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Launch HN: Osmind (YC S20) – software for better mental health therapies

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Re: Launch HN: Osmind (YC S20) – software for better mental health therapies

#11

Post by luciayhuang »

shahsyed wrote: post #2

This sounds great on paper! I'm curious - how does your data consider racial biases when it comes to mental health? Additionally, does your data take in consideration social determinants of health and health inequalities?

Thank you!

Thank you for bringing up the issues around racial biases when it comes to mental health. We hope to address this in multiple ways: 1) trying to incorporate objective forms of information such as digital and biological data that theoretically should be less biased 2) giving back to the community by supporting providers who serve underrepresented communities (we provide our software for free or significantly discounted to these community practices and are working with a number of them already)

And yes, we aim to incorporate various types of demographic information including social determinants of health.

Re: Launch HN: Osmind (YC S20) – software for better mental health therapies

#12

Post by ryanar »

This looks really cool! Very impressed that you have navigated HIPPA compliance and come so far since Spring 2020. As others have said, innovating in health care is so difficult because organizations are afraid of change and the consequences of fines. Also, healthcare workers can be very tech-adverse, many who have been forced to adapt to telehealth programs due to COVID-19 hate working with the technology and want to go back to the old way. Too many older people in the licensed positions.

Re: Launch HN: Osmind (YC S20) – software for better mental health therapies

#13

Post by luciayhuang »

nding wrote: post #3

This is a great approach. Does your data analysis go beyond TRD?

Yes! While we are focused on treatment-resistant mental health conditions because these patients need the most help, we plan to expand more broadly across mental health. We envision a world where everyone can find the right treatment for them the first time around (rather than having to go through a painful trial and error process) and end all suffering.

Re: Launch HN: Osmind (YC S20) – software for better mental health therapies

#14

Post by luciayhuang »

vimy wrote: post #5

How do you convince doctors to use your software? I see the benefit for patients but what’s in it for doctors? If they give crappy care they still get paid.

Really great question! Two things: 1. We have found doctors to actually want to try to do the right thing for patients in this space. Oftentimes they are seeing people who have tried 10+ SSRIs and experienced mental health conditions for decades. These patients are suffering immensely and doctors want to help 2. Our software also helps streamline administrative tasks for doctors, such as scheduling, dealing with insurance, etc. So there is a financial/time-saving benefit for them as well

Re: Launch HN: Osmind (YC S20) – software for better mental health therapies

#15

Post by luciayhuang »

rush86999 wrote: post #9

The real achievement here is how you were able to convince clinics to try your software. The biggest problem in healthcare is inertia. It is not that the tools don't exist but people in this field don't like change. I run a telemedicine startup Tangerine Health https://www.tangerinehealth.co/ and we want to approach self funded companies and their independent Third Party Administrators to provide a subscription base…

Thank you for your note - so real! Your work looks really important. Interestingly with self-ensured employers you may want to try their HR/benefits departments rather than anything healthcare related. A lot of bigger companies will also use benefits brokers/consultants like Mercer, Willis Towers Watson, and more. Best of luck and let us know if we can be helpful to you too :)

Re: Launch HN: Osmind (YC S20) – software for better mental health therapies

#17

Post by luciayhuang »

aghmnl wrote: post #8

Wow, great idea! Nice to know you are taking care of so many people. Are you planning to use data from wearables?

Thank you! Yes, we are planning on using wearables data as well. For example, many of our clinicians want to know how people are sleeping or if they are leaving the house, which both can be highly correlated with mental health conditions.

Re: Launch HN: Osmind (YC S20) – software for better mental health therapies

#18

Post by luciayhuang »

brainless wrote: post #4

I am personally interested in this domain and would like to share something I have been thinking about: If a platform could separate my personally identifiable bits from my measurement data stream and if I participate in sending anonymous track of my health - - at a large scale, there would be enough data to derive patterns and then insights (like you mention) - I could take the generated insights and apply them as o…

Thank you for this!! We so appreciate that you are aligned with the approach. We would love to find interesting ways to return the insights back directly to patients. For example, if you're taking XYZ medication, how do your responses compare to the national average? What other interesting correlations can we make to help you better understand your health? It may be a ways off, but definitely something we're thinking about :)

Re: Launch HN: Osmind (YC S20) – software for better mental health therapies

#19

Post by luciayhuang »

lao_zhuang wrote: post #16

I think this idea has a lot of potential, does Osmind incorporate sleep data?

Thank you, we hope so too! Yes, we are planning on using sleep data from wearables or one's phone as well given many of our clinicians have requested it. It would be very interesting to see how that correlates to specific mental health conditions

Re: Launch HN: Osmind (YC S20) – software for better mental health therapies

#20

Post by teorema »

luciayhuang wrote: post #11
shahsyed wrote: post #2

This sounds great on paper! I'm curious - how does your data consider racial biases when it comes to mental health? Additionally, does your data take in consideration social determinants of health and health inequalities?

Thank you! Thank you for bringing up the issues around racial biases when it comes to mental health. We hope to address this in multiple ways: 1) trying to incorporate objective forms of information such as digital and biological data that theoretically should be less biased 2) giving back to the community by supporting providers who serve underrepresented communities (we provide our software for free or significantl…

Beware the trap of distinguishing "objective" measures/data in a space that almost by definition concerns itself with subjective experience. I also would question any assumption that such data is less prone to racial issues -- see for example volumes of literature on inequities in healthcare access and treatment.

It's great to be using quantitative measures, and almost a necessity, but as someone in this area who has done clinical work as well as research, I can say from personal experience EHR in mental healthcare has fumbled repeatedly with handling the complexities of behavioral information.

Good to see attention in this area though.

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