Premier Health Group, a tech developer for the healthcare industry, has launched a new tech-enabled mental health initiative, focused on providing a mental health counselling app.
Through private and secure online video, the app will allow patients to access and book sessions with experienced professionals when and where they need it. The app is targeted toward patients in urban centers and remote and underserved populations.
“Having the ability to offer virtual mental health counselling services is pivotal to our patient-centric app.”
As part of the new initiative, Premier Health will also focus on providing access to mental health to underserved and underprivileged communities, which, due to geography and the scarcity of mental health professionals, have previously been overlooked.
“It’s disheartening to hear that 1 in 5 people in Canada will personally experience a mental health problem or illness and due to the lack of accessibility to care providers. We are failing to meet the needs of mental health care provision,” said Dr. Essam Hamza, CEO of Premier Health. “Having the ability to offer virtual mental health counselling services is pivotal to our patient-centric app. The need is there, and Premier Health, working alongside Dr. Ali and Dr. McKenzie, will develop the tools and framework to be able to overcome the barriers associated with mental health treatment.”
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Premier Health, founded in 2013, is a publicly traded Vancouver-based company developing healthcare approaches that combine human skill-based expertise with emerging technologies, with the goal of upping Canada’s standard for services in locations of interest worldwide. Its subsidiary, HealthVue, develops proprietary technology to offer healthcare through the combination of connected primary care clinics with telemedicine and artificial intelligence.
Dr. Tahmeena Ali and Dr. Robert McKenzie, are Vancouver-based family physicians with extensive experience in mental healthcare, and will be campaigning for Premier Health’s new initiative.
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“Through our program, we are aiming to remove the stigma around seeing a psychiatrist and promoting team-based care by bringing them to the patient’s home medical office,” said McKenzie. “Now, through the virtual care initiative with Premier Health, we will be able to reach an even wider demographic.”
Premier Health currently serves over 100,000 active patients and has plans to rapidly increase that number both in Canada and internationally.
Image courtesy Pixabay.
