Children's Community Health Plan is first in Wisconsin to offer new digital therapeutic treatment for panic attacks, panic disorder, and PTSD

KIRKLAND, Wash. and MILWAUKEE, Feb. 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Children's Community Health Plan (CCHP) has partnered with Freespira, Inc., the maker of the first FDA-cleared digital therapeutic to significantly reduce or eliminate symptoms of panic attacks, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in only 28 days. Freespira is now available to all of CCHP's members, including Medicaid patients, making it the first health plan to offer this new digital treatment in Wisconsin.

"Our team is passionately dedicated to our members and meeting their ever-changing healthcare needs, especially during such a challenging and stressful time," said Mark Rakowski, chief operating officer, CCHP. "Freespira is an exciting and innovative option to add to our mental health toolkit for members who suffer from panic attacks, panic disorder and PTSD. We chose Freespira because it has been not only proven effective at alleviating symptoms, but also has been proven to reduce overall healthcare costs. We see that win-win as the best way to improve the medical and social well-being of our members and the community."

CCHP, an affiliate of Children's Wisconsin, is an HMO dedicated to providing access to the highest quality health care and services to members living in Wisconsin. The health plan serves more than 160,000 adults and children with the combined resources of Children's Hospital, Children's Community Services, Children's specialty, primary care clinics and community partners.

While the use of this treatment isn't limited to adolescents, it's especially important for them as nearly 3 million children have been diagnosed with a serious emotional or behavioral health condition during the pandemic according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Roughly 6 percent of children ages 6 through 17 live with serious emotional or behavioral challenges, including severe anxiety, and trauma-related mental health conditions like PTSD, according to the CDC data.

"The CCHP team realizes that adults, adolescents and their families need new options to tackle moderate to severe anxiety-related behavioral health challenges," said Dean Sawyer, Chief Executive Officer, Freespira. "Even more importantly, they're deeply committed to bringing the newest, most effective treatments on the market to their members. We're proud to offer Freespira, our medication-free, at-home digital therapeutic that reduces symptoms, utilization and cost in as fast as 28 days".

Freespira is unique in that it addresses the underlying physiological cause of panic disorder and PTSD symptoms. The FDA-cleared digital therapeutic has been proven, via multiple studies, to address the hypersensitivity to carbon dioxide and related breathing irregularities which are the key physiological causes of panic disorder and PTSD symptoms. Freespira provides patients with real-time physiological feedback-based training to normalize their respiration rate and exhaled carbon dioxide levels to reduce or eliminate panic disorder and PTSD symptoms.

About Freespira, Inc.

Freespira, Inc. is the maker of Freespira, the only FDA-cleared digital therapeutic proven to significantly reduce or eliminate symptoms of panic attacks, panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in just 28 days by training users to normalize respiratory irregularities. Health plans, self-insured employers and the Veteran's Administration provide the company's drug-free solutions to improve quality of life, reduce medical spend and support the appropriate use of valuable healthcare resources. Find out how at www.freespira.com.

About Children's Community Health Plan (CCHP)

Children's Community Health Plan (CCHP), an affiliate of Children's Wisconsin, is an HMO dedicated to providing access to the highest quality health care and services to our members living in Wisconsin. We are proud to serve over 160,000 members between our two products, Medicaid and Marketplace. Children's Community Health Plan is a member of the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP), which is a national trade association representing more than 75 nonprofit safety net health plans which collectively provide health coverage to more than 20 million people. ACAP's mission is to strengthen not-for-profit Safety Net Health Plans in their work to improve the health and well-being of lower-income people and/or people with significant health needs.

For more information: www.childrenscommunityhealthplan.org/Freespira

To talk with Children's Community Health Plan please contact Mark Rakowski 414-266-6328

Media Contacts:

CCHP
Ashley Cobert
(414) 266-3056
[email protected]

Freespira
Todd Stein
(510) 417-0612
[email protected]

SOURCE Freespira

Related Links

http://www.freespira.com