While many healthcare professionals are working to address the growing patient demand for better mental and behavioral therapeutic care by using some of the latest connected technologies, deficiency in the health system’s ability to support all patients is creating problems. Today, there is an imbalance where patient demand exceeds supply, resulting in provider shortage areas and waitlists.
For example, consider that 50% of the U.S. population will have a mental or behavioral health issue in their lifetime; an estimated one in four adults suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year and in 2018, only 43.3% of adults with mental illness received the treatment they needed. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to millions more people suffering from anxiety, family issues and increased substance use—all with the added challenge of receiving in-person treatment. To move the needle and support healthcare providers in improving quality of care and better health outcomes, the company that is now challenging the status quo with its innovative solutions is Birmingham, AL-based software company, Therapy Brands.
Kimberly O’Loughlin, CEO, Therapy Brands, says, “Now more than ever, there is growing demand for therapeutic care. Patient demand is increasing due to the rising prevalence of mental and behavioral health issues, the rapidly aging demographic, the improving regulatory environment and the de-stigmatization of mental and behavioral health disorders. The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn is increasing the need for care. Therapy Brands’ integrated digital solutions and services have equipped tens of thousands of practitioners—who have served nearly 70 M patients—with the tools to ensure business and care continuity during this unprecedented year.”
The company’s mission is to provide healthcare professionals serving clients with mental, behavioral and rehabilitative health needs with best-in-class software and solutions to support any size practice. Therapy Brands currently offers solutions for psychotherapy, counseling and social work, substance use recovery, applied behavior analysis (ABA), speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy providers. The breadth of the integrated solutions are aimed at addressing the therapy market providers’ needs, enabling access to care so more patients can be seen, improving outcomes, lowering the healthcare and economic costs, and improving the experience for providers and their clients. Integrated offerings which enable clinical efficacy of therapy across settings as well as financial health of practices include electronic health records, practice management, e-prescription, telehealth, billing solutions, card payment processing as well as patient engagement, reporting and insight data collection tools.
Several solutions have seen rapid adoption in 2020 due to the need to see patients remotely and to do so in a HIPAA-compliant and efficient way that works for providers and their clients. For example, integrated telehealth solutions are offered through Therapy Brands’ ShareNote, TheraNest, My Clients Plus, KASA Solutions, AccuPoint, Fusion Web Clinic, and Procentive platforms. These affordable and robust telehealth software applications enable practitioners to streamline and manage their practices efficiently. The solutions also maximize use of time with easy-to-use scheduling features and calendars, simplify insurance billing workflows and allow users to manage clinical and administrative day to day tasks—all in one place. What makes the applications unique is that they each cater to a different segments of the mental and behavioral health market and their inherent needs.
“Providing an easy, safe, secure and compliant way for practitioners to reach patients at home who would not otherwise receive their specialized care is just one of the benefits offered by the platforms,” adds O’Loughlin.
Therapy Brands also offers a HIPAA-compliant, easy-to-use, standalone telehealth solution– thera-LINK. Providers can utilize thera-LINK on its own or bundle and integrate it with Therapy Brands’ other existing technology solutions.
What’s more? Therapy Brands offers onboarding and training for new customers and other innovative solutions to streamline business operations in a remote care environment, allowing practitioners more time to focus on their patients. These services include credit card processing and revenue cycle management solutions, which help providers protect their operation’s business continuity, especially in an uncertain business climate. “Credit card payment with real-time processing is faster than paper checks and is a time-saver to accompany telehealth sessions,” says O’Loughlin. “Additionally, billing solutions streamline the claim process for speedier reimbursements, and higher claim acceptance rates to maximize revenue and support the practices’ financial health.”
To illustrate the significant benefits offered by Therapy Brands’ solutions, O’Loughlin recalls a recent success story. “We have a client who, after integrating our telehealth solution into their existing TheraNest system, saw a huge spike in response to their business during the pandemic,” she mentions. “The client saw a 200 percent increase in the number of telehealth sessions they conducted and a 100 percent increase in the number of patients they engaged with.”
The next step for the company is to ramp up its electronic health record (HER), telehealth and billing solutions to further expand the reach of services for more customers. “We will continue to deliver one-stop-shop clinical, administrative and billing solutions that improve patient outcomes, enhance patient satisfaction, lower the cost of care and lessen the provider burden,” states O’Loughlin.
Alongside this, Therapy Brands is also looking to continue to enhance its medication assisted treatment capabilities; launch electronic visit verification and next-gen interfaces; enhance reporting and mobile capabilities; expand patient engagement and leverage automation to improve interoperability. “Our top priority is to remain at the forefront of delivering practical innovation for our customers and their clients while maintaining patient privacy and compliance,” concludes O’Loughlin.
Source: Healthcare Tech Outlook