Cerebral Inc. reportedly plans to ship a major portion of its care coordinator roles to the Philippines. The change is the latest development to Cerebral’s employment model, which has repeatedly been in the spotlight over the past few months.

Specifically, Cerebral’s plan is to have 70% of its care coordinators based in the Philippines by June, according to a Wednesday report from Business Insider, which gathered information based on interviews with one current and one former employee. The news is a potentially significant change, considering care coordinators are on the front lines of patient interaction.

The care coordinators will reportedly be hired by a New York City-based firm called ResolvedCX. The Philippines-based coordinators would make $8 per hour, while the U.S.-based coordinators’ wages usually start at $20 per hour, according to Business Insider.

Glassdoor.com, a job and company rating site, shows that users report that client coordinators and clinical coordinators make $19 or $20 per hour.

A request for comment sent to Cerebral representatives was not returned as of the writing of this article.

However, Cerebral told Business Insider that the move is meant to hire more coordinators to meet growing patient demand and expand to 24/7 accessibility.

The San Francisco-based startup has rocketed toward the top of the virtual mental health segment. Recently released data from CB Insights shows that Cerebral leads the massively expanded cohort of virtual mental health unicorns with a $4.8 billion valuation.

But in its short but eventful life, Cerebral has found itself in the spotlight over and over again – and not always for the most flattering reasons.

Cerebral received heightened mainstream attention by making legendary American Olympic gymnast Simone Biles the company’s chief impact officer in October 2021. A few months earlier, she withdrew from the team final in the Summer Olympics, citing her mental health.

In December 2021, Cerebral announced it raised $300 million in a Series C funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, giving it the eye-popping valuation of $4.8 billion. The company was launched in January 2020 and now operates in all 50 states.

Yet during that summer, Cerebral changed the compensation and benefits structure of its W-2 clinicians from salaried to hourly pay. For those workers, the change also meant losing guaranteed health benefits.

To get health benefits, affected clinicians had to instead log 30 hours of work per week for a period of 90-days, according to a report by Forbes.

The move struck a nerve with many operators in the virtual mental health space, Behavioral Health Business reporting previously revealed. It also acted as a flashpoint in regard to the industry’s tension about how telehealth providers and virtual mental health companies engage with clinicians.

This month has also been busy with Cerebral news.

In March, the company moved to expand its services outside of counseling, psychiatric services and medication management by striking a strategic partnership with Toronto-based psychedelic-assisted treatment provider Field Trip Health Ltd. and by the creation of a virtual medication-assisted treatment service to treat opioid use disorder.

Also in March, Bloomberg Businessweek reported, based on interviews with previous Cerebral employees and customers, that managing mental health issues with medication from afar may lead to overprescribing and a fractured patient experience that worsens people’s mental health.