Understanding the At-Home Ketamine Therapy Boom

Searches for ketamine therapy in the USA have been gradually increasing since 2020/2021.

In this article, we look at a key reason why at-home ketamine therapy has been quickly growing in popularity.

The Covid Era Telehealth Law Change

In March 2020, the USA’s Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) issued emergency rules allowing controlled substances to be prescribed via telehealth without requiring an initial in-person visit.

Previously, you typically needed to see a doctor face-to-face first before they could prescribe a Schedule III drug like ketamine.

This opened up an avenue for companies to scale their business nationally. Rather than having relationships with doctors all across the country, they could instead build relationships with MDs who could take the calls remotely.

This lowered costs, raising margins, and allowed the companies to scale nationally.

Since around 2021, at least 4 major “at-home” ketamine therapy companies have emerged:

• Mindbloom
• Better U
• Innerwell
• Joyous

What do these companies provide?

Core offering:

• Telehealth access to prescribing clinicians (so you don’t need to find one yourself or go in-person)
• Compounding pharmacy relationships (sublingual ketamine isn’t a standard commercial product, so they work with specific pharmacies that make and ship the troches/tablets)

Variable “wrapper” depending on the company:

• Integration support (ranging from licensed therapists, to “guides” to just check-in texts)
• Preparation content (intention-setting, what to expect)
• Session environment aids (eye masks, curated playlists)
• Ongoing monitoring (mood tracking apps and dose adjustments based on feedback)

In practice, this equates to:

• Convenience and accessibility (no clinic visits, ships to your door)
• Lower cost than IV infusion clinics ($129-500/month vs $400-800 per infusion session)
• A structured program vs figuring it out yourself

Varying Support Levels

One of the key variables between the offerings is the support level.

Roughly speaking, Mindbloom offers one of the most comprehensive support packages, and Joyous offers one of the least.

This caters to two different groups. Some, especially first-timers, want (and can benefit a lot) from more support.

Whilst those who have used ketamine more in the past may want a less hands-on approach, at the benefit of the lower cost.

Roundup

Above, we’ve looked at what changed during Covid to allow the boom in at-home ketamine therapy.

Of course, this change to Telehealth prescribing affected more than just ketamine therapy. It also allowed for telehealth prescribing of weight loss jabs and other products too.

If you have any questions or reflections, please leave them below in the comments.