Neuroflow Overview

Neuroflow

Behavioural health is that area of health that is in connection with both our behaviour and the health of our soul, spirit and body. Our behavioural health is greatly affected by the choices we make on a daily basis.

Behavioural health is a term used to refer most times as mental health. People who struggle with their behavioural health are always faced with issues such as depression, anxiety, grief, mood disorders, or a host of other psychological problems. People who are faced with behavioural health issues always have a tendency to be alcoholics, and drug abusers and they exhibit a whole lot of negative habits.

The causes of these behavioural disorders are very broad and no one article can do justice in determining all of them. According to various research carried out in the field, the causes could range from biological, psychological and sometimes environmental factors might be involved too. Issues ranging from divorce, poor attitude to schooling, coercion from parents, exposure to unhealthy practices, in general, anything that causes upset to the mind of an individual could lead to behavioural health disorders.

As a response to this, there was a need to have a special area of health care that dealt with these issues and people facing such mental and emotional dysfunction. This led to the birthing of behavioural healthcare agencies within the behavioural healthcare sector.

Behavioural healthcare is the art of maintaining and/or working towards the improvement of people’s emotions, behaviours and many biological issues that relate to people’s mental health. Like it is with physical healthcare, behavioural healthcare providers are people trained in the art of delivering healthcare services to people who have these behavioural or mental problems.

In recent years there has been a need to increase or improve the services provided by behavioural healthcare agencies and professionals, especially with the global rise in substance abuse amongst adults and teenagers. Behavioural healthcare was mainly seen as a peripheral service rendered by caregivers and clinics, it was not seen as a core aspect of the health sector.

Aside from the regular rounds and scheduled check-ups carried out by these behavioural healthcare providers, there was also a need to integrate this aspect of health into the main activities of clinics and hospitals or caregiving agencies.

Christopher Molaro an army veteran who served in the army for five years including a tour in Iraq, upon his return home he witnessed firsthand the gaps that were in the behavioural healthcare system.  He saw how veterans and civilians alike face so many barriers when it came to receiving appropriate, timely care.

While pursuing his MBA at Wharton, Chris met his future co-founder Adam Pardes. After agreeing that even the most engaging digital mental health apps in the world wouldn’t truly change the problem, they had to come up with a way that would be solution to this identified problem.

This led to the launching of a new brand, NeuroFlow in 2016 with Christopher Molaro as CEO and co-founder, and Adam Pardes as COO and co-founder. The platform was designed to enable healthcare providers to blend behavioural healthcare into their overall care and be able to monitor the conditions of their patients remotely.

According to fiercehealthcare.com, “NeuroFlow’s technology increases access to personalized, collaborative care while empowering primary care providers, care managers, and other specialists to most effectively support patient populations by accounting for and addressing behavioural health, company.” NeuroFlow uses technology that is able to track and keep up with the conditions of patients, thus reducing the burdens placed on healthcare providers drastically.

In a statement, the CEO of NeuroFlow, Christopher Molaro had this to say, “Behavioral health is not independent of our overall health—it affects our physical health and vice versa, yet most underlying behavioural health conditions go unidentified or are ineffectively treated. Most healthcare providers are overburdened, so introducing the concept to account for a person’s mental health in addition to their primary speciality can be overwhelming and lead to inconsistent and inadequate treatment.”

The neuroflow application offers its users accessible and engaging digital experiences tailored with activities that are meant to reshape the mental health of individuals and cause improvements while being able to track their progress.

The Neuroflow application is powered by AI technology that supports and empowers caregivers to be able to make better decisions regarding steps to be taken in the recovery journey of people with behavioural disorders.

According to resources from the NeuroFlow web homepage, “Intuitive care team tools make it easy to prioritize caseloads and monitor individuals’ progress within existing workflows, seamlessly integrating with systems and resources that clients are already using.”

The platform uses open API (application programming interface) to enable health caregivers to easily integrate their existing ecosystems into NeuroFlow’s current workflows. All of the information and data from their ecosystems can now be managed effectively to ensure they stay abreast with the state of their patients.

