Discovery Health expanded access to mental healthcare for 22,000 members in one year, with better outcomes and lower hospital costs
Key Highlights
- ➤22,000 Discovery Health members activated digital mental-health benefits in 12 months
- ➤Depression improvement reached 60% to 78%, depending on baseline severity
- ➤Anxiety improvement reached 60% to 66%, depending on baseline severity
- ➤6% lower adjusted mental-health-related in-hospital costs followed use
- ➤Amwell expanded SilverCloud access through South Africa’s first funded digital therapeutic benefit
Expert Statements
Dr. Noluthando Nematswerani, Chief Clinical Officer, Discovery Health
“Introducing South Africa's first funded digital therapeutic for mental health is a milestone we are genuinely proud of - not because of what it represents for Discovery Health, but because of what it means for our members. iCBT is a clinically validated, effective treatment that puts members in the driver's seat of their own mental health recovery, on their own terms and in their own time”
Ian Carr, Vice President, International Behavioural Health at Amwell
“Discovery Health has demonstrated what can be achieved when evidence-based digital treatment is embedded into an existing mental health benefit, clinical referral pathway, and member experience”
Ian Carr, Vice President, International Behavioural Health at Amwell
“Reaching 22,000 activations in 12 months, alongside strong clinical outcomes, high satisfaction and lower adjusted in-hospital costs, demonstrates the potential for guided digital CBT to expand access while supporting the long-term sustainability of mental healthcare systems”
Michael Miller, Senior Vice President at Amwell
“These results point to a practical model for health plans: fund digital care as part of the existing benefit, embed access in the digital and clinical pathways members already use, keep the trusted clinician referral, combine on-demand treatment with personalized human support, and measure the clinical and financial outcomes so the plan can show what it achieved”
BOSTON and JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amwell® (NYSE: AMWL), a leading provider of technology-enabled care, today published a new case study on Discovery Health’s use of SilverCloud® by Amwell® to deliver a fully funded digital mental health benefit in South Africa. The case study examines the three questions health plans ask of digital care: whether members will use it, whether it improves their health, and what it does to costs.
In the program's first 12 months, 22,000 Discovery Health members activated the benefit. Members with moderate, moderately severe or severe depression at baseline, and members with moderate or severe anxiety, showed clinically significant improvement rates of 60% to 78% across depression and anxiety measures, depending on severity at baseline. 90% of surveyed users were satisfied, and the case study reports 6% lower adjusted mental-health-related in-hospital costs in the year after use, after adjusting for baseline experience and confounding factors.
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