavioral therapy,
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  which offers flexibility
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  and privacy.
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  Patients really want care that's convenient to them,
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  personalized, and stigma free, and technology is really
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  enabling that and making that a possibility.
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  At Amwell, we're combining the human care with
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  digital tools to create that seamless experience
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  that supports both the prevention and the treatment,
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  and that's really a trend that we're seeing,
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  that expectation that people want that blended care
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  model, more of a longitudinal care journey,
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  that supports them again through all the the
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  stages of their mental health journey.
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  Mhmm. That stat you just mentioned, as of
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  this year, a 160,000,000
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  Americans living in areas facing mental health provider
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  shortages.
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  And that's that's a staggering statistic
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  in itself. And then I imagine even compounded
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  by wait times in areas that don't have
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  shortages, but there's still some access problems.
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  You you hit on this a bit, but
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  can you go a little bit more in-depth
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  about how you really see virtual care
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  playing an important role in addressing these access
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  issues?
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  Of course. Yeah. So kind of let's start
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  with some context to ground what we're talking
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  about. Right now in The US,
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  we know that over one in five adults
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  is experiencing a mental illness every single
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  year. We also know that the demand for
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  mental health care has skyrocketed
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  as a result of that, especially post the
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  pandemic or since the pandemic.
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  But the number of licensed therapists and providers
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  has not caught up. And as you mentioned,
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  many millions of Americans
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  are living in areas facing mental health provider
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  shortages or rural areas,
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  so it's really a compounding effect. Mhmm. There
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  are whole counties in The United States without
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  a single practicing psychologist or psychiatrist.
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  And as we know, the wait lists are
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  stretching for months.
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  And for therapists, we also know that the
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  burnout is really real. We are overloaded,
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  under resourced, and constantly asked to do more
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  and more and more, so our plates are
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  getting very full.
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  As a result, providers really need tools that
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  scale care without sacrificing the quality of the
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  care.
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  So these virtual tools are going to augment
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  the care that they're providing, not automate. And
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  that's really where AmWell's digital behavioral health solutions.
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  And today, what we're focusing on especially is
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  Silver Cloud or digital behavioral health. That's where
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  we enter into the picture
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  as well as AmWell's whole platform of delivering
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  care.
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  AmWell's digital behavioral health is a digital mental
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  health platform,
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  which offers evidence based programs for conditions like
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  depression,
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  anxiety,
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  stress,
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  insomnia, and even chronic illness and substance use.
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  And here's a little bit how it works.
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  Basically, a client will be enrolled into the
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  program either in the self guided or supported
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  program with a coach, a real live human
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  being.
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  They can access their CBT based content, including
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  interactive modules,
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  journaling prompts, videos, etcetera on their own time,
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  and then communicate asynchronously
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  with the coach, the real live behavioral health
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  prepared human beings.
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  And what's behind the scene is that their
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  their provider can really monitor their progress,
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  send them messages,
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  assign them extra content and modules, and get
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  data insights in real time about how they're
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  progressing through.
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  Again, we're we're HIPAA compliant.
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  We integrate with electronic health records,
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  and we have multilingual options including Spanish.
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  And we're already being used by major US
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  health care systems,
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  colleges, counseling centers, and private practices,
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  so health systems, health plans, providers.
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  And it's seeing we're he seeing huge impact,
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  especially in integrated care settings, such as primary
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  care providers
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  who want to offer behavioral health support,
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  and then telehealth groups looking to scale without
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  burning out their clinicians like you mentioned,
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  as well as those rural areas where in
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  person care is very much limited.
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  And so, you know, one university counseling center,
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  for example, saw a 25
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  increase in student support capacity
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  after implementing digital behavioral health, and that's without
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  including an additional staff member.
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  So, again, just to send the message home
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  is that it's flexible,
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  it's affordable,
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  and it fits the regulatory and practical needs
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  of US providers who are very much, struggling
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  with shortages
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  and burnout and all of the other things
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  we mentioned.
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  It's such a comprehensive
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  answer to my question. Thank you so much
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  for expanding on that.
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  I I also wanna go back to something
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  you had mentioned as a trend, but I
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  think it sounds like it's really part of
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  the mission of AmWell
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  given that broader platform you had mentioned. The
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  behavioral health piece is is one piece of
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  it.
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  But can you talk a bit about how,
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  for so long, physical and mental health care
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  were treated in silos. How are you seeing
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  from animals' point of view
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  improvements in behavioral health, whether it's access or
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  outcomes, really contribute to overall improvements in patient
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  outcomes, care delivery, overall cost? You you mentioned
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  a great staff from a university there. Are
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  there any other success stories or wins that
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  come to mind that illustrate how these are
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  connected?
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  Yeah. Yeah. Awesome question. So we know that
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  the behavioral health crisis is not going to
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  go away. In fact, as you mentioned, really,
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  the demand continues to grow and the provider
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  supply is staying flat. So digital therapeutics like
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  digital behavioral health at AmWell,
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  they don't replace the providers. Again, they amplify
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  them. They're helping us to work smarter,
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  deliver more equitable care, and meet patients where
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  they are.
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  And so if you're a provider, as many
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  of you out there are, this is about
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  really preserving your energy while scaling your impact.
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  So getting into a couple specific advantages like
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  you mentioned for therapists, physicians, and health systems,
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  and overall improvements in patient outcomes.
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  Our tools are really allowing you to extend
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  your capacity without that burnout.
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  We know that these digital programs that run
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  asynchronously
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  will mean that your patients can work through
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  their modules
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  on their own time
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  while you oversee the progress. And so as
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  a result, a single provider can support three
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  to five times as many patients
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  with lower administrative burden.
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  So really imagine freeing up your calendar
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  while still ensuring that your patients are engaged
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  between the sessions.
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  And, you know, that really comes into play
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  with the man measurement based care, making that
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  easier, making value based care and measurement care
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  easier,
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  because we track usage,
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  symptom change, and engagement automatically.
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  So that's a really huge win for documentation,
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  outcome reporting, and value based contracts.
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  For example, a provider can see that a
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  patient reduced their GAD seven scores by five
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  points after four weeks of guided work, and
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  that's something that without these digital tools, we
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  wouldn't really be able to see the outcomes
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  in real time like that, allowing us to
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  scale.
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  And then just, you know, research has shown
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  that more than eighty percent of users complete
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  at least one full module.
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  And that's because the platform is intuitive, it's
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  stigma free, and it's designed for mobile usage.
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  And for younger or tech savvy populations,
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  this is really what they expect for mental
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  health services.
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  And then for the providers
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  working with health plans, especially Medicaid and commercial
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  plans,
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  we are working towards billable services.
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  So we're working towards codes for reimbursement of
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  that asynchronous and coached,
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  guided therapy support.
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  And so that's really why,
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  therapists and providers are using these tools.
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  They're seeing that it saves time. They're seeing
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  that it supports clients between the sessions.
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  They're seeing the data outcomes,
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  measurable
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  outcomes in mood all in one place.
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  And, you know, they're even seeing that if
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  they have a wait list, they can use
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  Silver Digital Behavioral Health as a bridge to
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  serve more clients without overbooking.
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  And so, again, if you really wanna extend
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  that reach, this is a tool that will
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  help to do so. And one of our
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  colleagues to your point do you have any
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  case studies?
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  One of our client colleagues said using digital
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  behavioral health was like adding another therapist to
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  the team without hiring anyone.
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  So, again, we're not replacing providers. We're just
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  allowing you to wrap your arms around more
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  of your population
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  and making them feel cared for in between
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  visits, adjunct to therapy in so many different
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  ways.
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  Suzanne, thank you so much. Is there anything
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  else? I think you painted such a rich
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  picture of where AmWell fits in,
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  in this space and the the the needs
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  it's meeting so so clearly. The need is
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  great, to understand how this is impacting
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  patients and care teams,
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  is really remarkable. Is there anything else that
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  you wanna leave our listeners with as we
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  wind down today?
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  Yeah. Yeah. My last point that I'd like
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  to emphasize is just that behavioral health is
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  really no longer a siloed service.
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  It's central to the overall health of organizations
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  and to the individual
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  members within a population.
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  And so organizations that embrace digital innovation and
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  invest in this integrated scalable solutions,
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  those will be the ones that are best
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  positioned to meet the rising demand and deliver
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  meaningful impact.
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  And so at AmWell, we're excited to be
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  at the forefront of that transformation,
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  and we're excited to see how our digital
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  behavioral health tools, which are evidence based and
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  clinically
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  validated, can be used at scale to really
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  support you and your patients
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  and the members that you need help with.
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  And this is really not a generic app.
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  It's a therapeutic
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  ecosystem grounded in the research. So that's really
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  where I'd like to leave you is that
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  this is evidence based. It's proven to work.
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  There are research papers, white papers about us,
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  and we're really here to help.
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  Fantastic.
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  Thank you so much, Susanna, for your time
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  and your insights today. We also wanna thank
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  our podcast sponsor, AmWell. You can tune in
• 12:58
  to more podcasts from Becker's Healthcare by visiting
• 13:00
  our podcast page at beckershospitalreview.com.
• 13:04
  Thank you. Thank you so much.