Let's Talk Interactive, a Charlotte-based telehealth provider, continues to thrive in a time when the market is overflowing with similar business concepts. That, according to founder and CEO Art Cooksey, is because LTI is not a typical telehealth service.
Founded in 2001 by Cooksey, LTI's customizable telehealth solutions gives health-care and mental health professionals the ability to provide to services in a way that helps eliminate problems with patient accessibility.
"When we started, we set out with a mission to impact and build out a mental health network leveraging technology," he said. "As you can imagine, technology in 2001 was not where it's at today."
Cooksey said in 2016, after he was approached by a hedge fund looking to buy up successful telehealth companies, he realized the industry was about to catch up with his vision for LTI.
"We pivoted ... and started to release a whole new suite of products based on technology available in today's environment, versus what I was building on at the turn of the century," he said.
On Thursday, the company announced the appointment of two new board members, Dr. J Mack Slaughter, a Dallas-Fort Worth-based ER doctor and TikTok content creator, and Kathy Ireland, entrepreneur and former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. Cooksey said bringing Ireland and Slaughter on board as professionals and advocates will serve to strengthen the company, overall.
LTI is also working with Ireland's brand, Kathy Ireland World Wide, to help make LTI's mental and behavioral telehealth services as widespread as possible.
“Through this relationship, potentially millions in rural, remote, urban and underserved communities will benefit from the increased access to better quality health care, specialists and mental health professionals that LTI technology provides," Cooksey said.
Additionally, the company is helping Ireland stand up telehealth services for substance use recovery center Ascension Recovery Services.
Over the last several years, the company has also partnered with counties and school districts across Florida to install its telehealth kiosk machines. These kiosks, Cooksey said, allow students who lack access to mental health resources the ability to connect with licensed psychologists and psychiatrists. Most recently, LTI began working with school districts in Brevard, Gadsden, Holmes, Orange, Wakulla and Washington counties, he said.
"Florida is a big state, and there are a lot of rural areas, so providers are sometimes hard to get to," he said. "In the school, there is a designated place for that child to go sit down for a session ... and the child is able to work directly with a provider."
Between October 2019 and March 2020, the kiosks helped facilitate more than 230 virtual therapy sessions. That number grew to more than 2,500 by June 2020.
