2024 Healthcare, Consumer & Wellness Magazine

08 Healthcare, Consumer &Wellness • 09 passes into law. But events in recent years highlight the different speeds that the tech industry, healthcare industry and regulators can operate at. An additional challenge concerns the way personal data is collected, stored and leveraged. “Healthcare companies are three times more susceptible to data attacks, so protecting data and building patient trust is paramount to the whole model,” says Vinay Badri, Strategy Lead, Citi Analytics and Information Management, Sales Strategic Insights & Analysis. Mental health data is often the most sensitive personal data of all. And protecting it applies just as much to companies operating wellbeing programs for their staff as it does for the external operators that support them. Alvin Fu, Chief Corporate Solutions Officer at AIA Singapore, suggests that the former should set up “company committees to govern the data usage with proper approvals and authority.” He adds that data disclosures taken to extremes could leave some people being “uninsurable, which wasn’t the intent to start with.” Citi’s Badri concludes that while there are caveats about how data is used, the benefits are clearly significant. “There are nearly 800 million people worldwide living with a mental health condition and that’s costing around $1 trillion a year from a health and productivity perspective,” he comments. “So, tackling this is important from both an economic and humanity perspective.” The New York-based data scientist deployed machine learning to unlock insights contained in doctors’ unstructured clinical notes. He discovered that it could take up to a year and a half to optimize the right dosing for individual patients. “Our unique selling point (USP) is replacing trial and error with real-world data and analytics that guide doctors toward better decisions and higher quality care,” he explains. Citi’s Fogarty adds that digital therapeutics (evidence-based, software-driven interventions) are enabling a paradigm shift in the way that mental health is treated. “It’s a really exciting new sector,” she comments. “The software embedded in therapeutic devices doesn’t just track disease progression: it’s actually becoming the therapeutic agent.” One of the most famous examples highlights the challenges in the space. Boston-based Pear Therapeutics was the first company to receive US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a prescription digital therapeutic (PDT). Its apps treated insomnia, opioid abuse and substance abuse disorders. But in April 2023, it filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. The previous financial year, it had sold 45,000 prescriptions, achieving a 53% fulfilment rate and a 41% payment rate. Yet, the company’s founder Corey McCann concluded that while “clinicians will readily prescribe PDTs” and “patients will engage with the products” it is not enough because “payors have the ability to deny payment.” One issue that Pear Therapeutics and all the other emerging PDT companies face are products that do not classify as covered benefits by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). This will change if the Access to Prescription Digital Therapeutics Act Yet howwe think we feel and what our body is trying to tell us could be completely different. Filling this space are the mental health tech companies dedicated to improving assessments through digital phenotyping – computerized measurements of characteristics and behaviors to build a rounded, personalized picture. Such data includes biometric readings for blood pressure, heart rate variability and sleep patterns that provide clinical biomarkers. It might also include changes in speech patterns or even how heavily we press a keystroke. Then there is social media data and geolocation data (suddenly spending more time at home can signal worsening depression or anxiety). Mental health technology companies are aiding better interventions too. Holmusk is one start-up in this field. Founder Nawal Roy established the company after purchasing MindLinc, a specialty US psychiatric EHR (electronic health records) system. Measuring howwe feel Technology is transforming mental health — from creating the first clinical biomarkers to improving monitoring and treatments. Data is revolutionizing the healthcare industry, and it is mental health that’s right at the vanguard. One reason is because mental health, unlike physical health, has always lacked precise standards and clinical biomarkers. This makes assessments of where someone lies on the spectrum of positive to negative wellbeing largely a subjective process. As a result, it is easier to dismiss mental health, exacerbating cultural stigmas about the subject. Technology is helping to overcome this by shifting the emphasis from opinion- to data-based diagnosis and treatment. As Laura Fogarty, North America Healthcare Industry Head for Citi Commercial Bank says, “analyzing data from various sources like electronic health records and wearables, can help identify early signs of mental health issues, potentially leading to earlier intervention and better outcomes.” Tracking our mental health is getting ever easier. There are nowmore than 20,000 publicly available apps that allow people to monitor their mood, sleep and activity levels. The software embedded in therapeutic devices doesn’t just track disease progression: it’s actually becoming the therapeutic agent” $1 trillion Mental health Cost to the global economy As advancements in technology and access to mental health services continue, providers of all sizes have an opportunity to leverage automation and digitalization to optimize their operations and capture this expanding market. Citi is empowering industry participants with a comprehensive suite of digital solutions, facilitating the shift frommanual processes to automated and efficient workflows. With solutions that use AI to monitor payment trends, on-demand information services with a suite of APIs, and a network of instant payments that accelerate payor-to-provider flows, Citi’s broad range of solutions can support digital transformation journeys.