The NeuroFlow platform offers a stepped-care approach which supports the continuum of behavioural health needs. Offering a range of support services and options makes it easy to meet clients where they are. It also ensures all behavioural health needs of individuals are given due attention.

It divides the needs of those individuals into levels depending on the complexity of the need of the individual. Its steps involve; urgent interventions, referral to resources and specialists, and implementation of integrated care models and digital self-care pathways.

Its funding has been recorded in two successive series. Backed by Magellan, the start-up NeuroFlow platform recorded a figure of 7.5 million dollars in its Series A funding round in 2019. According to NeuroFlow, the capital was used to scale its operations and support its growth in data analytics, artificial intelligence and direct health record integration.

Yet again, NeuroFlow recorded a 20 million dollars Series B funding round. This funding round was equally supported by some of the earlier investors which included Magellan Health.

Since its inception and start-up, NeuroFlow has received a good number of reviews from customers which are captured in NeuroFlow’s Wall of Love. Lots of first-time users have reportedly become brand ambassadors.

NeuroFlow’s in-app survey gave a lot of fantastic reviews. One particular customer had this to say, “I feel like I notice things more in helpful ways now, and it makes me think more about my behaviours and how things I do impact how I feel. It’s really helpful to foster that mind-body connection without having to think about it.”

A good number of reviews have also been recorded on the Google Play App Store. One of the reviewers said, “I have come to love and depend on this app to get me through the day. It inspires me, guides me, and encourages me in a way that is not forced or intrusive. I absolutely love this app.”

NeuroFlow offers services to a host of clients which include; health care providers, payors or private individuals, the government and the military. These clients either use NeuroFlow’s services directly or indirectly. One area where NeuroFlow’s services have been known to make the most gains is in the military. This is because of the huge number of personnel who are faced with situations that tend to break down their mental health while in active service.

A particular case study shows how NeuroFlow’s platform turned the fortunes of a healthcare provider while at the same time helping 72 per cent of patients. This was the case of Pain and Spine Specialists (PASS), a multisite organization specializing in chronic pain management.

PASS was faced with a problem after they identified that about 50 per cent of their patient population met the criteria of a behavioural health disorder. According to the report, “Leadership at PASS knew they would have to address patients’ behavioural health at scale to drive optimal clinical results. They also noticed the ineffectiveness of traditional identification and referral methods, with more than 90% of their patients never completing a referral to a BH specialist.”

After identification of the problems and challenges, PASS leadership knew they could no longer rely on traditional means. The unveiling realization led them to outsource a solution which eventually led them to NeuroFlow platforms.

Also, according to the report, it was evident that PASS leveraged on the approach offered by NeuroFLow, using technology to integrate their workflow and eventually fostering better relationships between patient and provider to ensure a foundation of trust in utilizing a new technology.

The results of this partnership showed that the whole process was a success and it could only get better. The results came in two folds; NeuroFlow’s platform and approach saved PASS from a whole lot of costs and also improved numbers in terms of participation from patients. According to industry statistics published by Milliman, there were indications that t 9-17% of cost savings can be attributed to the effective integration of physical and mental health programs, specifically evidence-based CoCM programs.

A statement made by Sudhir Rao, Managing Director of PASS Pain Management Specialists highlighted the main merits of their encounter with NeuroFlow. He said, “with NeuroFlow, we realized that not only can we have patients’ mental health data readily accessible, but then we can risk-stratify our population and better understand our patients’ varying risk levels, which allows us to proactively adjust treatment plans where necessary.”

Many partners and health practitioners have highlighted so far that leveraging on NeuroFlow’s platforms and approaches have been the surest and most cost-effective way of ensuring participation from patients suffering from behavioural health disorders even as they now remotely manage these patients efficiently. These advantages reduce the stress and the cost of caregiving the traditional way.

With more and more partnerships and improvements in the NeuroFlow platforms, one can clearly say that the future of a more integrated mental healthcare sector is guaranteed.