Talkspace Teams With Amazon on Behavioral Health Benefits

Online behavioral health care company Talkspace has joined an Amazon Health Services program that helps individuals discover and enroll in their health insurance benefits.

With this partnership, individuals who search Amazon.com for topics like “stress relief,” “family therapy” or “sleep help” will discover a way to check their eligibility for therapy and psychiatric services, the companies said in a Tuesday (Sept. 17) press release.

Customers can also visit the Amazon Health web page to explore Talkspace’s offerings and see if their insurance covers them, according to the release. If eligible for coverage, they will be guided to Talkspace’s website to complete the enrollment process, choose a licensed therapist and schedule sessions.

“By making it easier for millions of people across the U.S. to discover their behavioral health benefits while shopping Amazon, we can ensure more people gain access to more than 5,000 licensed therapists they may not have known about, helping them begin their therapy journey with Talkspace,” Jon Cohen, MD, CEO at Talkspace, said in the release.

More than 150 million people have Talkspace as a covered benefit, but many people may not know they have access to these mental health services through their employer or health plan, according to the release.

The company’s new partnership with Amazon aims to improve the awareness of, and access to, these benefits, per the release.

“Amazon aims to simplify the journey to better health by making it easier for customers to discover and access the products, services and professionals they need,” Aaron Martin, vice president of healthcare at Amazon, said in the release. “Our collaboration with Talkspace will not only help customers discover their mental health benefits but also, if they choose, gain access to their own dedicated, licensed therapist in a fraction of the time it might take to see someone in person.”

Only about four in 10 consumers are very familiar with their health insurance benefits, meaning that many miss opportunities to take advantage of benefits that could improve their health outcomes, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence and Lynx collaboration, “The Digital Platform Promise: What Baby Boomers and Seniors Want From Digital Healthcare Platforms.”