Boston-based Bluebird Kids Health has raised a $31.5 million funding round.

The company offers integrated physical and mental health services in person and virtually. It centers its mission and growth strategy on landing value-based care reimbursement deals with Medicaid managed care organizations and commercial health plans to serve what it calls “access-starved neighborhoods.”

“We believe that our ability to embrace value-based care, by partnering with both Medicaid plans as well as commercial plans, will allow us to be successful,” Chris Johnson, Bluebird Kids Health founder and CEO, told Behavioral Health Business.

Critically underserved areas often face a combination of economic, government and social pressures that drive out or keep out health care providers of various types. About 77 million Americans live in areas where there is a shortage of primary care providers, while about 122 million live in an area with a shortage of mental health care providers, according to federal estimates. 

The value-based care model is meant to address two critical issues when it comes to serving Medicaid and geographically underserved populations, Johnson said: On one hand, it increases access to a lower level of services to prevent care from being delivered in more expensive, less appropriate settings, such as emergency departments and inpatient units. On the other hand, such prevention “creates tremendous value” by delivering cost savings for patients and health plans.

“After nearly 20 years of backing innovative companies providing full-risk primary care for Medicare populations, we are thrilled to partner with Bluebird Kids Health as they apply this proven approach to pediatric care,” Kathryn Taylor Reddy, principal at .406 Ventures, said in a new release.

The venture firms F-Prime and .406 Ventures led the round. The Autism Impact Fund and Juxtapose also participated in the round. Juxtapose is identified as a founding partner in the news release.

Bluebird Kids Health operates three locations in South Florida: in Loxahatchee Groves, West Palm Beach and Boynton Beach.

The company plans to expand in Florida, establishing further density in that market. Bluebird Kids Health is presently building new locations in Jacksonville and somewhere in Broward County, Florida, according to the news release. It also has its eye on expansion into Texas at some point, Johnson said.

Johnson was previously the CEO of Landmark Health, an in-home primary care company that was acquired by UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) services entity Optum in 2021. 

Bluebird Kids Health was founded in 2024 when Johnson began working with the venture firm Juxtapose to develop a new pediatrics-focused startup. It accelerated its development by acquiring Palm Spring Pediatrics. Today, it now serves about 20,000 patients.

It operates using a primary care medical home model.

“The primary care medical home is accountable for meeting the large majority of each patient’s physical and mental health care needs, including prevention and wellness, acute care, and chronic care,” the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality states on its website.

On top of comprehensive care, the primary care medical home is premised on four other concepts. They are patient-centered, relationship-based service; coordinating all care for the patient; increased accessibility to care; and quality and safety measures couched in evidence-based medicine and proactive care tracking. The model was developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1967. 

The Bluebird Kids Health clinics offer 24/7 access to care, the release states. Its primary care services are supplemented by in-house physician and nurse-equivalent specialists to support children’s behavioral health needs. Further, pediatricians are trained to help address behavioral health issues.

“We’re not today delivering therapy,” Johnson said. “We will partner with folks in the community. Think of being able to manage anxiety, depression, ADHD — a lot of those core, relatively common conditions in pediatrics.”

Bluebird Kids Health has created a proprietary tech stack to manage care. It uses AI to enhance the clinical team’s use of the platform, the release states.

In the future, the company will build “regional hubs” that offer urgent care and other specialized programs with 24/7 remote care.

The Autism Impact Fund joined the round to aid in the “revolutionizing the treatment of behavioral health, mental health and complex chronic conditions,” fund co-founder and Managing Partner Chris Male told BHB. 

“With Medicaid reimbursement rates significantly lower than commercial rates, most pediatricians limit Medicaid patients to just 10% to 15%,” Male said. “As a result, many low-income communities lack adequate care. … By investing in Bluebird, AIF is helping to democratize access to care, particularly for underserved communities, ensuring that more children receive the high-quality, value-based pediatric care they deserve.”

Another care provider that Autism Impact Fund has backed includes all-in-one autism and neurodivergent specialist care provider Cortica, which was also most recently backed by Morgan Health.