Hazel Health bases its integrated telehealth approach in school settings for one simple but essential reason — that’s where kids are most of the day.
By doing so, the San Francisco-based physical and mental health telehealth provider is able to make it easier for kids to get care in a way that minimizes the impact on their education. But on the business side of things, Hazel Health is able to attract highly sought-after pediatric mental health providers, a key struggle for health care organizations, with this approach.
Andrew Post, chief innovation officer and head of behavioral health for Hazel Health, told Behavioral Health Business providing clinical hours that approximate a student’s schedule opens more clinical hours for pediatric providers. He said that the typical span of hours ranges from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. In more typical settings, pediatric hours are limited to after-school hours and weekends.
“The obvious answer is that that’s where children are 6 hours or more a day,” Post said when asked why the company focuses on schools. “The less obvious answer is where that positions us to hire, to recruit, hire and engage really high-quality, mission-focused clinicians.”
As far back as 2018, advocates warned of a severe shortage of pediatric mental health provider shortage. Following the onset of the pandemic, youth mental health has worsened enough to prompt the U.S. Surgeon General to issue an advisory and for Congress to take up a major mental health bill later in the summer. One report finds that the U.S. would need 6,400 new mental health providers to fill the present shortage of mental health providers overall.
Founded in 2015, Hazel Health works with school districts to provide equipment to facilitate on-demand and scheduled physical and mental health services in collaboration with existing counselors’ or nurses’ offices. The company supplies tablets, headphones and a cart of over-the-counter medications that Hazel keeps current.
The company raised a $33.5 million Series C that was led by Owl Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures. Owl Ventures is the largest investor in the company and the company’s growth over the last nine months is moving it to be able to support operations with cash flow, Post said.
Inside the Hazel Health Business Model
School districts pay Hazel Health $15 per student and then bills students’ health plans where relevant including state Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) plans. The $15 per student charge effectively covers unreimbursed care, Post said.
Parents must consent beforehand to have Hazel Health treat their children.
Presently, Hazel Health’s services are accessible to between 800,000 and 1 million students. All told, the contracts that it has with school districts include 2 million students, Post said.
The split between physical health and mental health visits is about 60% to 40% respectively, he added. However, the “biggest value proposition” of the company is the ability to track patterns with the electronic health record of a student in the Hazel Health platform to buoy mental health.
“It allows them to bridge that gap into whether a mental health screener or assessment might be appropriate,” Post said. “It’s that nexus of physical health and mental health that allows us to really look at repeated physical health symptoms as potential early warning indicators of behavioral health concerns.”
Having Hazel Health in a school also helps simplify and coordinate access to mental health care by being able to be given in coordination with other supports at a school to address things such as social determinants of health.
The company raised a $33.5 million Series C that was led by Owl Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures. Owl Ventures is the largest investor in the company and said that the company’s growth over the last nine months is moving it to be able to support operations with cash flow, Post said.
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