Virtual mental health platform

Abstract

According to various embodiments, systems and methods herein describe a virtual mental health/therapy platform. In particular embodiments, the systems and methods disclosed herein describe a system that includes matching a particular patient to one or more therapists, providing an initial assessment of the particular patient to the one or more therapists, and providing a continuous care application to the particular patient (e.g., to track process, receive care plan related reminders, and various other functionality).

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An electronic therapy platform for providing improved patient and therapist matching, the electronic therapy platform comprising:
 a) one or more servers each comprising a database and at least one processor and operatively connected to: i) a particular patient's computing device; and ii) at least one therapist's computing device;   b) a matching engine for calculating a match score of the particular patient and the at least one therapist by: i) receiving patient data items associated with patient answers to a series of patient questions presented to the particular patient at the particular patient's computing device; ii) receiving therapist data items associated with therapist answers to a series of therapist questions; iii) assigning a weight to each of the patient answers and the therapist answers; iv) determining the match score based on the weight of each of the patient answers and the therapist answers;   c) an assessment engine for providing an initial assessment of the particular patient by: i) receiving assessment data items associated with patient answers to a series of assessment questions presented to the particular patient at the particular patient's computing device; ii) assigning a level of severity to each of the assessment data items; and iii) transmitting the initial assessment information to the at least one therapist's computing device; and   d) a continuous care engine configured for: i) receiving schedule data items associated with the particular patient's therapy schedule; ii) associating the schedule data items with particular dates and times; iii) calculating reminder times for each of the schedule data items; and iv) transmitting at least one reminder to the particular patient based on the calculated reminder time.   
     
     
         2 . The electronic therapy platform of  claim 1 , wherein the electronic therapy platform further comprises a video conferencing application for providing video conferencing between the particular patient and the at least one therapist. 
     
     
         3 . The electronic therapy platform of  claim 2 , wherein the video conferencing application is HIPAA compliant. 
     
     
         4 . The electronic therapy platform of  claim 3 , wherein the match score is at least partially based on matching categories, the matching categories based on types of therapy styles. 
     
     
         5 . The electronic therapy platform of  claim 4 , wherein the matching categories include empiricism, rationalism, humanism, and collectivism categories. 
     
     
         6 . The electronic therapy platform of  claim 5 , wherein the matching engine is configured to calculate the match score as a percent between about 1-100. 
     
     
         7 . The electronic therapy platform of  claim 1 , wherein the continuous care engine is configured for transmitting the at least one reminder to the particular patient via email. 
     
     
         8 . The electronic therapy platform of  claim 1 , wherein the continuous care engine is configured for transmitting the at least one reminder to the particular patient via an SMS text message. 
     
     
         9 . The electronic therapy platform of  claim 1 , wherein the continuous care engine is configured for transmitting the at least one reminder to the particular patient via a message facilitated by a social network. 
     
     
         10 . The electronic therapy platform of  claim 1 , wherein the continuous care engine is configured for transmitting the at least one reminder to the particular patient via a message facilitated by a calendar application reminder. 
     
     
         11 . The electronic therapy platform of  claim 1 , wherein the continuous care engine is configured for transmitting the at least one reminder to a contact of the particular patient. 
     
     
         12 . The electronic therapy platform of  claim 1 , wherein the continuous care engine is configured for transmitting the at least one reminder simultaneous to more than one contact of the particular patient. 
     
     
         13 . A computer-implemented method, the method comprising the steps of:
 transmitting an electronic therapist form to a plurality of browsers, each of the plurality of browsers associated with a particular therapist, the electronic therapist form comprising a plurality of therapist queries;   receiving a modified electronic therapist form from each the plurality of browsers, each of the modified electronic therapist forms comprising answers to each of the plurality of therapist queries;   assigning a weight to each answer to each of the plurality of therapist queries;   determining, based at least in part on the assigned weight to each answer, a particular category of a number of categories to categorize each therapist;   storing each of the modified electronic therapists forms and data regarding the category in which each therapist is categorized in memory;   transmitting an electronic patient form to a browser associated with a particular patient, the electronic form comprising a plurality of patient queries;   receiving a modified electronic form from the browser associated with the particular patient, the modified electronic patient form comprising an answer to each of the plurality of patient queries;   assigning a weight to each answer to each of the plurality of patient queries;   determining, based at least in part on the assigned weight to each answer, which of the number of categories of patients to categorize the particular patient;   storing each of the modified electronic patient forms and information regarding which category of patient in which the particular patient is categorized in memory;   extracting the answer to the first patient query of the plurality of patient queries;   searching the electronic therapist forms for an answer corresponding to the answer to the first patient query and creating a preliminary set of electronic therapist forms, wherein each of the electronic therapist forms in the preliminary set comprise the corresponding answer;   matching the particular patient to particular therapists corresponding to three of the preliminary set of electronic therapist forms based at least in part on the category of therapist that each of the particular therapists is categorized and the category that the particular patient is categorized; and   displaying a profile corresponding to each of the three particular therapists on the browser associated with the particular patient.   
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method  claim 13 , wherein the number of categories correspond to major systems of psychotherapy. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 14 , wherein the number of categories correspond to empiricism, rationalism, humanism, and collectivism categories. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method  claim 15 , wherein the particular patient may be categorized in more than one of the number of categories. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 13 , the method further comprising the step of:
 receiving a selection of one of the three particular therapists from the browser associated with the particular patient;   based at least in part on receiving the selection, transmitting, to the browser associated with the particular patient, an initial assessment form, the initial assessment form comprising one or more assessment questions;   receiving an assessment answer for each of the one or more assessment questions from the browser associated with the particular patient;   assigning a weight to each assessment answer;   determining a level of severity for each assessment answer based on the assigned weight; and   transmitting data associated with level of severity for each assessment answer to a browser associated with the selected one of the three particular therapists.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises enabling the particular patient to conduct a remote therapy session with the selected one of the three particular therapists. 
     
     
         19 . A computer-implemented method for providing remote therapy to a patient, the computer-implemented method comprising:
 a) receiving patient data items comprising information regarding a patient's therapy style;   b) receiving therapist data items comprising information regarding a plurality of therapists' therapy styles;   c) based upon receiving the patient data items and the therapist data items, calculating a match score for each of the plurality of therapists and the patient;   d) providing the match score for each of three therapists of the plurality of therapists to the patient, wherein the three therapists include therapists with a top three-highest match scores;   e) receiving an indication of a selection of one of the three therapists from the patient;   f) receiving a treatment plan for the patient from a computing device associated with the selected therapist, wherein the treatment plan comprises one or more events and dates and times that the one or more events take place;   g) calculating a reminder time for transmitting a reminder to the patient regarding the one or more events; and   h) transmitting a reminder to the patient regarding the one or more events at the reminder time.