The digital mental health landscape is evolving rapidly, yet a significant challenge remains unsolved: how can providers monetize patient engagement with prescribed digital interventions? Moodivate, a digital mental health app recently highlighted in JAMA for its clinical efficacy, is encountering this challenge firsthand. While the JAMA study underscores Moodivate’s value in promoting patient engagement and improving mental health outcomes, the current billing structure offers no mechanism for providers to capture revenue from time spent on digital interventions.

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The Problem: Limited Revenue Streams in Digital Mental Health

Today, healthcare providers are largely confined to billing for face-to-face patient interactions. For example, a psychologist may charge $300 for a one-hour session, but the opportunity to monetize patient engagement outside the session remains untapped. With proven digital health interventions like Moodivate, what if providers could invoice for patient use of these tools — creating a financial incentive for them to recommend and monitor these solutions?

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A Thought Experiment: A New Model for Partial Time Billing

Imagine this scenario:

1. A patient visits their psychologist for a one-hour session, resulting in a $300 charge to insurance.
   
   
2. During the session, the psychologist prescribes Moodivate, a clinically proven app that tracks patient engagement.
   
   
3. Over the next two weeks, the patient uses Moodivate for 4 out of 7 days, actively engaging with the intervention.
   
   
4. The psychologist monitors the patient’s use of Moodivate, generating valuable data for future sessions.
   
   
5. But instead of only billing for the initial session, the provider could invoice for a percentage of the time the patient engages with the app — a model that could incentivize ongoing use and improve patient outcomes.
   
   

Why It Matters: Untapped Revenue Potential and Better Patient Outcomes

For providers, this model could:

• Expand Revenue Per Patient: Providers could effectively increase billable time beyond face-to-face sessions by prescribing and tracking digital interventions.
  
  
• Motivate Patient Compliance: If usage of apps like Moodivate could be billed, providers would have a financial incentive to encourage ongoing patient engagement.
  
  
• Validate Digital Health: With Moodivate’s academic backing from JAMA, insurers might be more inclined to reimburse for time spent on clinically proven digital interventions.
  
  

The Reality: We’re Not There Yet

This concept is hypothetical, but the opportunity is real. For startups that have already cracked the code on billing models that incorporate digital health usage, there’s an open door for collaboration with Moodivate. We have the clinical credibility and proven engagement — now we’re looking for partners who can bridge the gap and create a sustainable model that rewards providers for digital intervention time.

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If you’re working on solving this problem, let’s talk. Let’s speak, we’re eager to explore how Moodivate and other clinically validated digital health tools can become a win-win for both providers and patients.

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