Addiction treatment provider Eleanor Health has officially launched online therapy services in New Mexico, marking the ninth state the company has operations in.
Services began April 28. Eleanor is currently focused on marketing its new offering throughout the state and awaiting members. The company chose to expand to the New Mexico market after evaluating geographical needs as well as investor and health plan priorities.
“It was very much about what it is that the payers would like to see done differently in New Mexico, specifically,” CEO William McKinney told Addiction Treatment Business. “We also signed a new payer agreement that will take us into multiple states. New Mexico was one of those places where they wanted to see us.”
McKinney was named CEO of Eleanor Health in January 2024 after departing as CEO of Sevita, a community-based specialty health care provider.
The Waltham, Massachusetts-headquartered company also has brick-and-mortar clinics in several states and hopes to add one in New Mexico as demand grows.
In the meantime, Eleanor will hire some local providers and work to cross-license providers from other states to practice in the new expansion territory.
“We’re actually adding capacity to that market. Our ability to serve that market is very much payer-driven, but aligned with the geographic footprint we have,” McKinney said. “It is also a state that has a tremendous need for high-quality providers to come to it.”
Overdose deaths across the board have declined by 8% in New Mexico since 2021, according to the New Mexico Department of Health. Still, the state’s population consistently accounts for the highest alcohol-related deaths in the U.S.
In 2021, it ranked sixth for drug overdose deaths overall, and substance use disorders (SUDs) remain a key health issue throughout the state.
A 2023 legislative report found that “despite significant investments to address SUD, the state is not leveraging data effectively to inform investments or identify trends, risks, needs and gaps in a timely way to strategically address treatment needs.”
New Mexico’s large percentage of rural residents also creates a persistent barrier to obtaining addiction treatment, one that Eleanor Health’s virtual offerings are poised to provide some relief.
“It’s a state where there’s just tremendous opportunity for what we do. Most of our services are delivered virtually,” McKinney said. “So we’re able to go into New Mexico, and we’re able to serve a much broader footprint than we could if we went and dropped a clinic somewhere.”
He said he hopes that in a year, there will be at least one physical clinic in New Mexico. Adding it will be assessed as the need grows and concentration develops in some of the state’s metropolitan areas.
Despite economic uncertainty, Eleanor Health is not anticipating any growth slowdown ahead.
In fact, by the end of the year, the company is going to almost double the number of states it operates in, McKinney confirmed.
The company is also focused on expanding its Rolodex of payer partnerships over the next several months.
“I’d love to look up in five years and find that we’ve taken a whole-person approach and that we have become a platform that people automatically think of when they need support to improve their life and well-being,” he said. “In a year, I hope for us in New Mexico to have the money there to establish a physical footprint in the state so that we’re serving people who need that extra little bit of help they can’t get virtually. I would love to be deeply serving the Medicaid population in New Mexico.”
