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Launch HN: Legion Health (YC S21) – Smarter Staffing for Mental Health

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Re: Launch HN: Legion Health (YC S21) – Smarter Staffing for Mental Health

#31

Post by rdtwo »

ympatel wrote: post #22
phren0logy wrote: post #19

Disclosure: I'm an MD who specializes in psychiatry. The idea that Nurse Practitioners and Social Workers "do almost everything that psychiatrists do but (for historical reasons) charge lower rates" doesn't feel like a fair characterization. I have worked with many excellent NPs and Social Workers, and have a tremendous regard for their work, but the level of training is - objectively - much different. Here's an info…

This is a very good point, and thank you for sending this information. However, the infographic is quite misleading because it doesn't stack up nursing school vs. medical school (i.e. it doesn't show the type of courses and training taught in a 4-year nursing program at all). A undergraduate bachelor's degree even in biology is not comparable to the clinical training in nursing school. That being said, I see your poi…

The matching thing is a solved problem in hospitals. The patient meets a doctor level provider for the first visit then is assigned proper care based on the diagnosis with a lower level provider. The problem you will have is that you have a lot of low level provider with varying skills and a high level provider will have a hard time matching patient to the correct provider capable of administering the correct treatment protocols.

Re: Launch HN: Legion Health (YC S21) – Smarter Staffing for Mental Health

#32

Post by rancar2 »

At CareDash, we’ve witnessed the issues for providers, patients, and partners that Yash has noted here. This is no small problem, but the overall issues are very systemic in nature for the US healthcare system but interim gap measure like this are helpful for everyone.

Re: Launch HN: Legion Health (YC S21) – Smarter Staffing for Mental Health

#33

Post by ympatel »

rdtwo wrote: post #24
ympatel wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're totally right - no one wants cut rate mental health treatment. If you see my response to Jonni, I explain what our quality process is. Hopefully that convinces you that these aren't cut rate folks and rather very high quality professionals. And you have good intuition about most of the US health care system, but mental health has some nuances that should be shared. First, many mental health practitioners do no…

You are going after the wrong market. The bottom of mental health is not a money maker. Even if your somehow get more efficiency your margins will suck. Instead go for the best and charge like the best. Like you described above it’s a 6 month wait to get care from someone decent, so why not charge folks for the opportunity to get care now from the same qualified folks they would have waited months to see? Your mom ne…

I think you have a valid point here, but we are really trying to be a B2B company because the problems around staffing for other health care organizations are real and they are willing to pay a lot for a more flexible and lower risk solution. What you are describing is B2C and, quite frankly, lower volume. There are other companies that are doing a great job delivering that kind of care, and they are our customers.

Re: Launch HN: Legion Health (YC S21) – Smarter Staffing for Mental Health

#34

Post by ympatel »

rdtwo wrote: post #31
ympatel wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very good point, and thank you for sending this information. However, the infographic is quite misleading because it doesn't stack up nursing school vs. medical school (i.e. it doesn't show the type of courses and training taught in a 4-year nursing program at all). A undergraduate bachelor's degree even in biology is not comparable to the clinical training in nursing school. That being said, I see your poi…

The matching thing is a solved problem in hospitals. The patient meets a doctor level provider for the first visit then is assigned proper care based on the diagnosis with a lower level provider. The problem you will have is that you have a lot of low level provider with varying skills and a high level provider will have a hard time matching patient to the correct provider capable of administering the correct treatme…

I think this is a very valid point and something that we will need to consider. Thank you for bringing it up. The variation in quality is certainly not easy to solve, especially when pairing it with a clinical decision-making hierarchy.

Re: Launch HN: Legion Health (YC S21) – Smarter Staffing for Mental Health

#35

Post by ympatel »

bserge wrote: post #25

Well, I don't quite get it, but anything is welcome in this part of healthcare. I'm looking for a psychiatrist and am being told they're not taking on new patients or that I need to wait 3 months for an appointment. I just need a prescription for a medication that I had before. While being forced to pay for health insurance, being told that this country has great healthcare, losing my voice (literally), and trying ha…

I cannot say that I understand what you are going through right now, but I truly wish you all the best.

We are really trying to help with the issue of access just as you reference here. Wait times are too high to see a psychiatrist so 1) how can we unlock a latent supply of these professionals (by way of their excess time) and 2) in what cases can we substitute these professionals with others whose supply is greater and who can provide similar functions.

Depending on the state that you live in, a psychiatric NP can get you that prescription at a lower cost to you and, more importantly, quicker. We want to allow other organizations to do that for their patients using our providers.

Re: Launch HN: Legion Health (YC S21) – Smarter Staffing for Mental Health

#36

Post by ympatel »

hangonhn wrote: post #30
bserge wrote: post #25

Well, I don't quite get it, but anything is welcome in this part of healthcare. I'm looking for a psychiatrist and am being told they're not taking on new patients or that I need to wait 3 months for an appointment. I just need a prescription for a medication that I had before. While being forced to pay for health insurance, being told that this country has great healthcare, losing my voice (literally), and trying ha…

Hey, if you have suicidal ideation or self harm tendencies and can't find help, please go to the emergency room. They can help you there. Also, here's the link for the Suicide Prevention Lifeline: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ Please find help and take care of yourself.

Thank you for providing this resource here :)

Re: Launch HN: Legion Health (YC S21) – Smarter Staffing for Mental Health

#37

Post by ympatel »

rdtwo wrote: post #26
ympatel wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for highlighting these issues. 1. Credentialing is definitely super slow. We want to get to the point where we can handle billing for our customers as well, so we'll have to create relationships with payers to speed the process up. Right now, many of our customers and clinicians are already used to this long process, so nothing is really different here. 2+3. We are providing the patient volume at 0 cost to the…

What you describe is not 0 cost. You take some sort of cut for services provided, that’s what a private practice does. In exchange for patient flow computing scheduling compliance and billing they charge 30-40% of the patient bill. In a modern work from home environment a provider could contract with a local urban private practice and offer part the hours for the same arrangement. The only real difference is they wou…

I think that's precisely why we're needed. With the scale that we plan to have, we can actually provide stable patient volume and deal with all the pains of recruiting and onboarding. Every smaller organization otherwise will have too much difficulty piecemealing different clinician availabilities together to create FTE(s)

Re: Launch HN: Legion Health (YC S21) – Smarter Staffing for Mental Health

#38

Post by ympatel »

rancar2 wrote: post #32

At CareDash, we’ve witnessed the issues for providers, patients, and partners that Yash has noted here. This is no small problem, but the overall issues are very systemic in nature for the US healthcare system but interim gap measure like this are helpful for everyone.

Thank you so much for this comment! Would love to talk to you based on your experience at CareDash here! I see that you have a large network of therapists and have built a pretty impressive B2B directory.
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