Telemynd Case Study

About Telemynd

Telemynd, previously known as Arcadian Telepsychiatry, is an innovative telemedicine company that provides online mental health services. 

It was created in July 2019 as a spinoff from MYnd Analytics, a platform that uses predictive analytics to assist with clinical decision-making in mental health.

Offering a comprehensive range of virtual mental healthcare services to patients,  the company's mission is to enhance mental healthcare by making it more convenient and affordable through streamlined processes for both the patient and the provider.  Its largest clients are those that provide health benefits to members of the U.S. military and government along with several private paying agencies. Teleymyd uses telehealth as the cornerstone of its approach and has systematically built its business by prioritizing technology, efficiency, integration, and streamlining in everything they do.  

As of 2023, Telemynd manages a national network of over 800 licensed therapists and psychiatrists across 50 states in the United States. These providers are considered individual practices with their own legal entity and office that operate entirely through the use of the Charmhealth platform, with no physical office. [The company's primary clientele consists of entities that offer health benefits to individuals serving in the US military and government, as well as a few private paying organizations.]

The Challenge

I was pleased to sit down and talk with Telemynd’s Product Manager Bonie Rosario (B.J.), who played a key role in designing, launching, and managing Telemynd‘s system in collaboration with CharmHealth.

Q: B.J., What is Telemynd's mission?

Q: What problem were you trying to solve?

The Solution

CharmHealth’s API was critical in automating the intake and billing processes, matching patients with best care team, and measuring gaps in patient experience using analytics. The following questions will discuss CharmHealth's solutions.

"It saves 15 minutes of data entry per patient…we knew [the Charmhealth API] was going to be a major game-changer"

1. Q: What kind of solutions did you build with a CharmHealth API integration?

While our initial system was manual, our breakthrough came when we leveraged Charm's API.  With a growing number of providers, we wanted to automate the process.

Clients can request an appointment by calling us or clicking a button on our website. They provide their insurance information. Our intake process collects the insurance information. This includes patient demographic information, insurance-specific issues.  The intake co-ordinator  then talks to the provider and confirms if the patient is a good fit.

We follow a workflow within our internal system to officially associate that patient with a provider, and then it goes all the way to Charm.  Using the CharmHealth API, this is pushed into the Charm EHR’s billing and insurance tab. 

Secondly, the patient's preferences, such as the type of provider and scheduling availability is collected and stored in our internal system as it’s own database. Then the intake coordinators have the task of ensuring a smooth patient experience from start to finish. Their role is to connect patients with their provider seamlessly and efficiently, with the provider being ready to take action as soon as the patient's information is entered into Charm.

From a patient's perspective, they receive an email saying, “Yes, your request has been submitted” and eventually, “Here's your Charm invite.” We don't  project our internal tool to our clients. To them the process is seamless and invisible to them. Charm is the first system that the patient sees after they submit.

2. Q: How long was the process to implement the Charm API?

Once the team had a clear understanding, the implementation of the API only took a few months.

3. Q: What measurable results do you have since implementing the Charm API integration?

We are adding dozens of providers a week.  When you consider the number of patients in a brick and mortar hospital and the time spent typing in their first name, last name, and insurance information, it becomes clear that the API is a game-changer– Entering incorrect information, such as billing IDs, which used to result in clinical and billing errors, is no longer a concern. With the use of the API, these errors are caught and bounced back, ensuring that the billing process is smooth and efficient. Prior to using this API, manual data entry for each patient would take an average of 15 minutes. With the API, it's now instantaneous.

“Through this collaboration, we have learned what data matters and what tells the right story, and CharmHealth is helping us make this happen.”

4. Q: How have you incorporated data analytics into the Telemynd Platfom? How does it help you measure gaps in the patient experience?

We are tracking several metrics. First, we are measuring the time it takes for a patient's referral request to be received and entered into Charm, and for an intake coordinator to begin working on it. Second, we are measuring the time it takes for a provider to schedule an appointment and begin the encounter. In the past, we had many gaps in our understanding of these metrics. We were unsure if delays were caused by a provider taking too long to finish notes, or by intake coordinators having difficulty navigating Charm.

