The Trend Of Using Telehealth For Mental Health Gets Stronger After The COVID-19 Pandemic

The telehealth trend emerged as a result of the impact of the lockdown. (photo: doc. Unsplash)

JAKARTA – The demand for online mental health care will be a priority in the post-COVID-19 world, says the boss of the telehealth app. This trend emerged as a result of the impact of the lockdown on people's well-being and the demand for virtual doctor's appointments skyrocketing.

"There's a mental health crisis in Europe ... there's a huge problem that needs to be solved," said Johannes Schildt, CEO of Sweden-based health startup Kry. One of Europe's leading digital healthcare providers, told Reuters at the Web Summit in Lisbon.

Kry, one of many companies participating in this year's tech gathering, provides a video-based user communication platform with nurses and doctors. The platform operates through public-private partnerships and agreements with private insurance providers.

“The need for online mental health services existed before the pandemic, and has been increasing during this time, and will continue to grow,” said Schildt. Demand for such services on its app, which now serves about 25% of Swedish households, more than tripled in 2020.

A study by the medical journal The Lancet showed an additional 76 million cases of anxiety disorders and 53 million more major depressive disorders in 2020. The study also found that young people and women were the most affected by the condition.

Kry recently launched an internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy for those struggling with mental health issues. The phone-based treatment is already available in Sweden, and will roll out across Europe in 2022.

"The megatrend of digitizing healthcare existed before the pandemic, but the pandemic did help make people realize that they could actually do all these things from home," Schildt said. He also predicts that home testing for COVID will pave the way for wider self-sampling by patients.

The e-health sector is on the rise: Kry's latest funding round brought in $500 million and a valuation of $2 billion, while US-based Carbon Health was worth $3.3 billion in a Blackstone-led funding round this summer, according to a Forbes report.

Eren Bali, founder and CEO of Carbon Health, which has several clinics across the country and also provides online health appointments. He supported Schildt's view and told Reuters "all types of digital use are skyrocketing".

At the start of the pandemic, one in six Carbon Health users had downloaded the company's app – now, about 80% have it on their phone, a trend Bali hopes will continue.

Carbon Health did not offer online mental health support before the COVID-19 pandemic hit but a surge in demand led to the service's launch last summer.

According to Bali's observations, "deep integration" between virtual systems and in-person appointments is the way forward when people's lives change radically.

But the sector's growth also raises questions about how best to handle patient data. This is because the vast majority of patient data is stored in national healthcare databases and private insurers – amid very different attitudes to data-sharing policies across Europe and Scandinavia.

"It's a shame that so much data is circulating, being silenced into different systems," said Schildt, who believes accessing patient data will power the development of telemedicine.

"In Sweden, they expect you to sync all their data: 'Why don't you have my vaccination info from 20 years ago?,' is a reaction we often get," Schildt.