Mobile Therapy system monitors patients' progress, improves practice management

Therapists now have the ability to track their patients’ progress between therapy visits with Mobile Therapy, a recently launched web-based dashboard and mobile application, one researcher told Healio.com/Psychiatry.

Mobile Therapy (SelfEcho) is designed to provide clinicians with ongoing data to monitor patients’ progress and improve diagnoses and treatment, according to Jonathan Schooler, PhD, senior research director of SelfEcho, and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Jonathan Schooler

The system provides practice management tools for clinicians, including integrated reporting and HIPAA-compliant note-taking features, and the ability for clinicians to allow patients to view their condition and treatment plans, according to a press release.

“A real challenge that clinicians face is understanding what’s going on in the clients’ lives. They often see patients once per week sometimes; even less frequently than that, and they are fundamentally relying on their clients’ memories in order to understand what is going on with them,” Schooler told Healio.com/Psychiatry. “Memory is notoriously fallible.”

Patients often have difficulties with recounting older memories vs. those that have happened most recently, he added.

“What Mobile Therapy does is provide a bridge to that gap by querying the client periodically; asking them what is going on in their life while the experiences are still fresh,” Schooler said.

The pilot study included 17 clinicians, 12 of which are still actively using the system; with approximately 25 patients using it daily or nearly daily, according to Schooler. Researchers are currently in the process of further improving the interface.

Mobile Therapy is compatible with iOS (iPhone) and Android devices. Clinicians can access the Mobile Therapy system by visiting www.mobiletherapy.com. – by Samantha Costa

Disclosure: Schooler reports no relevant financial disclosures.