Sure the latest initiatives from the Teslas, Apples and Googles of the industry tend to dominate the tech news space — and with good reason. Still, the tech titans aren’t the only ones bringing innovation to the sector.
In an effort to highlight up-and-coming tech companies, Built In launched The Future 5 across seven major U.S. tech hubs. Each quarter, we will feature five early-stage tech companies, nonprofits or entrepreneurs in each of these hubs who just might be working on the next big thing. Read our round-up of LA’s rising startups from last quarter here.
* * *
As each of us traverses our life’s path with unique encounters and events, and each of those various events affects us in vastly different ways. Our individualized journeys can leave strong imprints on our minds, and unfortunately, not all those impressions shed a positive light on the road that lies ahead.
Between March 2020 and March 2021, 8.9 million adults in the U.S. were being treated with major depressive disorder, or MDD, as found in a Psychatrist.com study. Of that number, 2.8 million individuals were diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression or TRD. This is a condition where traditional treatment options for depression prove to be ineffective.
What is Treatment-Resistant Depression?
Treatment-resistant depression, or TRD, is a major depressive disorder. The condition describes depression that has failed to respond to at least two different antidepressant treatments.
Source: Psycom
Options MD exists to help people manage chronic depression. The online mental healthcare solution offers a range of virtual support options for severe and treatment-resistant patients. Its methods hinge upon personalized care from a vetted network of psychiatric professionals.
The platform offers more than 200 treatment options for depression such as medication, therapy, lifestyle changes and potential supplements. Choosing from and combining these methods, Options’ software helps its team of psychiatrists create comprehensive programs tailored to each patients’ needs.
“What we pride ourselves on is building a really delightful patient experience, and our company motto is ‘treating depression doesn’t have to be so depressing,’” Morgan Hewett, Options’s CEO, told Built In.
After a patient signs up on Options’ site and schedules an appointment, they spend time participating in an additional intake experience. Rather than filling out dull doctor’s forms, Options ensures the process feels like patients are having a conversation with someone empathetic ahead of their appointment.
On the doctors’ side, Options’ tech helps flag potential misdiagnoses, recommends treatment options and provides a second opinion on the patient’s current treatment plans.
After onboarding, patients meet with a doctor to discuss potential treatment options based on the patient’s responses, then use a shared decision-making process to craft a care plan that suits the patient’s comfort level.
The platform’s artificial intelligence capabilities also extend to automated patient check-ins between appointments. Additionally, the platform offers a community component for patients to find support among their peers and access resources and educational content.
“The reason why we call the company ‘Options’ is that we believe that it doesn’t matter even if you’ve already tried 20 antidepressants — and we work with patients who honestly are in that scenario — you still literally have hundreds of potential treatment options when you look at different treatments and combinations,” Hewett said.
Before founding Options MD, the company’s co-founders worked in healthcare-adjacent positions in the professional world. Hewett previously worked at Meta helping healthcare companies increase patient engagement on social media. Kyle Pierce, Options’ COO, was formerly an attorney litigating on behalf of large hospital systems and health insurers in California.
Separate from their prior work experiences, Options MD’s founders have particularly deep personal ties to their solution. Hewett wanted to develop a solution that could help people going through situations like that of her brother, who attempted to take his own life three times while experiencing severe depression. After a dozen medications and hundreds of thousands of dollars and medical expenses, Hewett’s brother eventually recovered.
However, the story of Pierce’s close friend didn’t have a similarly successful ending. After trying three medications and fruitlessly searching for on-campus resources, Pierce’s friend committed suicide within her first year and a half of college.
“We learned that our instances are not very rare. There are plenty of people … who are suffering from mental illnesses [who] are considered treatment-resistant, and that means that they have tried at least two types of treatments and they had not found any relief,” Pierce told Built In. “So we realized that there is a host of people who are not receiving the proper [healthcare] they deserve and aren’t being really paid attention to by the current landscape of mental health companies that exist right now.”
Options MD has consistently expanded since its inception in 2020. To date, the platform has a community of about 6,000 patients with TRD, and has raised a total of $3.8 million in venture funding.
As the platform continues to grow, Options MD hopes to continue to address a currently underserved patient population in the healthcare industry and contribute to the ongoing destigmatization of mental illness, according to Pierce and Hewett.
