Welcome to the New Chapter of the Podcast

welcome to Mental Health Evolution, a podcast about what's changing in mental health and why it matters. I'm your host, Rachel Harrison, inviting you into honest conversations with people from all perspectives in the field. Clinicians, tech founders, investors, insurance companies and all the folks in between. Let's explore what's working, what's not, what's and what's next. Welcome to the first episode of the Mental Health Evolution podcast. This has been a project I have work been working on behind the scenes for over a year and it is so exciting for me to be here talking to you in this episode. I want to talk about where we have been and what this podcast will look like going forward. So. So I'd also like to give you a few nuggets of information to take with you if you were a follower of our Mental Health Entrepreneur podcast. Thanks for sticking with us through the rebrand. You know that we took about a six month pause and really worked on exactly what we want to bring to this podcast and what we're changing and what we're keeping the same. So here we are with the Mental Health Evolution podcast. Both of these podcasts by, by the titles you can tell are about mental health and the first really led here to this second one because we talked so much about spotlighting innovative things in the mental health entrepreneur that were happening in the industry and what people were doing to promote mental wellness in their communities. They were all really exciting discussions and they kind of lend themselves to what we're going to be talking about now, which is how the industry of mental health is evolving. We're there are so many changes happening very quickly and we wanted to have a platform to raise the conversation. So some may know and some may not, but since COVID really our industry has attracted the attention of much bigger players in business. There have has been greater awareness of mental health, mental wellness, the needs and also the awareness that it's been difficult for people to find a provider. I know as a provider having a practice in it is clear that there's been like there was like a fire hose period where we just couldn't meet the need. A lot of people just needing support, understandably so with all that happened during COVID and all that is still impacting us since then. But that spotlight also opened up opportunities and ideas for entrepreneurs for tech companies, for insurance companies and for venture capitalists funding to see an opportunity to, to come in, bring their skills, bring their business vacuum in and See what they can do in our field, where previously not exclusively, but a lot of mental health practices have historically been run by clinicians or by small business owners, those kinds of things. So now we find ourselves with all kinds of things happening and as I've said before, happening very quickly. So we want to elevate this conversation here on the podcast for a few reasons. First, we want to highlight this for consumers. If you are person looking for mental health support, if you have a family member looking for that, a friend looking for that, this is for you. Because I would like to highlight the things that people need to understand when they are looking for care, so that the power of choice rests with the consumer and the person who is looking for healthcare and understanding what a tech company is going to provide that might be different than what a local mental health provider would provide, because these different entities operate by different rules, different training requirements, and different ethical considerations. And we'll dive more into that on each episode. Secondly, clinicians and business owners in the field need to understand what's happening because of these changes and how it will impact how we work, how we work with insurance companies, how we work with clients and patients, and how we will or will not be able to financially support our practices. There are some big changes happening and I think we have to be aware of the ethics and we have to be able to make decisions for ourselves and for our practices that we run. Lastly, the business and entrepreneur community will benefit, I think, from this podcast. Hearing what's happening, hearing how it's viewed from different angles, knowing what some of the trends are, looking for opportunities. I always love to support creativity and innovation, and supporting the human side of every business is kind of key to what we're talking about here because mental wellness touches us all. So to this end, we are going to raise the conversation. We're going to have guests from all sides of the industry who will talk about their perspectives, the concerns they see, and brainstorm issues. There will be some hard questions, and we're not really looking to answer something for you, but to let you listen to the perspectives of different people and draw your own conclusions. We will start each episode with a topic and a little background or article reference, and then move to our guests to understand their background, to ask some big questions, and then spend some time sifting through what this might mean for all of us today. Since this is a solo episode, I wanted to at least bring a little tidbit here, and I'm looking more for a point of reference, a historical perspective, and so I chose an article. It was an article in the Mercury News which highlighted what's been happening in the pharmaceutical industry. So they have experienced something similar to what we are experiencing, only they're. They're in a different place along the journey. So the article was titled. Independent pharmacies say they're being squeezed out by shadowy middlemen tied to big health chains. So curiously, as I started to read, the article goes on to talk about how the independent companies in the market, in the pharmaceutical market, have been edged out. And if you think about it, where do you get your prescriptions filled? Do you have any issues with how that goes? Chances are you probably get your prescriptions filled by a bigger pharmacy, maybe cvs, maybe Rite Aid, maybe Walgreens. You may have feelings about how that goes or doesn't go for you. There's a lot of technology used. I know I get text reminders and I get messages when things are ready, all of those great things. And where I live, when I got to thinking about it, I am only aware of one independent tenant pharmacy that is still pretty active here in our community. It's in a downtown part of our community. But all of the others are connected to bigger conglomerates, bigger companies. And all of this change did not happen overnight. It was largely these healthcare conglomerates that made plans and rolled out their plans. It was designed for business and it was designed for ease of patience. Neither of those things are bad motivation. I think this process, though, is one for us to look at in the mental health industry as well. Well, because it tells the story of how insurance companies partnered with or were funded by venture capitalists to create the larger companies that we see today. It shows how funding in the billions can change an industry and design decide what it will look like. Because money talks. And speaking to consumers what they want and how and what they will support with their pocketbooks is important too. We all know that larger stores can often offer lower prices. And that's something that's very, very important to people as well. So this article talks about the way that this was done in the pharmaceutical industry was largely achieved by what they call pharmacy benefit managers. And those people influence what can be purchased, where it can be purchased, and at what cost. So the influence that this had, if you think about this, if someone who is connected to a conglomerate is choosing what's available, where it's available, and how much it will cost at a different location, that is going to favor the corporations that they're connected to. And the influence of all of that made it harder and harder for independent pharmacies to stay in business. And it made it easier for the conglomerates to offer what they needed to offer and to serve the communities. That was the story of pharmacies, at least from this one article. And there may be more perspectives there. I'm just referencing this as a historical perspective that's also in healthcare that we can look at to see what might be starting to happen in our industry, because we are already seeing this as well in mental health. There are many insurance companies that are paying tech companies more per session. So a therapist that works for a tech company is likely getting paid more per session because the insurance company is paying that company more than they would pay an independent provider. Insurance companies are also creating their own mental health clinics. Some of these are created and don't charge a copay to the clients coming to see them. So that way the conglomerates have the buying power of venture capitalist funding as well as the policymakers, in this case insurance companies making it more financially sustainable for them to provide services and get income from that. If you think about that, they are able to pay their staff more money, they get more per session. They do not have to charge consumers a copay, so it's cheaper for consumers. And then they own the company that's providing the services so they get whatever margin and profit from that investment. And having a venture capitalist company invest in your company allows you to have money to spend to do all kinds of these things that smaller businesses or more independent providers would not have access to. I would love to get your thoughts on this. It is just business, after all. It does have an impact on quality of care and on current providers. It does have an impact on consumers. And those are all the things that we want to talk about, that we want to ask about, that we want to dig into and get more perspectives about. I expect this podcast to evolve over time, just like our industry evolves over time. I hope that you will continue tuning in and as always, we would love to hear from you. If you have suggestions on topics, if you have thoughts and ideas, please let us know. We're here to dig in. We're here to listen to all sides. We're here to think critically about what is going on and hopefully shape the conversation or at least elevate it as we can. Thanks for joining the Mental Health Evolution podcast. We're excited that you're here. We're excited for what's to come. Take care for now. Thanks for listening to the Mental Health Evolution podcast. Join the conversation, find us on social, send us your thoughts and tell us what you're seeing in your corner of the mental health world. Until next time, stay curious and keep evolving. Live Radio Local Podcasts the Frederick podcast network@listenfredrick.com.