As a member of the Army’s 506th Infantry unit, Paul Kim had a front-row seat to some of the most intense fighting of the Iraq War.
The experience changed Kim and his fellow troops forever, leading to the groundbreaking 2010 PBS documentary “The Wounded Platoon,” showing a group of young men torn apart by crime, depression and suicide relating to mental health struggles from their time in Iraq.
Kim fought his own battles with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but grew frustrated with finding quality access to mental health services. Through frustration came an idea – what if there was a better way for veterans to receive quick, reliable access to therapy?
Kim founded Sensible Care with the goal of transforming the behavioral health industry.
Like other programs, Sensible Care provides telehealth but offers both psychiatric and therapy sessions while accepting most major health insurance providers, including TRICARE.
Kim said another twist is the company isn’t just another tech platform booking appointments from patient to doctor, it’s made a real investment in hiring full-time mental health professionals. Since the company’s founding in 2017, more than 100 therapists have joined Sensible Care’s TRICARE network in California alone, with more than 270 clinicians across the country providing mostly telehealth services.
What’s the number Kim’s most proud of? Helping more than 5,000 veterans, service members and their families.
With his company approaching the 10-year mark, the Army veteran believes he’s reduced barriers for ailing veterans facing long wait times to see a specialist, worked with insurance companies hesitant to provide coverage, and overcome other confusing hurdles blocking access to care.
Kim also had a vision to create a platform that considers the diversity of the veteran population, knowing that every service member’s mental health challenges are unique.
A Call to Serve
Born in South Korea, Kim moved to the U.S. when he was five years old, growing up in Southern California’s Inland Empire area. He will never forget the day he became an American citizen.
Sept. 11, 2001.
Gaining citizenship on one of the country’s darkest days fueled a sense of patriotism in the Korean American. Kim felt the urge to serve and the Army provided a sense of adventure the 18-year-old man craved.
He would certainly experience that and more.
Kim joined the Army in 2003, eventually becoming a captain. He was part of units that suffered daily enemy attacks. Casualties mounted. Watching fellow soldiers get killed and severely wounded, Kim was haunted by trauma and anxiety.
“This was 2004, 2005. It was a pretty hairy time. This was when the insurgency was probably a year from reaching its peak. IED (improvised explosive device) attacks every day, rocket attacks, and mortar attacks every single day. We were just surviving,” Kim told Military.com. “My unit had hundreds of casualties and probably 20 to 25 KIA (killed in action) from our battalion. So, I got through all of that, and I served my active-duty time, and I came home, and I just saw a lot of things that I never dealt with. A lot of friends were killed in combat, and I never went to the memorial services that we had there because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
After 12 years, Kim left the Army but couldn’t shake off the vice grip of PTSD, experiencing terrifying panic attacks and bouts of hypervigilance.
“The doors of the barracks on base are really heavy and loud. And I just remember every time a door would slam in the big barracks building, I would jump up thinking that it was a rocket attack or mortar attack,” Kim said. “You don’t come off that sort of reaction easily. Once I came home, I definitely had those more acute symptoms. Other symptoms I had were just like being on high alert for so long. It just kind of does something to you. And I think that’s what led me to have sort of anxiety attacks, panic attacks, where your body is in this fight or flight response, and you have physical reactions.”
Pushed to the breaking point, Kim reached out to Veterans Affairs for help. But he was left disappointed and searching for something more, leading to the catalyst for Sensible Care.
“I was trying to get help and my experience with the VA was just not great. Like, after 10 minutes, the (therapist) was like, ‘Hey, here’s this medicine,’ but didn’t explain to me why I was dealing with this, what was going on,” Kim said. “But this was two decades ago and I think a lot has improved, so I don’t want to characterize the VA as struggling and not helping veterans. But that experience really caused me to just kind of dive into the issue of this access to care. Why is it so hard for me as a combat veteran to get help?”
Walking away from the VA, Kim tried to solve problems on his own. That didn’t work either.
“I thought, ‘Hey, I’ll just try and get better myself.’ But I think the tipping point for me was while I was in a meeting at church and I got a text from my old platoon sergeant saying that one of my friends who survived the first tour with me got sent back (to Iraq) and was killed,” Kim said. “And this was a guy who took care of me when I was in Korea with him. We would share body heat on a cold, Korean mountain. That really pushed me to want to make a difference, especially for veterans and military members.”
Search for a Better Way
For nine years, Kim managed a psychiatrist’s business, soaking up as much information as he could on behavioral health systems.
“Nobody was taking insurance at this time. Nobody was using technology,” he said. “And so, I helped her with insurance, using technology and trying to be more efficient.”
Teaming with Dr. Paul Chung, a highly acclaimed naval flight surgeon, Kim developed Sensible Care with the main goal of improving access to providers that take TRICARE coverage, which many therapists view as complex. The company used technology advancements to streamline appointment scheduling and deliver timely care. Tech upgrades also allowed Sensible Care to eliminate outdated or inaccurate provider lists that bogged down the system.
Kim’s program has also used an educational approach with providers, reducing the stigma around counseling veterans. All too often, therapists assume all veterans are fighting PTSD or trauma-related problems. Those assumptions, along with sluggish TRICARE claims, create a frustrating bottleneck for patients trying to access care, according to Kim.
“I was a reserve company commander of like 150 soldiers. And we had a staff member of that unit who had a daughter who was dealing with severe depression. They were struggling. This guy was like the backbone of our unit, but he couldn’t get his daughter to a therapist that would take TRICARE,” Kim said. “I was like, are you kidding me? How is this still an issue? You have TRICARE and the government says you can use TRICARE, but the government doesn’t control the capacity and the providers that will accept it. I think providers are just kind of scared of it in the first place. I don’t know how they handle claims and the service member population is challenging.”
While telehealth therapy isn’t for everyone, the benefits of seeing a provider faster and not having to travel long distances to receive reliable care are beneficial.
In less than a decade, the company’s network has grown to include veterans who represent 20% of its patients, despite making up only 2% of the general population.
As the company has opened doors for veterans seeking mental health care, another interesting development occurred – the VA, which left Kim disillusioned after his time in Iraq, has been talking to Sensible Care about joining its external provider network.
“I think that’s a move that could expand our reach and legitimacy within government healthcare systems,” he said. “It could also position us competitively in the veteran health ecosystem.”
In the future, Kim plans to expand Sensible Care to non-veterans, believing that reducing barriers to teletherapy could benefit everyone.
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