Study of Breakthrough Behavioral's Online Video Counseling Reveals Positive Outcomes

Redwood City, CA, September 03, 2014 -- Breakthrough Behavioral, the nation’s leader in online mental health care with more than five million members, today released a white paper announcing positive outcomes for online video counseling services. The study was conducted over a 12-month period by Center for Clinical Informatics, and reveals that online therapy is not only as effective as face-to-face counseling sessions, but offers access to efficient and effective care for many who may not otherwise have received care either by choice or circumstance.

The white paper highlights at the completion of an episode of care using Breakthrough video counseling, 59% of patients showed “significant” improvement while another 22% “somewhat” improved. Care using Breakthrough is also found to be highly efficient. Breakthrough patients experience on average three weeks less time between first and last assessments, indicating treatment periods are shorter. The average length of time between first and last assessments for Breakthrough patients is six weeks compared to nine weeks for other systems of care. These results are not only a positive indicator for the use of online therapy offered by Breakthrough, but show value to patients and insurers through reduced costs in achieving positive outcomes.

“The combination of innovative technology and highly trained clinicians is changing lives – and changing the face of mental health services,” said Julian Cohen, CEO of Breakthrough, who has over 30 years of executive experience in behavioral health. “Our provider’s complete an in depth screening and training process and support is provided by our internal provider service team.”

The Effect Size, which measures how much change has been produced by an intervention, even further validates the study findings. The Effect Size is high for the general Breakthrough population at 0.99 and when looking at the patients with clinical levels of distress the Effect Size is even greater – at 1.12, which is considered extremely large.

Jeb Brown, Ph.D., CEO of the Center for Clinical Informatics, stated that “these are noteworthy results which suggest two things, first, that the Breakthrough provider network is a superior group of clinicians, and second, that the video counseling modality is just as powerful as in-person counseling; it is impressive that Breakthrough launched their services with a commitment to outcome-informed care, using a valid and reliable measurement tool.”

The white paper, titled Breakthrough Quality Program: Proven Effective Online Care, can be downloaded by visiting: https://www.breakthrough.com/assets/breakthrough-quality-program-white-paper.pdf

Headquartered in Redwood City, Breakthrough Behavioral is the leading telehealth provider of mental health care. Breakthrough contracts with insurance companies, employers and health systems for Commercial and Medicaid populations to provide HIPAA compliant, online video counseling service to consumers. For more information please visit http://www.breakthrough.com. Also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Providers interested in joining Breakthrough can email network(at)breakthrough(dot)com and payers may contact sales(at)breakthrough(dot)com for partnership opportunities.