Demand for mental health and therapeutic care has recently been on the rise, and the need has increased since the outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020. Telehealth has emerged as a highly sought-after model for therapy in a world where social distancing, travel restrictions, and masks have become the norm.
With one-to-one in-person sessions on a decline, many mental and behavioral health therapists are seeing an increased demand for telehealth and a lot of them are considering a partial or full transition to telehealth to serve their patients.
There are several factors that come into play when choosing to use telehealth and need to be considered - including operational logistics of transitioning to telehealth, understanding the technical requirements and regulations, and keeping up with insurance company rules that could impact the implementation and delivery of telehealth.
Therapy Brands, a provider of fully integrated purpose-built practice management and electronic health record (EHR) solutions for mental and behavioral health, applied behavior analysis, substance use recovery, and physical rehab providers, aims to address gaps in the industry from a technology perspective.
Therapy Brands: When You Need a Partner to Go Virtual
Over the past few years, the mental and behavioral health industries have been highly regulated, siloed, and have lacked technology advancements to meet the needs of those seeking care.
Ushering technology options into the daily operations of practitioners, Therapy Brands offers a suite of integrated software solutions, including EHR and practice management capabilities, treatment planning, e-prescription, telehealth, card payment processing, patient engagement, reporting, and insight data collection tools. They also offer revenue cycle management solutions and services to support billing, claim, and revenue collection.
“Our goal is to be a full-service technology partner for our customers, offering access to care through integrated and standalone telehealth solutions as well as a range of capabilities to meet healthcare providers' clinical, administrative, and billing needs," said Kimberly O’Loughlin, Chief Executive Officer, Therapy Brands.
Founded in 2013, Therapy Brands provides end-to-end, purpose-built software solutions to streamline the full clinical, administrative, and reimbursement workflows of healthcare professionals in multiple end markets. Its HIPAA-compliant solution suite supports the daily operations of more than 28,000 practices across the US, ranging from individual providers to national multi-location practice groups.
Therapy Brands: Senior Leadership Team
Kimberly O’Loughlin, Chief Executive Officer
O’Loughlin took the helm of the company in February 2020. She is a respected leader in the healthcare technology space and was named one of the top three women executives in Healthcare IT by Modern Healthcare in 2019 and “The 10 Most Influential Women in Technology 2020” by Analytics Insight.
Prior to joining Therapy Brands, O’Loughlin served as President of Greenway Health, where she helped her team earn two back-to-back “Best in Category KLAS” awards for Revenue Cycle Management and a ”Best in KLAS Most Improved the Ambulatory EHR” category. Before Greenway, Kimberly ran two global businesses for Philips.
Dave Wirta, Chief Operating Officer
Wirta has extensive experience in profitably growing healthcare IT businesses, successfully integrating acquisitions, driving and enabling commercial growth, and optimizing business performance. Most recently, Wirta served as President and COO of Community Brands. Prior to that, he held President, COO, CRO, and operations consulting roles at several firms including Vology, Greenway Health, Vista Consulting, and Ceridian.
Jen Wolfe, Chief Administrative Officer
Wolfe is responsible for the quality, compliance, regulatory, legal affairs, and M&A program management. She has over 20 years of experience working in various management consulting, operational and transformational roles.
Jonathan Blackburn, Chief Revenue Officer
Blackburn is responsible for delivering substantial gains in market share, company performance, and impactful outcomes for Therapy Brands’ customers. He is a proven executive with 20+ years of creating record-breaking, high-performing sales and marketing teams in technology-based businesses.
Gavin Poole, Chief Financial Officer
Poole is responsible for all financial aspects of Therapy Brands, including accounting, financial operations, planning and analysis, and tax and treasury. Prior to his role at Therapy Brands, he spent 15 years at healthcare solutions provider, Henry Schein, in various financial leadership positions including several Global portfolio CFO roles.
James Hughes, Chief Technology Officer
Hughes is an experienced technology executive with more than 10 years of successful leadership experience producing results for publicly traded and private technology companies. A proven strategic leader, he has added significant value to the organization through the development, execution, and operations of mission-critical technology strategy and business plans.
Connecting Patients and Providers When it’s Needed Most
Cases of anxiety, depression, stress-related trauma, marital issues, and other psychological challenges have increased in the past year, due in large part to the isolation, disruption in normal activities, sickness, and fear around the COVID-19 pandemic.
Customer Testimonial
A practitioner at the Center for Attachment & Trauma Services said, “I treat high-risk kids and teenagers who suffer from depression, anxiety, and self-harm...I have found this to be a lifeline for my clients. I’ve had to get creative within my telehealth sessions and use puppets during certain telehealth sessions and patients respond well to this. My clients are stuck alone, at home... lonely and suicidal.... telehealth is the bridge between life and death.”
With the demand for therapy on the rise, therapists are seeking out a way to provide the services their patients need, while maintaining a safe and secure option to receive care. In the past year, Therapy Brands experienced exponential growth in the usage of its telehealth platform - including a 2,800% increase in the number of monthly telehealth sessions conducted by their clients, a 3,300% spike in monthly telehealth minutes streamed on their platforms, and a 3,900% jump in the number of patients receiving care via telehealth. In 2020 alone, Therapy Brands facilitated more than four million telehealth sessions through its standalone and integrated telehealth solutions.
Future Outlook
Many therapists and practitioners are being forced to do more with less; seeing the health of their businesses on the decline due to increasing administrative burdens, and the amount and quality of time spent with their patients decline. Additionally, the demand for treatment is beginning to exceed the supply available in the marketplace, resulting in waitlists and delays in treatment.
Luckily, HIPAA-compliant telehealth, purpose-built software, and billing & payment solutions can streamline administrative tasks, allowing patients and practitioners to maintain continuity of patient care and protect the health of their livelihoods. With the increased use of these technologies for therapeutic care, comes greater patient engagement, improved data collection, and more efficient workflows.
"Our customers and their patients deserve to have access to mission-critical tools to support their businesses, so they can focus on creating positive patient outcomes," O’Loughlin adds.
In early April 2021, KKR & Co., a leading global investment firm, announced that it will buy a majority stake in Therapy Brands, for about $1.2 billion, from its existing shareholders – investment funds affiliated with Lightyear Capital LLC, Oak HC/FT and Greater Sum Ventures.
"Throughout the evolution of our company, we have continued to enhance the capabilities we provide, and one thing has remained the same: our commitment and focus on our north star of delivering high quality, easy to use, purpose-built solutions, so our customers can spend more time serving their patients,” O’Loughlin notes.
KKR is expected to bring a deeper understanding of and investment in the healthcare sector and extensive experience in scaling technology-enabled platforms to Therapy Brands. It will help the company to continue to scale and serve the rapidly expanding therapy market needs.