To overcome these obstacles, we have created new systems that allow us to measure these metrics with greater accuracy. We can now track the time it takes for a referral to be picked up by an intake coordinator and identify any requests that have been sitting for too long. We also measure the time it takes for manual data entry, ensuring that we are continually improving and providing the highest level of care for our patients.  The ability to access real-time information on provider sessions in Charm is crucial to understanding their performance and identifying areas where they may need more patients. Also, we can ensure that providers are paid on time and that the rest of the team has the necessary information to support them.

5. Q: How did Charm help support these required analytics?

CharmHealth provided valuable assistance by helping us leverage data from key fields in the encounter summary report to ensure accurate and timely documentation of patient encounters, which is essential for measuring the success of a patient's experience.

We take all fields in the encounter summary report seriously because they represent timestamps that determine different phases of the patient's experience. Through our discussions with CharmHealth, we emphasized the need for specific fields to be included in the report based on our data analysis needs. CharmHealth worked closely with us to understand our needs and make necessary adjustments to the platform.

With access to the raw data, we create the reports we need by applying our calculations and visualizations. We then import the data from Charm into our internal system and connect it to reporting tools like Power BI and Google Data Studio. Through this collaboration, we have learned what data matters and what tells the right story, and CharmHealth is helping us make this happen.

Conclusion and Impacts

Q: What types of features have you requested, and how has CharmHealth addressed them?

There are a few examples of this. I’ll talk about a feature for BillerPro to submit claim in bulk.  We realized that while generating claims for submission to Optum, it was a manual process that involved clicking on each claim individually.  We were pleased that within a couple of months, the bulk batch clean generation feature in CharmHealth BllerPro was developed. It was a “no questions asked” situation where we received a support ticket saying that it was completed. We reviewed it, and it matched our needs perfectly and it was on the money!  So it's funny, there wasn’t much fanfare. We asked and they gave us reasonable expectations, and it's delivered. It sounds so elegant and simple, but it makes all the difference.

The level of partnership gives us the confidence to know that Charm is a company that will be there for us, both now and in the future.

Q: What were the results of these feature additions?

Previously, submitting a few hundred claims through Biller Pro would take an entire day, but now it only takes minutes–hours to minutes. As users, we have noticed the amount of time and clicks saved. This true no matter how much we scale or who is doing the work.

From a technology perspective, what previously required 10 clicks now only requires one click.  We have seen the number of steps required significantly reduced, and this is where we see growth and the value of working with Charm.

Q: What most surprised you about your experience working with CharmHealth?

One thing we appreciate about working with Charm is that they have never turned down a feature request, or told us that something is outside of their wheelhouse. They are always open to new ideas and willing to work with us to make them a reality.

We've had great discussions with the Charm development team about potential features and capabilities that are not currently on the roadmap. The team has been transparent with us, acting as development partners, providing recommendations and workarounds if certain options are not available. We appreciate their openness and willingness to collaborate, as not all development teams offer such valuable feedback.

It's clear that they are invested in improving their technology and helping it integrate seamlessly with other systems.

Q: What benefits or value have you experienced as a result of collaborating with CharmHealth?

These feature enhancements  demonstrate the benefits of working with a partner who understands our needs and provides us with the necessary technology to enhance our operations. It also highlights the importance of open dialogue and working together towards common goals.

We have also appreciated the ability to have meaningful conversations about our product roadmap with their team. Also, being able to directly email Venky, for example, has been incredibly valuable to us. We've also been impressed with the fact that the API support team are developers themselves, who present their ideas and bring them to life.

As someone with a development background, it's clear that Charm has a vision for integrating technology stacks and improving how different technologies communicate with each other. This aligns with our startup and clinic goals to grow and innovate, and it's reassuring to know we share the same mindset.

We've found that many of our feature requests can be addressed with just a few email exchanges, whereas with other companies, there's often more red tape and hoops to jump through. If CharmHealth can't support a particular use case, they let us know upfront and work with us to find a solution. This kind of partnership and dialogue has been crucial for us to achieve our goals and provide the best possible experience for our patients.

Q: What are your plans for growth over the next few years?

We have already mapped out a roadmap for the next one to five years to take advantage of the various features. With the API, we will be able to link our credentialing provider and internal systems with Charm. As we have streamlined patient workflows through automation, we are confident that we will eventually be able to establish a provider automation workflow as well. Currently, we're working on the encounter side and applying more analytics to be more data centric.