Virtual PTSD Care for Active-Duty Military, Veterans Expanded by Rebound Health

Rebound Health is expanding virtual PTSD treatment for people who may have difficulty getting specialized care, including service members and veterans.

The company combines video therapy with an application offering exercises, education and support between appointments.

It treats PTSD connected to military service and other forms of trauma.

“It’s not a science gap or a clinical gap,” co-founder and CEO Raeva Kumar told Military.com in an interview. “It’s an access and operational gap that we’re solving.”

A Company Shaped by Personal Experience

Kumar worked in digital health before receiving a PTSD diagnosis herself.

She contacted 22 therapists before finding one with the training and availability to treat her. After receiving evidence-based care, Kumar said she achieved lasting remission and became focused on making proven treatment easier to obtain.

Kumar co-founded Rebound with Dr. Erin Berenz, a clinical psychologist who has researched PTSD, trauma and alcohol-use disorders. Rebound began with a self-guided application, but users asked for specialized therapy with trained clinicians.

Stephen Smith, co-founder and CEO of Noto and NOCD, founded NOCD after struggling to find effective care for his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). He said three of his siblings serve on active duty.

How Rebound, Noto and NOCD Fit Together

NOCD announced its acquisition of Rebound in January and introduced Noto as the parent brand supporting both companies.

NOCD specializes in OCD, while Rebound focuses on PTSD and related trauma conditions. Noto supplies shared technology and business operations intended to help both specialty treatment companies expand.

Noto describes itself as an AI-enabled platform that works with insurers, enrolls patients and manages clinician networks. It has said AI primarily assists with billing, scheduling, notes and marketing outreach.

Since Rebound delivers care through an online platform, privacy may be a particular concern for active-duty patients. Kumar and Smith said Rebound has no data-sharing agreements with outside organizations and treats patient information as confidential.

What Rebound’s PTSD Treatment Includes

Rebound’s primary treatment is prolonged exposure therapy, commonly called PE.

During PE, a patient gradually approaches trauma-related memories, feelings and safe situations that the patient has avoided. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) identifies PE, cognitive processing therapy, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), as the most effective trauma-focused psychotherapies for PTSD.

Credit: Rebound Health

PE generally requires eight to 15 sessions, delivered twice per week.

Patients meet face to face with licensed therapists through video appointments. Rebound’s application also provides treatment exercises, educational material, messaging with therapists, and access to assistance between sessions.

Its therapists respond to messages at least once daily within 24 hours.

Research reviewed by the VA has found that PE delivered through secure video can reduce PTSD symptoms about as effectively as face-to-face PE. The 2023 VA-Defense Department guideline strongly recommends secure video delivery when the therapy has been validated for that format or other options are unavailable.

The guideline found insufficient evidence to recommend mobile applications or other self-guided interventions as standalone PTSD treatment.

Company Reports Improvement for Most Patients

Rebound reports that patients receive an average of 13 PE sessions and that 67% achieve a clinically meaningful improvement.

The company defines improvement as at least a 10-point drop on a standard questionnaire used to track PTSD symptoms, a threshold also recognized by VA.

Kumar said Rebound administers the PCL-5 at least every three weeks. When a patient does not improve as expected, clinicians bring the case to a specialist consultation, consider adjustments and refer the patient elsewhere if Rebound cannot provide the required level of care.

Military Expansion Brings Advisers and Employment Efforts

Rebound announced Aug. 20 that seven advisers will work with its clinical and operating leaders as it expands its military outreach.

They include retired Vice Adm. Dr. Raquel C. Bono, a former Defense Health Agency director; retired four-star Army Gens. Paul E. Funk II and Michael X. Garrett; former VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin; retired Maj. Gen. Dennis LeMaster, a former commander of the Army Medical Center of Excellence; and health care executives Bob Jansen and Al Reicheg.

Credit: Rebound Health

The advisers will help Rebound understand and reach service members, veterans and military families. Rebound and Noto are currently looking to recruit more veterans into their workforces, Kumar and Smith said.

Rebound’s openings primarily cover full-time, licensed mental health therapists who provide virtual PTSD treatment in several states. Noto and NOCD list positions in finance, content development, patient intake, member operations, territory management, provider enrollment and insurer relations.

Rebound says it serves patients in all 50 states and accepts most major insurance plans. Smith said the goal is not to create another form of therapy, but to make proven care easier to achieve.

“We’re not reinventing treatment for PTSD,” he said. “We’re taking existing highly effective treatments and scaling them.”