People who suffer from mental illness not only struggle with their condition, but oftentimes struggle to get care. This is especially concerning when you consider that mental illness affects 1 in 5 people or 43 million in the US and that number is growing.1 These individuals stand to benefit from behavioral health counseling and support, but unfortunately their need is met with a shortage of mental health professionals. In fact, according to the U.S. Health Resources and Services
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Mental Health
Therachat Unveils AI-Chatbot Platform to Augment Therapy Sessions
Therachat, a smart journaling tool for therapists and their clients, today launched the next generation of its HIPAA-compliant platform designed to augment therapy sessions. The smart journaling application provides therapists with a customizable platform to assign homework to clients (like journaling and emotion tracking), direct messaging and text message analysis -- powered by artificial intelligence (AI).Beset by ignorant stigmas and bracing for funding cuts, mental health care faces a
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Parity Not Apparent: Mental Health Still Not Receiving Equal Attention
Getting legislation through Congress—often a monumental battle, as demonstrated by recent efforts to pass the American Health Care Act—is one thing. But implementing new laws may be a greater challenge simply because they require so much sustained energy and attention.Take mental health parity laws, for example.Congress passed the Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA) championed by Sens. Paul Wellstone (D-MN) and Pete Domenici (R-NM) in 1996. The law prohibits employee-sponsored group health plans
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Black Book: 94% of Physicians Find Digital Health Data Overwhelming, Redundant
94 percent of physicians find all that digital health data overwhelming, redundant and unlikely to make a clinical difference, according to Black Book’s recent consumer survey. Conducted from September through December 2016, the survey asked 12,090 adult consumers to evaluate the technology they were exposed to, know of or interacted with as an active patient in the last twelve months.The report revealed that 94 percent of consumers with health or activity trackers said their physician informed
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Shouldn’t We Have A Human Genome Project for Mental Illness As Well?
Success in understanding, treating and preventing specific diseases has often resulted from concentrated research initiatives backed by strong sponsors and robust funding. A great example: the extraordinary 13- year long national Human Genome Project (HGP) that not only achieved its goal of mapping the genes in human DNA, but also unearthed the genetic roots of many diseases. Jointly undertaken in 1990 by the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Health, with a total cost of $3.8
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Mental Health App Joyable Raises $8M to Treat Anxiety, Depression
San-Francisco-based Joyable, an evidence-based, affordable mental health service provider has raised $8 million in Series A funding led by returning investors Thrive Capital and Harrison Metal. The funding will be used to develop the company's first-ever native mobile app to offer Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and expand its service to more of the 15 million Americans currently suffering from clinical social anxiety. The company previously raised $2M seed round. Launched in March 2015,
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Lyra Health Pulls in $35M to Transform Mental Health
After recently launching in June led by former Facebook and Genentech CFO David Ebersman, mental health-based startup Lyra Health has raised a $35 million in Series A funding led by Greylock Partners and existing investor Venrock. The investment round also includes funding from existing investor Castlight Health, and new investors Providence Health & Services, Breyer Capital and Origin Capital Management. The company will utilize the funding to make its technology available to a select group
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20 Promising Canadian Digital Health Companies to Watch
“A company’s odds of success are better the closer they can get to their market,” argues Stephen Hurwitz, a thought leader in the Canadian venture capital industry, recognizing that the proximity to a VC-tech hub can help the success rate of Canadian startups. A socialized healthcare system, Canada’s market is fragmented by province and type of care – most primary and emergency care is free for residents whereas specialty care, prescription drugs, long-term and in-home care amongst others,
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Northern Virginia Regional Health Information Organization Inc. Launches Innovative Medication History Service
In an emergency department (ED), where patients’ health and safety hang in the balance, every second counts. Now, Inova Alexandria Hospital ED clinicians can quickly access a patient’s prescriptions information, no matter where in the U.S. they were written, enhancing care quality and safety.The April medication history service launch in this busy Washington, D.C. suburb ED marks the first project milestone for the Northern Virginia Regional Health Information Organization (NoVaRHIO). This
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