Cutting Rehospitalizations in Psychiatry: Amae Health on What Biomarkers Can Prove So Far

Amae Health recently announced they are partnering with Google Health Enterprise to incorporate wearable-derived behavioral data into its precision psychiatry care model.^1,2

Scott Fears, MD, chief medical officer of Amae Health and professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), says psychiatry still lacks the kind of biomarker-outcomes evidence base that has reshaped diabetes management. In an interview with Psychiatric Times, Fears described how Amae Health's care model—which pairs digital biomarker tracking with intensive multidisciplinary treatment—has been associated with sharply lower rehospitalization rates in a complex, high-acuity patient population.

Fears drew a direct comparison to diabetes care, where continuous glucose monitoring and related biomarkers have a well-established evidence base linking tracking to fewer hospitalizations and better long-term outcomes. Psychiatry, he said, has not reached that same level of proof for its own emerging biomarkers, which at Amae Health include vocal- and wearable-derived digital signals measured alongside conventional clinician assessments and patient self-report. So far, he said, those biomarkers largely track with what clinicians and patients already report, and the next phase of work is determining how to integrate them more deliberately into care.

Rehospitalization Data

Amae Health treats a complex population, Fears said, many of whom enter care directly from inpatient psychiatric admission. A typical 30-day psychiatric rehospitalization rate in the general population runs between 20% and 25%; Amae Health's treated population, he said, has seen that rate fall to 2% to 3%.

"We treat a very complex population, many of whom are coming straight out of inpatient care," said Fears. "A 30-day rehospitalization rate in a general population is somewhere between 20% and 25%, but we're able to get that down to 2% to 3%."

The Attribution Challenge

Fears was direct about what that figure can and cannot prove. Amae Health's model layers biomarker tracking on top of care from dietitians, health coaches, therapists, psychiatrists, and primary care providers, he said, which makes it difficult to isolate the independent contribution of biomarkers from the rest of the multidisciplinary treatment. He does not currently characterize the improved outcomes as attributable to biomarkers alone.

"I don't see it as the magic sauce," said Fears. "I see these all as important threads that are contributing to an overall improved outcome. Over time, we will be able to say our biomarkers are catching relapses early, prior to a full decompensation. We will get there—we're just not there yet."

Fears said future work will focus on demonstrating that biomarker signals can flag early signs of clinical deterioration before a patient fully decompensates, which would give the data an outcome measure more directly attributable to the biomarkers themselves rather than to the surrounding treatment model. That evidence base, he said, is still being built.

Dr Fears is the chief medical officer at Amae Health and a professor of psychiatry at UCLA.

References

1. Amae Health partners with Google Health Enterprise to bring wearable data integration to the treatment of complex mental health conditions. News release. August 4, 2026. Accessed August 4, 2026. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/08/04/3338378/0/en/amae-health-partners-with-google-health-enterprise-to-bring-wearable-data-integration-to-the-treatment-of-complex-mental-health-conditions.html

2. Kuntz L. Bringing wearable data into psychiatric care: Amae Health partners with Google Health Enterprise to improve outcomes. Psychiatric Times. August 4, 2026. https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/bringing-wearable-data-into-psychiatric-care-amae-health-partners-with-google-health-enterprise-to-improve-outcomes