
Mental Health App Talkspace Raises $50M - howard941
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-29/mental-health-app-raises-50-million-as-digital-therapy-grows
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JudgeWapner
ycombinator startup 7cupsoftea also offers professional talk therapy from
licensed providers. My recommendation is unless you are absolutely terrified
of talking to someone in person, don't get e-therapy. So much of therapy isn't
from the words but from the transfer of emotion and affect. I think the client
will get some level of relief just from typing things out, getting it "off
their chest", but it's not the same thing as going to their office, having
that exclusive space and time, and seeing and hearing your therapist's affect
and reflection of your emotion. Not to mention allowing them to use their
expertise in detecting indirect issues. For instance, consider an alcoholic in
denial, goes to therapy because of difficulty holding down a job. A well-
trained therapist could sniff out the alcoholism even if the client was in
denial or never even considered that to be the source. A chat system shortcuts
all of that for pure informational content. Emotional problems are seldom
solved with Sherlock-esque revelations of information.

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pvinis
what about video e-therapy?

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sekh60
Would one get the same counselor? I have schizoaffective disorder and there is
no way I would want to "see" a new counsellor each time. One needs to form a
connection and develop trust.

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jdavis703
It’s the same counselor. I personally have dealt with depression and anxiety
(and am a satisfied yet former Talkspace customer) and I have immediate family
with bipolar disorder. I would NOT recommend this service for someone who has
complicated mental health needs. If you need “simpler” therapy such as for
relationship issues or depression/anxiety than Talkspace is fine, but
otherwise I wouldn’t really trust them.

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azinman2
Having previous worked in this space (for ginger.io), I’d really recommend
against talkspace. The time between replies is so asynchronous that it’s a
really poor substitute for actual therapy, and their lack of HIPAA protections
is unethical. They need to raise this money because they spend it all on
marketing.

I haven’t been at Ginger in a while but they were the best I the biz when I
left, and the team really believed in the mission for the greater good.

~~~
jdavis703
My experience there sounds different than yours. I saw a cognitive behavioral
therapist. At first we chatted a few times a day, then once a day, then a few
times a week.

In between those longer breaks you can still write messages — and I did. It’s
like having a journal that someone is going to read and help you figure out
what you need to be doing.

As for HIPAA violations everyone does this. In the last week I’ve been to a
dentist and optometrist and seen patient information displayed inappropriately
on screens or on paper work left out at both offices. I’m not saying that
HIPAA violations are OK, but Talkspace seems no worse than a brick and mortar
office.

Perhaps I’m biased here. TalkSpace helped me get my anxiety under control. For
that I recommend them to everyone. But if you have a hard time applying
cognitive behavioral techniques like mindfulness on a regular basis I would
not recommend them.

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threatofrain
There's a difference between doctors violating HIPPA protections on your data
by gossiping, vs. you having no HIPPA protections to violate to begin with.
Here it wouldn't even be a violation.

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azinman2
Not to mention your doctor's office is not only liable (consequences are no
joke) for screwups, they also didn't raise $50M recently in addition to
previous funding.

Ginger was HIPAA compliant well before delivering services -- it's unethical
to not be, IMHO. It's also _not that hard_ to do the right thing.

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jbob2000
> For a fee starting at $49 a week, users can leave text, voice and video
> messages with counselors who respond five days a week. Customers can pay
> more for live video chats.

Considering that people with mental health issues often don’t have a lot of
money, I’m not sure what market they’re targeting with a price point of
$200/month. That’s more than a student loan or cheap car payment!

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medell
It's not for everyone, but the hourly cost for a therapist is typically
between $90-$200. Also these new services could be covered under some
insurance programs (I'm curious for some data points here).

~~~
brookside
*the 45 minute cost

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jdsully
> We try to keep Talkspace.com safe, but you use it at your own risk. We are
> providing Talkspace.com “As Is” without any express or implied warranties.
> We do not guarantee that Talkspace.com will be safe or secure.

[https://www.talkspace.com/public/privacy-
policy](https://www.talkspace.com/public/privacy-policy)

If you plan to use this service understand you get what you pay for. They seem
to have no duty of care with your data. I'm not sure how they are able to get
away with this without violating HIPAA though.

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SkyPuncher
If they don't take insurance (EDIT: insurance or medicare), they don't need to
be HIPAA compliant.

EDIT: This is advice my HealthTech startup received from a very well respected
lawfirm. It's not as black and white as this. However, it is a good rule of
thumb.

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duncan-donuts
HIPPA isn’t only about insurance. If they collect any personal health
information (which, by the very nature of their product, I’m sure they do)
they need to be compliant.

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marcinzm
No, they don't. Although it's not about insurance either. Here is a list of
who is covered: [https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/covered-
entities...](https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/covered-
entities/index.html)

Note that a random app that gets "medical data" is not covered unless it
counts as a health care provider AND transmits data in certain HHS electronic
formats.

