Virtual mental health provider BetterHelp has partnered with online psychiatry company Talkiatry, uniting both companies’ services for BetterHelp’s business clients.
The partnership makes BetterHelp’s employer offering more valuable and provides a pipeline of patients to Talkiatry, company executives told Behavioral Health Business.
“It’s always been difficult as well for employers to try and find a one-stop shop that covers as many of the bases as possible,” Robert Krayn, CEO and co-founder of Talkiatry, told BHB. “The partnership brings together one of the largest employers of psychiatrists in the country and the largest provider of therapy in the country. In addition to that, the cost is significantly lowered because Talkiatry is in-network.”
The partnership allows BetterHelp clinicians to refer patients to one of Talkiatry’s 300 full-time, licensed psychiatrists. People with access to BetterHelp through their employer can also self-select directly into psychiatric care without a referral.
The partnership was a natural one, according to Krayn, because companies looking to add access to high-quality, in-network psychiatrists have “really nowhere else to go.” Patient visits funneled from BetterHelp will help Talkiatry keep patient volume high and ensure that the company is top of mind for patients, employers and health systems.
New York City-based Talkiatry, which provides therapy as well as psychiatry, recently raised $130 million in a round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. The provider does not currently have its own B2B offering, making the partnership with BetterHelp attractive.
Mountain View, California-based BetterHelp employs more than 30,000 therapists. The partnership adds an additional level of care outside its clinicians’ scope of practice, making BetterHelp’s enterprise offering more attractive to customers, according to Kfir Eyal, senior vice president and general manager of BetterHelp.
“Adding additional well-being services to our employer program helps us cast a wider, more well-rounded offering to a larger addressable market, maintain our leadership position in the corporate well-being market and better deliver on our mission: helping more people with their everyday challenges,” Eyal said in an email to BHB.
BetterHelp has announced various initiatives to course-correct after a significant slowdown in growth and recent disappointing financial performance.
For example, the company announced that it would focus on expanding insurance deals in August after a down second quarter with a net loss of $837.7 million.
Eyal declined to respond to a question on how the partnership plays into Teladoc’s (NYSE: TDOC) strategy to revitalize BetterHelp. He did specify that BetterHelp is considering expanding its services past its core offerings.
“We’re currently actively evaluating other services and solutions that are in direct fit to our overall mission to support more individuals with their life challenges, knowing that for some, it might not at all be talk therapy that they’re looking for,” Eyal said.
Teladoc previously announced a three-pronged strategy to improve the company’s performance, which includes accelerated international expansion, securing insurance coverage and improving products.
On Talkiatry’s side, the company’s strategy will include crafting more partnerships with payers to expand its value-based care model, demonstrating cost savings and growing its core offerings.
The company also recently added a new member to its C-suite, announcing on Wednesday that it hired Matt Ivester as its new senior vice president and head of product.
One action Talkiatry is not taking is preparing for potential changes to telehealth prescribing flexibilities.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) appears to be interested in scaling back COVID-era flexibilities. While some behavioral health providers are taking preventative measures, Talkiatry is “very confident” that no real changes will be made to these flexibilities by the end of the year.
“It would be a complete disaster and it would harm millions of patients directly,” Krayn said. “With that being said, I believe that the administrator understands this and is not going to let that happen. I also believe the White House and Congress are well aware and will make sure that it doesn’t happen. I think what we really need is a two-year extension while we figure it out, just because the timing is too late at this point for a different solution.”
Companies featured in this article:
