Pipeline: Caravel Deepens ABA Footprint; Alsana Expands to Meet Increased Need for Eating Disorder Treatment

Caravel opens new center

Caravel Autism Health has opened a new center in Meridian, Idaho. It adds to Caravel’s other locations in the state, which are based in Boise and Nampa.

Overall, Caravel has more than 40 locations throughout Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Washington, Iowa and Idaho. It is owned by the private equity and venture capital firm Frazier Healthcare Partners.

Like Caravel’s other locations, the new center will provide applied behavioral analysis (ABA) to children between the ages of 2 and 18.

Alsana expands to meet heightened demand for eating disorder treatment

Alsana — an eating disorder treatment provider with programs in Alabama, California and Missouri — has added a new location in the St. Louis area.

Called Juneberry, the new residential treatment center is Alsana’s seventh overall and its second in the state of Missouri. The 12-bed facility is located on a 14-acre campus and equipped to treat adults of all genders using the provider’s adaptive care model, which integrates medical, nutritional and therapeutic care with movement and relational therapies.

The increase in eating disorders amid the pandemic prompted Alsana to add the new program in an attempt to expand care access, according to a press release announcing the news.

In addition to offering care at brick-and-mortar facilities, Alsana also serves patients nationwide through its virtual care programs.

Behavioral health, ketamine provider’s national expansion plan

Klarisana — a behavioral health and ketamine provider — has opened a new clinic in Centennial, Colorado.

Founded in 2015, Klarisana belongs to the growing list of companies exploring the use of psychedelics to treat certain behavioral health conditions. Specifically, it provides intramuscular ketamine therapy to treat mental health and chronic pain conditions. Currently, it has seven outpatient locations across Texas, Colorado and New Mexico.

“We believe that psychedelic medicine is the future in saving lives and Klarisana is paving the way for more people to receive life-changing care,” CEO Neil Haznar said in a press release announcing the news.

At the same time, Klarisana announced plans to open additional clinics in California, Pennsylvania and Oregon. Plus, it is now accepting Medicaid at its Texas and Colorado locations and “is poised to become the number one behavioral health and ketamine center in the United States by the end of 2021,” according to the press release.

Cordant adds MAT pharmacy

Cordant Health Solutions — which provides monitoring and risk assessment tools for behavioral health organizations — has opened a new pharmacy specializing in substance use disorder (SUD) treatment medication. The new location in Portland is part of the company’s nationwide managed medication-assisted treatment (MAT) pharmacy program.

The goal with the new pharmacy is to make MAT medications more accessible, according to Daniel Mandoli, president of Cordant’s pharmacy services. That’s especially important given the rise in SUDs amid the pandemic — and the fact that nearly one in three pharmacies in overdose hot zones reported restricting access to MAT drugs, according to a 2020 study published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

“As a healthcare community, we must do better and offer every available service to those seeking help for substance use disorder,” Mandoli said in a press release announcing the news. “With the sharp increase in opioid-related overdoses over the past year, it is a tragedy that patients with addiction face stigma and barriers to access buprenorphine, a safe and effective medication that has proven to reduce the risk of overdose and improve adherence to treatment programs.”

Based in Denver, Cordant works in the behavioral health, chronic pain and criminal justice spaces. The tools it offers through its pharmacy and drug testing programs help providers manage their patient populations to improve medication adherence, reduce risk and improve outcomes.

With the addition of the Portland location, Cordant’s pharmacy program now serves 11 states and nearly 12,000 patients.