Patient Empowerment with Digital Therapeutics

Medicare will pay for digital therapeutics for the first time. This changes everything for behavioral health treatment. For 15 years, I've watched brilliant digital therapeutics companies fail because of one problem: No reimbursement. Amazing technologies. Proven clinical outcomes. Zero revenue. That just changed forever. CMS proposed three new Medicare codes for 2025: ↳ GMBT1: FDA-approved digital therapeutic devices for mental health ↳ First insurance reimbursement framework for DTx in U.S. history ↳ Bipartisan congressional support through the Access to Prescription Digital Therapeutics Act Here's why this matters for every mental health provider. Before this change: ↳ Patients paid $200-500/month out of pocket for digital therapeutics ↳ Only wealthy patients could access proven digital treatments ↳ DTx companies couldn't scale without sustainable revenue models Starting in 2025: ↳ Medicare patients get coverage for FDA-approved digital therapeutics ↳ Treatment accessibility increases dramatically ↳ DTx companies can finally build sustainable businesses The three digital therapeutics I'm watching (and been watching for years): 1/ reSET for substance use disorder - already FDA-approved 2/ EndeavorRx for pediatric ADHD - expanding to adults 3/ Sleepio for chronic insomnia - massive market opportunity But here's what most providers don't understand: This isn't just about adding a new treatment option. This is about completely reimagining how we deliver care. Digital therapeutics enable: ↳ 24/7 therapeutic support instead of weekly sessions ↳ Real-time symptom tracking and intervention ↳ Personalized treatment protocols based on continuous data The providers who integrate digital therapeutics into their practice will provide dramatically better outcomes. The providers who ignore this shift will lose patients to those who embrace it. Ready to integrate digital therapeutics into your practice? 💭 Comment if you're exploring digital therapeutics ♻️ Repost if you believe digital therapeutics can help patients 👉 Follow Reza Hosseini Ghomi, MD, MSE for insights on the intersection of neuroscience and technology

Regarding digital tools in #MentalHealth, chatbots and assistants that provide resources come to mind. But what if these programs could not only evaluate what the patient is feeling based on the facts, but how they are saying it? Mental health practitioners are trained to listen carefully to a patient’s tone of voice. Now #AI is listening too. It’s learned to recognize the way a person’s voice sounds based on a series of patterns they recognize. For example, Depressed patients’ speech is usually flatter, softer, and more monotone, having more pauses and a reduced pitch range. In contrast, patients with anxiety tend to have tense muscles, speak faster, and have more difficulty breathing. This is an amazing voice-recognition innovation that holds enormous promise for meeting growing behavioral health needs. #DigitalMD

As a two-time cancer survivor, founder of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation - MMRF (MMRF), and author of Fatal to Fearless: 12 Steps to Beating Cancer in a Broken Medical System, I’ve lived and worked through every facet of a cancer diagnosis. I know the fear, the confusion, the sheer overwhelm—especially at diagnosis and relapse. But I also know this: there are ways to reduce that overwhelm. Patients need clarity. They need advocates. They need a system that works for them. That’s why I’ve always believed in the power of navigation. Years ago, I was proud to help develop the MMRF’s Patient Navigation Center. Today, the results of that nonprofit model speak volumes: 90% of myeloma patients reported taking positive steps after connecting with the Center. 62% felt more empowered. 53% had greater confidence discussing treatment options with their doctor. And yet, we also need scale. That’s why I believe in the role of companies like Thyme Care, which supports patients across many types of cancer—bringing compassionate, knowledgeable navigation right into the health plan experience. Their outcomes are equally compelling: 40% reduction in emergency room visits. 15–20% fewer hospitalizations. High satisfaction and engagement, well above industry benchmarks. What’s emerging is a best-of-both-worlds solution: a digital-first infrastructure infused with human touch—navigators, nurses, and guides—meeting patients wherever they are in their journey. It’s why I just had the privilege of speaking at both of these organizations. The MMRF and Thyme Care are different in structure—but alike in spirit. They both care deeply about advancing science. They both care deeply about patient care. And most importantly, they’re bringing a human touch to the heart of healthcare. My hope is that these tools become universally available. Because the data is clear: everyone benefits when patients are knowledgeable, asking the right questions, getting second opinions, exploring clinical trials—or even knowing when they’ve had enough. If you're working to make the cancer journey more humane, more informed, and more patient-driven—I’d love to hear more. Let’s keep building this future—together. #CancerCare #PatientAdvocacy #HealthcareInnovation #Navigation #CancerSurvivor #PatientCenteredCare #DigitalHealth #HealthEquity

Hope. So many patients tell me I give them hope. What is hope? HOPE (noun) is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. I don’t give out hope. Here’s what I do give my patients & their families: 👉 my undivided attention & listening 👉 validation of their experiences & feelings 👉 crystallizing their experiences into specific problems that need solving 👉 triaging the problem list & prioritizing action items 👉crafting a strategic plan to give them a competitive advantage against the healthcare system & their diagnosis as realistically as possible 👉 connecting them to credible information, like NCCN guidelines, publications, conference abstracts, CMEs, webinars, etc 👉 suggesting precision medicine testing, such as tumor biomarker testing, immunohistochemistry, liquid biopsies, NGS 👉 connecting to key opinion leaders within their respective diagnosis & treatment goals 👉 introducing clinical trials, ramping multiple avenues as search engines, like Massive Bio & Cancer Research Institute (CRI) 👉 connecting to resources to more aggressively manage treatment-related side effects, like nausea, vomiting, & diarrhea 👉 introducing palliative care, openly discussing advance directives, and talking about end of life care matter of factly 👉 incorporating digital health tools where most needed & educating patients & families on how to use them 👉 improving lines of communication between patients & care teams to operationalize patient unmet needs, improve clinical care & outcomes, & build trust 👉 using LLMs to reduce Patient Administrative Burden to complete tasks like letters of medical necessity for SS disability applications, appeal letters for payer denials of standard of care, preparing for tumor board discussions, and writing eulogies. (Yes many of my patients want to do this on their own & request support with this) I’m grateful every time I hear a patient tell me I have given them hope. But in reality, I’m furious because the reality is, many cancer centers & providers are not providing the care and level of attention my patients need. People fall through the cracks all the time and that’s where they suffer immensely and die in ways no one would ever imagine. Dying without hope and dying in peace look starkly different. Every patient has a right to having access to all of the above I’ve listed as standard of care. Period. The end. #PatientAdvocacy #PtExp #DigitalHealth #Techquity Janna Guinen Mary Griskewicz, MS, FHIMSS Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Jennifer Goldsack Stacey Tinianov, MPH, BCPA Dee Sparacio Jill Feldman Terri Conneran Amanda R. Ferraro Doug Lindsay Jared Jeffery Adam Hayden Burt Rosen Kristen Valdes Catharine Young, Ph.D. Ben Freeberg Erica Olenski ✨ Erika Hanson Brown Andrea Downing