Several IT companies and healthcare organizations are making news in the behavioral health space recently. Talkspace, for instance, said its new mobile patient engagement tool can reinforce recommended practices between mental health visits.
Additionally, ProsperityEHR debuted its AI-ready architecture for electronic health records that automates key workflows from patient intake to claims processing. That company, led by several Epic alums, said the new EHR will give practices the ability to expand without the need for additional support staff.
Meanwhile, Duke Health said one of its AI models – developed and tested by multiple departments over five years – can predict the risk of adolescent mental illness, enabling primary care providers and pediatricians to intervene before teen mental health disorders escalate.
Personalized podcasts for patients
On Monday, Talkspace launched the ability for mental health professionals to produce AI-generated audio experiences with personalized affirmations, guidance and strategies to reinforce their patients’ therapeutic progress between sessions.
The company’s customers can use the new Talkcast feature to generate and review a 3-to-5-minute, HIPAA-compliant episode before sending podcasts to clients aged 18 or over, according to the announcement.
Therapeutic exercises can lead to better patient outcomes, the company said. By enabling caregivers to incorporate them into podcasts, the tools extend provider access to patients, helping them practice skills recommended for treatment.
“Just as therapists might traditionally recommend a worksheet or reading assignment between sessions, they can now offer clients an immersive, personalized way to support their mental health and practice the techniques they learn in therapy,” Talkspace’s Dr. Nikole Benders-Hadi, chief medical officer, said in a statement.
During a pilot rollout of the new AI podcast tool, mental health providers on the Talkspace platform indicated they liked how Talkcast referenced the concepts their clients introduced and discussed in sessions, Benders-Hadi noted.
By identifying topics and themes covered with their patients, the providers can curate and design a mobile-ready podcast episode featuring an AI-voice-generated host for each patient that opts in to receiving them.
“Our AI tools are designed to enhance – not replace – the therapist-client relationship by providing personalized support throughout the course of care,” Michael Rodio, general manager of AI at Talkspace, added.
New next-gen EHR for practices
Last week, Madison, Wisconsin-based ProsperityEHR released its new EHR designed for behavioral health organizations to enhance their financial stability, streamline operations and improve patient care with an AI-ready architecture.
Eying several challenges in the behavioral health industry – experiencing a significant surge in demand for services but long left out of federal healthcare digital transformation incentives and thus lagging in technology – the new EHR connects mental health workflows in one system that also connects insurance verification, clearinghouses, e-prescribing platforms and telehealth solutions, the company said.
Only 6% of mental health facilities and 29% of substance use treatment centers have implemented a certified EHR, compared to a more than 96% adoption rate in hospitals, ProsperityEHR said. Also of note, revenue challenges like increasing claims denial rates and longer reimbursement times are pressing providers.
The platform is designed to help behavioral health practices improve their interoperability as well as “weather any storm,” according to Melissa Tran, the company’s CEO.
“We’re a growth partner for behavioral health practices,” she said in a statement.
“ProsperityEHR has made administrative tasks much more efficient while also streamlining documentation for our clinicians,” Jessica Rivera, owner and clinical director of Clear View Behavioral Services, added.
AI that can predict teen mental illness
Duke Health announced the research results earlier this month that showed an AI model for psychosocial and brain development proved 84% accurate in predicting escalating illness within a year.
For the more than 11,000 children, the researchers built a neural network that mimics brain connections to predict which children would transition from lower to higher psychiatric risk within a year. It was used to score a questionnaire that ranks responses from the patient or parent about current behaviors, feelings and symptoms, Duke Health said in a statement.
Nearly half of the teenage population will experience a mental illness, according to Dr. Jonathan Posner, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and senior author of the study.
“Our AI model could be used in primary care settings, enabling pediatricians and other providers to immediately know whether the child in front of them is at high risk and empowering them to intervene before symptoms escalate,” he said.
The most common underlying causes of escalating illness included sleep disturbances, problematic behaviors, adverse events, family mental health history and family conflict, Duke Health said.
Sleep disturbances emerged as highly associated with future psychiatric illness.
“Primary care doctors often do not have the time to conduct a detailed psychiatric assessment, making it difficult to identify which children need early intervention,” said Posner.
“This AI model would automate the process, analyzing the data in real-time and providing the doctor with a simple output indicating the child’s risk level.”
Duke said the study received funding support from the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Aging, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and the Medical Research Council.
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
