Click Therapeutics leader talks digital treatments, dangers of unlimited AI

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Pharmaceuticals aren’t the only prescription for a sick patient anymore.

Digital therapeutics—virtual treatments for medical conditions—are becoming more popular. Last year, Medicare created billing codes for use for a select few of these devices. The FDA announced another model on Dec. 5 that field experts hope could get more people on board.

Unlike the average phone app, though, digital therapeutics require FDA authorization and, typically, a prescription. We talked to Viveca Livezey, a neurologist and SVP of clinical development and evidence generation at medical software developer Click Therapeutics, to find out what goes into gathering evidence for these softwares.

Click Therapeutics has an FDA-cleared digital treatment for migraines as well and is running trials of a digital therapeutic for schizophrenia. But it’s perhaps best known for its app to treat depression, Rejoyn, available via prescription since 2024 and Medicare reimbursement from 2025.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in healthcare?

I often say I sit at the intersection of medicine, science, and technology. My role is to ensure that what we’re building at Click—digital therapeutics delivered through software—is held to the same standards as any other medical treatment.

At a high level, my team and I take insights and principles from cognitive neuroscience and behavioral science and turn them into clinically validated treatments that are delivered through a smartphone. We validate these treatments in clinical trials that are designed to evaluate safety and effectiveness with study designs, populations, and endpoints that are important to how a patient feels, functions, or survives.

What healthcare trend are you most optimistic about?

I’m most optimistic about the shift toward integrated care models that combine pharmacologic and behavioral interventions along with wearable data.

As a physician, it’s always been clear to me that medications are only part of the story. Patients’ outcomes are deeply influenced by daily behaviors, environmental triggers, and cognitive patterns—things that are difficult to address and treat completely in short clinical visits.

Digital therapeutics create an opportunity to deliver continuous, personalized support outside the clinic, grounded in evidence-based therapies. We’re already seeing this in areas like migraine, depression, and schizophrenia, where software can complement standard-of-care treatments and address unmet needs, such as negative symptoms in schizophrenia that drugs haven’t been able to effectively target.

Long term, I believe we’ll move toward a model where prescribing a treatment means prescribing both a drug and a validated digital intervention, which has the potential to meaningfully improve outcomes at scale.

What healthcare trend are you least optimistic about?

I’m cautious about the rapid rise of general-purpose AI being used for mental health support without clinical guardrails.

We’re seeing more and more patients turn to widely available AI tools for advice, coping strategies, and even something that resembles therapy. That’s not surprising; it speaks to a very real and urgent gap in the healthcare system around access, immediacy, and personalization. Patients aren’t wrong to want that.

The concern is that most of these tools weren’t built with clinical intent, validated evidence, or safety protocols in mind. They’re optimized for engagement, not outcomes. And in mental health, that distinction really matters. Encouraging dependency, providing unvalidated guidance, or missing signals of risk can have serious consequences.

I believe the future isn’t about limiting AI in healthcare—it’s about ensuring it’s developed and deployed responsibly as a clinically grounded tool that extends care, rather than replaces it.