Frequently Asked Questions

ReliefAI is built for outpatient mental health providers at any scale - solo therapists, group practices, integrated behavioral health organizations, and larger health systems looking to extend their clinical reach between appointments. If you work with clients managing depression, anxiety, PTSD, or other behavioral health conditions, ReliefAI was designed for you - whether your priority is strengthening between-session therapy support, reducing dropout, or unlocking a new revenue stream through RTM billing that your practice may already be entitled to.

ReliefAI connects the therapist and the client between appointments through a mobile app and a provider portal. Between sessions, clients check in on their mood, complete journaling exercises, and work through assignments their therapist has assigned. The provider portal gives therapists a real-time view of client engagement, assessment scores, and mood trends - so they walk into each session already knowing what happened that week. That data also drives the RTM billing documentation automatically.

ReliefAI does use AI - and we are deliberate about how. The features help clients express themselves more fully during journaling sessions and analyze voice and text inputs for clinical patterns such as mood indicators. Clinical judgment stays with you, where it belongs. ReliefAI will never suggest a diagnosis, recommend a treatment change, or position itself as a substitute for the therapeutic relationship. Therapists evaluating AI tools for therapists reasonably want to know where the line is - and at ReliefAI, that line is clear: you remain the clinician.

ReliefAI is a clinical tool for therapists, not a self-help app for the general public. Your clients use it because you brought it into their care - and everything they do in the app flows back to you. You set the assignments. You review the data. The platform supports your work; it does not try to replace it. It is also classified as Software as a Medical Device (SaMD), which means it is held to regulatory and security standards that consumer apps are not.

RPM (Remote Patient Monitoring) tracks physiologic data - vital signs, glucose, oxygen saturation - typically from hardware devices. RTM tracks therapeutic data: did the patient complete their exercises? Is their mood improving? How are they responding to treatment? RTM data can be self-reported by the patient, which is what makes it well-suited to behavioral health and digital therapeutics for mental health. Both RPM and RTM can be billed separately - but not by the same provider for the same patient in the same period.

Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) is an FDA regulatory classification for software intended for medical purposes that does not require a hardware device to function. To qualify as SaMD, a product must meet specific safety and effectiveness standards and cannot make unsubstantiated medical claims. This classification matters for RTM billing: only tools classified as SaMD can be prescribed by a clinician as part of a treatment plan and legally generate RTM reimbursement. Consumer wellness apps - regardless of how sophisticated they are - do not meet this bar. ReliefAI is classified as a Software as a Medical Device.

Measurement-based care (MBC) is the systematic use of validated clinical instruments - such as the PHQ-9 for depression or GAD-7 for anxiety - to track patient progress over time and inform clinical decisions. Rather than relying on session recall alone, MBC creates an objective baseline and tracks treatment response at regular intervals. Research consistently shows that measurement-based care improves outcomes: therapists catch deterioration earlier, adjust treatment plans faster, and can demonstrate clinical progress more clearly. ReliefAI integrates MBC directly into the patient workflow - clients complete validated assessments through the app, and results flow to the provider portal for clinical review and billing documentation.

Adjunctive therapy technology refers to digital tools designed to support - not replace - traditional clinical care. "Adjunctive" means the tool sits alongside the therapeutic relationship and enhances it: extending the reach of the therapist between appointments, giving patients structured ways to apply what they learn in sessions, and giving clinicians data that makes each appointment more informed. ReliefAI is an adjunctive tool. Clinical decisions - diagnosis, treatment planning, care plan adjustments - remain entirely with the therapist. The platform provides the data layer and the between-session structure that makes those decisions better.

Patient engagement in behavioral health refers to how actively and consistently a client participates in their own care - not just attending sessions, but completing assignments, tracking mood, following through on treatment goals, and staying connected to their provider between appointments. Engagement is one of the strongest predictors of treatment outcomes. Low engagement is closely linked to early dropout, which research estimates affects 20-50% of therapy clients. Digital tools that support between-session therapy can significantly improve engagement by giving clients a structured, accessible way to participate in their care every day - and by giving therapists real-time visibility into whether that engagement is happening.

The 45-minute session gives a therapist a snapshot. RTM fills the 167 hours in between. When a client's engagement or mood starts deteriorating, RTM data gives you an early warning - before a crisis, not after. Clients also follow through more consistently when they know their provider is reviewing the data, which strengthens the therapeutic rapport that drives outcomes. The result is richer sessions, lower dropout, and a care model that shifts from reactive to proactive.

Yes. RTM is increasingly used in pediatric behavioral health. Between-session tracking gives clinicians an objective view of daily patterns that a weekly session alone often can't surface - particularly useful when children struggle to articulate their emotional state in a structured clinical setting. Consent and parental involvement requirements apply and vary by jurisdiction.

Medicare covers behavioral health RTM with proper documentation. Most major commercial payers have followed, though coverage terms vary by plan. Medicaid coverage is state-dependent. Coverage has expanded significantly in recent years and continues to grow - including expanded Medicare eligibility for MFTs and MHCs. Whether your specific patient mix and payer breakdown qualifies is something we can help you work through.

RTM allows you to bill for clinical work you are already doing - reviewing patient progress between sessions - that was previously unbillable. For practices implementing integrated behavioral health workflows, RTM adds a structured reimbursement layer on top of existing care. The amount varies by patient mix, payer breakdown, and how consistently RTM is documented. Most practices that implement RTM will see additional monthly reimbursement that more than covers the platform cost. We can model that out for your practice specifically.

Yes, fully. ReliefAI is a HIPAA Business Associate. Every clinic we work with signs a Business Associate Agreement (BAA), and all patient data is stored on compliant, encrypted infrastructure. We treat your clients' information with the same seriousness you do.

No. Your clients' data belongs to your practice, not to us. We never use patient information to train AI models or for any purpose beyond operating the platform for your clinic. Voice recordings from journaling sessions are analyzed for clinical insights and then permanently deleted - they are not retained. We hold data to serve you, nothing more.

Your clinic does. ReliefAI holds patient data on your behalf as a Business Associate under HIPAA - the records belong to your practice and ultimately to the patient. If a client requests access to or deletion of their data, that request flows through your clinic. You stay in control.

Most dropout happens in the silence between sessions. When clients feel disconnected from their care, they disengage - and eventually stop showing up. ReliefAI keeps that connection active through regular check-ins and structured engagement, strengthening the therapeutic rapport that is the single strongest predictor of treatment success. And when a client starts pulling away, their pattern in the app reflects it - giving you the chance to reach out before a missed session becomes a goodbye.

Both. Clients can explore the app independently - completing mood check-ins, journaling, and assessments at their own pace. But you can also prescribe specific assignments as part of their care plan, which appear as priority items in their app. You set the structure; they engage within it.

The best way is to see it. Book a demo and we will show you exactly how ReliefAI fits into a practice like yours - what your dashboard would look like, what your clients would experience, and what RTM billing could realistically generate for your organization.