Accanto Health CEO Dr. Tom Britton is stepping down from his role at the company, marking the second CEO to leave the company since the merger that created the eating disorder provider. The company has tapped Chief Financial Officer Jessie Morsching to fill the role.

Morsching has worked in the health care sector for more than 23 years. Her resume includes roles at Alliance Health and the Center for Diagnostic Imaging.

“Jessie is well aligned with both management and clinical leadership, bringing a broad and inclusive perspective,” Brad Smith, chief medical officer at Accanto Health, said in a statement. “Her acute understanding of our culture, and of our unique position as the only eating disorder provider with all levels of brick-and-mortar care with a broad range of virtual programs, will serve her well as she steps into this new role. She is known for her broad depth of financial knowledge and as a proven partner and leader in operations, sales, strategy, and business development, and we are delighted to benefit from her leadership.”

On Tuesday, Britton announced on LinkedIn that he was vacating the CEO role at the St. Paul, Minnesota-based eating disorder treatment provider but did not articulate when or why. Requests for comment sent to him and representatives of Accanto Health have not yet been returned.

“During my tenure, we have cultivated a top-tier leadership ensemble, enhanced the clinical journey for our patients, bolstered staff retention through a holistic staff engagement program, fortified the company’s foundation, and positioned the organization for sustained success in the years ahead,” Britton said in the post. “While I embark on the next chapter of my journey, Accanto and its remarkable team will forever hold a special place in my heart.”

Britton joined Accanto Health as CEO in January 2024. He succeeded Dave Willcutts, who was CEO of Accanto Health starting at its inception following the merger of the eating disorder treatment and mental health companies The Emily Program and Veritas Collaborative in March 2021. Willcutts became CEO of The Emily Program in 2018, taking over from Dirk Miller, executive chairman for Acccanto Health and founder of The Emily Program.

Since Britton’s arrival, the company has consolidated its historic branding under the identity of The Emily Program, mothballing the Veritas Collaborative brand; established a hybrid virtual and in-office outpatient mental health division called Gather Mental Health; and expanded its location footprint.

Prior to his tenure at Accanto Health, Britton became the CEO of American Addiction Centers in February 2022. Before that, he was the Chicago-based nonprofit addiction treatment provider The Gateway Foundation, a role he started in 2015.

Following the departure of Britton from American Addiction Centers, the company adopted a co-CEO model that it maintains to this day. 

Accanto Healthcare is a portfolio company of Vestar Capital Partners and TT Capital Partners. In August 2023, Accanto took on additional debt capital.

This is the second time in recent months the eating disorder industry has seen a short-lived CEO tenure at a prominent company.

In December 2024, Thousand Oaks, California-based eating disorder treatment provider Alsana announced that it had hired its ex-chief growth officer, Jordan Watson, as CEO to succeed Allan Benham. Benham served as the company’s CEO for 10 months, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Benham previously told Behavioral Health Business in a podcast interview that the company had been forced to “backpedal” on some of its aggressive growth between 2020 and 2022. He described his goal for Alsana as “sustained, intentional growth in solid areas.”

The investment firms Riverside Co. and Deerpath Capital Management acquired Alsana at the end of 2016.

The eating disorder treatment space is seen as a notably challenging space: It requires highly specialized clinicians, faces commensurately low payer rates to that specialization while facing notable stigma despite their high mortality rates. 

On top of all that, the relatively small population of Americans who seek treatment at any one time magnifies the impact of immutable trends in behavioral health, such as staffing challenges and inflation. Britton joined other panelists at BHB’s VALUE 2025 event in predicting further consolidation of necessity in the space and not “because it was such an amazing product,” he said.

Eating disorder providers are also grappling with the arrival of GLP-1s on the market. For addiction treatment providers, it could offer a new avenue of treatment. But for this industry, it’s something of a two-edged sword.