Patients with depression and anxiety can now start the path to treatment immediately with Bright.md’s SmartExam™

PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- For the one in five American adults living with untreated anxiety and depression disorders, and the healthcare systems that struggle to provide resources to help them, Bright.md has launched a SmartExam™ module that closes the gap. SmartExam, the leading asynchronous virtual care platform for health systems, now enables patients to virtually get treatment for major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or adjustment disorder.

“Though we’ve made great strides in ridding mental health disorders of their stigma over the past few years, many people continue to suffer in silence,” says Herb Ozer, senior administrator for Mental Health & Addiction at Kaiser Permanente Northwest. “The need is tremendous. Millions of adults have yet to seek help, support or treatment for depression or anxiety. We must do better. We must give people tools to quickly access the support and treatment they need, and get information to clinicians so they can provide the help that is needed more quickly.”

Bright.md’s clinical content team worked closely with Ozer and providers at Kaiser Permanente, as well as other healthcare partners, to develop the SmartExam behavioral health module, ensuring it adheres to evidence-based practices and delivers a respectful, private, secure and convenient experience patients trust and feel confident about using.

To access care for depression or anxiety, a patient logs into SmartExam and answers a series of dynamic questions about their symptoms, medications and health history. That information is then sent to a provider along with a provisional diagnosis, potential treatment plan and chart-ready subjective, objective, assessment and plan (SOAP) note. A patient typically spends less than 20 minutes answering questions, and providers are able to deliver a treatment plan in less than an hour.

“Our new behavioral health module employs the same screening tools physicians use during in-person interviews. Then those insights drive a comprehensive, adaptive clinical interview that supports diagnosis, treatment, and if appropriate, initiation of prescription medications and referral to a behavioral health practitioner,” says Dr. Ray Costantini, co-founder and CEO of Bright.md. “Although this is only the first step in taking care of their mental health, simply having a diagnosis and a plan can be empowering for the millions of patients who have been reluctant or unable to seek help before.”

Studies have shown patients are more honest when they seek care via store-and-forward telehealth, like SmartExam, because they are answering questions privately. In addition to better serving patients, SmartExam also increases access to severely constrained behavioral health resources because it takes providers less time to deliver care.

“Imagine a patient who has finally gathered the courage to seek care, only to be told it could be a month before there is an open slot for them,” said Costantini. “SmartExam gets them on the path to wellness when they’re ready for it—in minutes, rather than weeks or months.”

This new module joins others within SmartExam that can help treat more than 450 common medical conditions. To see a video demonstration of the SmartExam behavioral health module, visit bright.md/behavioralhealthdemo.

About Bright.md

Bright.md is transforming health care delivery with an innovative software solution that cuts the cost of health care visits by 90 percent. Its virtual care solution, SmartExam™, automates care and communication between physician and patient for faster, more convenient and high-quality diagnosis and treatment, increasing provider capacity by a factor of ten. A Gartner Cool Vendor in Healthcare, Bright.md’s SmartExam solution is the preferred choice of AVIA’s Virtual Access cohort. SmartExam has been deployed by major health care delivery systems throughout the U.S. and Canada. Founded in 2014 and based in Portland, Ore., the company is venture-backed by B Capital Group, Seven Peaks Ventures, Oregon Angel Fund and the Stanford-StartX Fund. For more information, visit Bright.md.

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SOURCE Bright.md