Dive Brief:
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Sutter Health and Quartet Collaborative are teaming up to improve mental healthcare in Northern California through a platform that seeks to enable better teamwork between primary care doctors and mental health specialists.
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The initiative will use Quartet’s technology to identify patients with underlying mental health conditions and help primary care physicians “quickly initiate them into care with the right specialists, while facilitating a collaborative approach for ongoing care.”
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Quartet will provide resources, such as a group of local mental health specialists, live psychiatry consults for providers, data-driven insights through adaptive learning algorithms and concierge-like support for patients.
Dive Insight:
The two companies said Quartet can scale the model “by creating a virtual, data-driven environment for shared care planning.” The project hopes to improve care by removing barriers to specialists and keeping primary care doctors at the center of care coordination.
To kick off the project, Sutter Medical Foundation and Sutter Medical Group will pilot Quartet’s technology in the Roseville, California area.
The Northern California project is the latest example of how healthcare is turning to IT to help care for mental healthcare patients. Health IT startups are helping mental healthcare and investors see potential in the technology.
CB Insights reported this month that deals involving mental health-focused startups have increased in 2017 and may raise about $159 million this year. Funding to mental health tech startups has increased every year since 2013, the firm stated.
“Startups are now developing apps, chatbots, and care platforms that enable users to track their own mental health and make proactive decisions regarding their care. And telemedicine platforms are now allowing patients who may not like going outside to meet with therapists to do so from the comfort of their own home,” said CB Insights.
Largely fueling some of this business is the desire to cut costs out of the healthcare system by addressing mental health issues. Good mental health is increasingly seen as a positive not just for individuals but for healthcare spending overall. The mental health startup pack has been attracting investors as the rise of telehealth and a better understanding of mental health issues have helped to make the area a promising business environment.