A defining moment for digital behavioral health: Four market trends

"As vaccination numbers accelerate and the US edges closer to some semblance of normality, healthcare is due for a dose of cautious optimism. Declining infection rates, herd immunity, and reopenings of all kinds will be cause for great celebration. But as healthcare prepares for what’s next, it’s important to keep in mind that the psychological effects of the pandemic will likely outlast the physical manifestations of the virus.

Though covered extensively, COVID’s exacerbation of behavioral health conditions still startles: in January 2021, 41% of US adults reported symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder, a four-fold increase from 2019. The AMA recently expressed great concern for worsening opioid- and other drug-related mortality rates with more than 40 states reporting increases. Additionally, reports signal the compounding impact of behavioral health issues on COVID infection. For instance, regardless of age, patients with developmental disorders had the highest odds of dying from COVID-19 when compared to patients with other comorbidity risk factors.

Digital behavioral health companies have risen to the occasion and met increasing demand for behavioral health support. In a telling example, Doctor On Demand saw a 109% increase in unscheduled telehealth utilization for behavioral health between February and April 2020. Digital therapeutic companies such as Pear Therapeutics, Click Therapeutics, and Akili Interactive continued to bring to market products that treat and manage behavioral health conditions (e.g., schizophrenia and ADHD). Select startups expanded well beyond healthcare and formed creative partnerships to widen their reach (e.g., Headspace’s partnership with Netflix and Calm’s partnership with HBO Max and Bumble)..." Lire la suite