The COVID-19 crisis has caused unprecedented stress in the lives of every American, but for many the loneliness, increased anxiety, and isolation has brought about serious mental health issues—most notably, depression.
Whether patients were struggling with mental health issues prior or had depression brought on or worsened by the COVID-19 crisis, receiving quality mental health care with most state’s current movement restrictions can be difficult.
JOY MD is a digital health platform that was created to connect people to local and virtual providers through digital health clinics and telehealth services.
Why People Struggle to Get Care for Depression Online
The search process for mental healthcare is broken. It can be complicated to try and find a local and qualified provider who is compatible with one’s insurance(if you’re insured at all). Not to mention, a simple Google search for “depression” leads one down an endless and overwhelming stream of results that can feel daunting, cold, and confusing. Most listings on Yelp or similar review platforms don’t lead to fruitful results and end up giving the person searching a feeling of playing roulette with their mental health. It’s time to empower people struggling with their mental health.
Launching JOY MD with a Patient First Approach
Henry Camacho, the Founder of JOY MD, decided to do something about it. He’s currently building a digital healthcare platform to help people in their darkest moments to connect with providers that can immediately assist and support a person that is struggling with depression. Mental health care is complicated, the search for finding someone that can help shouldn’t be—according to Camacho.
The Los Angeles native, who is also a serial entrepreneur with a momentum for growth, has led enterprise-class marketing and advertising campaigns for Fortune 500 companies. His medical marketing company was ranked on INC’s 5000’s list of America’s Fastest-Growing Companies, reaching yearly revenues of $2MM in less than three years. Henry has also been part of LBAN’s Stanford Program, which includes the top 3 % of LatinX CEO’s in the U.S. His accomplishments are a testament to his drive and persistence for personal and professional growth.
How Telehealth and Digital Healthcare is Changing Mental Health Treatments
Telehealth is here. While its popularity was already surging, COVID-19 has skyrocketed the demand for virtual healthcare due to limitations and restrictions at the state and local level. When the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) relaxed HIPAA restrictions, healthcare providers were granted the use of the most popular video chat platforms to deliver healthcare remotely. This included Apple’s Facetime and video chat with Skype.
Changes in restrictions helped spark usage of therapists and mental health specialists to deliver healthcare via video chat. This is a crucial step, as there has been a significant increase in searches for depression and mental health help during the pandemic.
Struggling with your mental health can feel debilitating and isolating, and in a COVID-19 culture, having to do everything from home can feel intimidating. However, telehealth and tech-enabled healthcare providers are now able to offer immediate treatment interventions to those suffering from depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns.
Connecting Patients To Optimal Healthcare Providers With Innovative Marketing Strategies
JOY MD has already begun connecting patients to digital healthcare clinics that offer telehealth and is seeing usage increase since launch. JOY MD’s mission is to make it easy for a person to find the best medical provider regardless of insurance, common red tape or inefficiencies in directory-type websites. The company has already helped hundreds of web visitors connect with the digital healthcare clinics that offer telehealth services. The company is pushing to release local mental health providers that also offer care via video soon.
Advancing a start-up in the healthcare niche in the midst of a pandemic is no easy feat. Patients have more options and access to more information than ever before. Despite this, Camacho believes in his vision to create something that is patient-centered and that puts ethical providers who offer healthcare to every condition forward.
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