Cerebral Inc. plans to phase out its care counselor services.
The fast-growing, controversial virtual behavioral health startup confirmed Friday that it will no longer take new patients seeking care counselor services. The company will continue to offer the service to existing clients for the sake of “continuity of care,” according to a statement from a Cerebral spokesperson.
This news comes as Cerebral continues to face criticism for its prescribing practices of controlled substances and has already laid off more than 100 employees over the summer.
Cerebral did not respond to questions about how many employee positions will be impacted by the decision. It’s also not clear when exactly the decision will go into effect.
The company said the decision to eliminate care counselor services is in line with its strategy to focus on “evidence-based programs” and “clinical outcomes.” This is in keeping with a consistent theme of quality and outcomes Cerebral’s leadership has been communicating following the succession of the founding CEO Kyle Robertson by Cerebral’s then-Chief Medical Officer David Mou.
“We are committed to continuously evolving our care model to apply evidence-based research and best serve our patients’ needs, and while our structure may change, our mission will not,” the statement reads.
Care counselors are not therapists, according to Cerebral’s website. And it’s not clear if therapists will be impacted by this decision.
“The majority of our care counselors have a Master’s degree in Social Work, Psychology, or Counseling but they are not licensed therapists — so do not diagnose or treat mental disorders,” a blog post from earlier this year reads. “Similar to therapy, meetings with a care counselor have a regular cadence where there is a mix of discussing anything on the client’s mind and an assessment of the client’s response to the medication.”
However, the same post states that care counselors work through “evidence-based therapeutic practices” with patients which include cognitive behavioral therapy. It also states that care counselors and coaches are separate providers.
Cerebral patients interact with therapists and coaches up to four times a month and with care counselors once a month, the post states.
A company source told Behavioral Health Business that no one has been laid off with this decision, but it’s unclear whether that may change moving forward. Cerebral did not say if there are layoffs associated with this move.
Cerebral was founded just before the pandemic and raised hundreds of millions in venture capital funding. It has since seen a meteoric expansion and spades of scrutiny for its prescribing practices of controlled substances.
It has since raised $462 million in funding since its founding in 2019. Its Series C funding round brought its valuation to $4.8 billion. It has also seen a handful of law enforcement investigations, layoffs, widespread scrutiny and criticism over its prescribing practices and operational pivots.
Following several rounds of public scrutiny following media reports and a lawsuit from a former executive, Cerebral announced that it would stop prescribing controlled substances such as Adderall for ADHD.
Companies featured in this article:
