Ginger taps Capsule to seamlessly prescribe mental health medications

The partnership provides Ginger members with free, same-day, contactless delivery for necessary mental health medications in select markets.

Mental Health Medications stats

Mental health company Ginger announced a partnership with digital pharmacy Capsule to provide its members with an effortless way to receive and manage mental health medications safely from their homes.

With Capsule’s end-to-end technology platform, this partnership builds on Ginger’s comprehensive approach to medication management, which brings together a team of behavioral health coaches, therapists, and psychiatrists who work together to prescribe medications, support adherence, and transition members off of medications when appropriate.

Why does it matter?

Ginger’s new medication management partnership with Capsule will help to:

  • Reduce barriers to prescription adherence: After a consultation with a Ginger board-certified psychiatrist, members will have the option to fill their scripts cost-effectively through Capsule, with free home delivery.
  • Improve care with visibility into prescribing data: With Capsule’s technology platform, Ginger’s prescribing psychiatrists will have visibility into medication fill rates, associated adverse events, and other data necessary to ensure the safety, efficacy, and appropriateness of members’ medication regimens.
  • Curtail employer spending while improving health outcomes: The option for seamless home-delivery of medications can help employers save on prescription spend. Ginger members’ are treated and supervised within a team-based care model, which includes behavioral health coaches, licensed therapists, and psychiatrists.

Same-day medication delivery is now available at no additional cost to all Ginger members residing in metro areas of New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis, Boston, and Austin; and will expand to additional regions in the coming weeks and months.

On the record

“We have extensive evidence that when indicated and appropriately prescribed, medications can be a very helpful addition to the treatment of patients with behavioral health diagnoses,” said Dr. Jon Kole, Director of Psychiatry at Ginger. “However, one of the greatest challenges we face in psychiatry, exacerbated by the high demand for care during COVID-19, is the information gap between provider prescriptions and patient use. This can lead to increased risks of medication mis-management and poor outcomes. Ginger’s partnership with a market leader like Capsule not only improves convenience for our members, but provides vital feedback to our psychiatry team to provide the highest quality, evidence-based, patient-centered care.”

“Capsule is thrilled to partner with Ginger to continue building on our support for psychiatrists and to enable individuals to get the mental health treatment they need as easily and quickly as possible,” said Eric Kinariwala, Founder and CEO, Capsule. “Bringing together Capsule’s technology platform and APIs with Ginger’s on-demand mental health system will lead to better health outcomes and lower costs for patients and employers alike.”

The context

Mental health prescriptions have skyrocketed in recent years. Antidepressants are taken by 16% of people in the U.S. and are projected to be a $16B industry by 2023. Yet the majority of these medication regimens are taken without regular professional supervision; nearly 70% of Americans taking a single antidepressant have not seen a mental health professional in the past year. When left unmanaged, mental health prescription usage can result in adverse interactions, unnecessary medication dependency, and poor transition on and off medications. Employers also bear the cost of unmanaged prescription usage. A recent report from the Pacific Business Group on Health cites that while only 2.2% of wasteful prescriptions are classified as antidepressants, they represent 6.5% of potential prescription savings for employers.

Over the last few months, Ginger has seen a significant increase in members’ mental health needs, with 335% uptick in demand for therapy and psychiatry services in January 2021 in comparison to pre-pandemic averages.1 By delivering evidence-based behavioral health coaching, therapy, and psychiatry right from a smartphone, Ginger is the only end-to-end telemental health provider designed to meet the skyrocketing demand at a fraction of the cost of traditional care. Ginger’s nationwide network of board-certified psychiatrists support members with managing their mental health medications, ranging from traditional antidepressants to more complex mood-stabilizing medications. When needed, members can work with a psychiatrist one-on-one, wherever they are, to understand current medications, order labs, change regimens or start new prescriptions.