Beacon Health Options will be working with Oui Therapeutics and its affiliate Vita Health to reduce member suicide attempts via early identification and telehealth.
The national suicide rate has increased steadily from 2009 to 2018, making suicide the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. In 2019, 12 million adults had serious thoughts of suicide and 1.4 million adults attempted suicide. And, in spite of more people experiencing increased stress during the pandemic, there wasn’t a corresponding increase in people seeking mental health treatment in 2020, according to the State of the Nation’s Mental Health report.
By leveraging Beacon’s industry leading behavioral health expertise and Oui’s groundbreaking proprietary approach, which has a history of demonstrating reductions in suicide attempts by more than 50% in randomized controlled trials, the organizations look to reduce suicide attempts by half within five years. The approach should also help reduce member seven-day and 30-day hospitalizations, as well as readmissions to inpatient and higher levels of care – key HEDIS quality measurements for health plans.
Medicaid and employer-sponsored members will be identified by multiple referral sources to Oui where they will engage virtually via a mobile app in their first appointment usually within 24-48 hours. Members participate in Oui’s telehealth sessions and use proprietary software via text between sessions to work on exercises to retrain their thinking process about suicide.
David Rudd, Ph.D, ABPP, President of the University of Memphis, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and a leading suicide researcher added, “The magnitude of the suicide problem in the U.S. requires dramatically improved access to empirically validated interventions, treatment and proven clinical strategies. This partnership is a significant step in the right direction, one that can potentially help save lives.”
“At Beacon, we believe that one suicide attempt is one too many,” said Neil Leibowitz, Chief Medical Officer, Beacon Health Options. “Suicidality is one of the most challenging aspects of mental health to treat. There is a unique opportunity to reduce suicide rates using Oui Therapeutics’ innovative platform. By connecting with high-risk members via the telecare group and proprietary software, along with other existing supportive therapy services, specially trained providers can track and monitor member progress and engage them with a variety of digital content.”
“The Beacon and Anthem teams have been thoughtful and deliberate as they dive into this problem. Our view is that suicide attempts are like cardiac arrhythmias. Both events, one in the brain and one in the heart can lead to sudden death,” said Seth Feuerstein, MD, JD, founder of Oui. “With partners like Beacon, together we can approach members who have had such events in earnest and with the best data-driven approaches.”
Oui Therapeutics’ proprietary approach has been shown in clinical trials to reduce suicide attempts by up to 50% and to reduce mortality in teens by more than 80% over several years. This approach has also demonstrated health savings of approximately $16,000 per engaged patient. The approach to suicide reductions was developed by Oui’s team, some of whom were associated with from Yale University, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, University of Memphis, Ohio State University and Columbia University.
About Beacon Health Options
Beacon Health Options is a leading behavioral health services company serving 1 out of 6 people across all 50 states. We work with employers, health plans and government agencies to support mental health and emotional wellbeing, substance use disorder recovery, and employee health programs that improve the health and wellness of people every day. Our multi-modal, insights driven approach allows us to integrate social, behavioral and physical health solutions to drive improved outcomes for everyone we serve. By collaborating with a network of providers in communities around the country, we help individuals live their lives to the fullest potential. For more information, visit www.beaconhealthoptions.com and connect with us on www.facebook.com/beaconhealthoptions, www.twitter.com/beaconhealthopt and www.linkedin.com/company/beacon-health-options.
About Oui Therapeutics, LLC and Vita Health
Oui Therapeutics, LLC and its affiliate Vita Health, are leaders in developing and providing digitally driven solutions for complex and challenging health problems. Oui Therapeutics, LLC and its team have more than 100 years of experience across payer, provider and digital health including scaling data driven, scalable and easily implemented digital programs covering more than 100 million benefit lives. The team is focused on developing, studying and commercializing digital health programs and digital therapeutics.
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