Fighting for Mental Health Help

Demands for mental and behavioral health services are on the rise. These services represented nearly half of all telehealth claims during the pandemic, but the digital divide and lack of in-network mental health providers create barriers for patients seeking treatments. 

Dr. Nishi Rawat assesses the current mental health landscape, health inequities, and how new technologies are looking to meet patients where they are. Also, advocate Gabe Howard shares his diagnosis of bipolar disorder, he tells you how you can support loved ones living with a mental illness. Plus, patient correspondent Karen Kaiser shares her fight to receive her critical mail-order prescriptions on time.

Guest:

Nishi Rawat, M.D.

Co-Founder, OpenBeds

Dr. Nishi Rawat is a co-founder of OpenBeds and Senior Vice President at Appriss Health. She is a physician and healthcare services researcher, trained in critical care and emergency medicine, and a member of the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is an NIH-sponsored investigator who has won several awards for her research, and leadership awards from Johns Hopkins for her quality improvement activities. Nishi brings a wealth of healthcare knowledge, creativity and vision to OpenBeds Inc. 

As a critical care physician, Dr. Rawat experienced the frustration of locating the proper care for her patients suffering from behavioral health conditions. That led to the development of OpenBeds, a software platform that improves transparency, communications, and ultimately care for behavioral health. In 2015, NIDA approached Dr. Rawat to partner to develop technology to service the opioid epidemic. OpenBeds is now implemented in hundreds of organizations and serves 8 state governments. Given its success, OpenBeds Inc. was recently acquired by Appriss Inc. where Nishi now leads its strategy in the healthcare sector. 

Links:

OpenBeds

Dr. Nishi Rawat

Gabe Howard

Inside Mental Health Podcast

House moderates signal concerns with Pelosi drug pricing bill 

Senate Finance Committee, Subcommittee on Health Care Hearing on Mental Health

HHS Hearing on COVID-19 and the Mental Health and Substance Use Crisis

Patient Correspondent: Karen Kaiser 

Need help?

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The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the guest(s)/ author(s) and do not reflect the official policy or position of Patients Rising.