Digital Mental Health Startups Face Profitability Pressure as Investor Landscape Shifts

This is an exclusive BHB+ story Digital behavioral health startups experienced a tsunami of investor interest from 2020 to 2022. Founders now face a tough funding environment when growing their companies. As competition for funding dollars has increased, some say the pressure to become profitable as a new digital behavioral health startup is higher than […]

Virtual Primary Care Provider LifeMD Enters Behavioral Health Market

Virtual primary care provider LifeMD (Nasdaq: LFMD) has branched into the behavioral health industry and tapped a behavioral health executive with decades of experience to lead the expansion. New York City-based LifeMD announced Monday that it launched teletherapy, psychiatry and medication management services. It named Julian Cohen its senior vice president of behavioral health and […]

Nonprofit Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Acquires IDD Provider Strawberry Fields 

Nonprofit behavioral health provider Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health has acquired Strawberry Fields, a nonprofit provider of mental health, autism and intellectual disability care. Strawberry Fields will continue to operate as an independent legal entity but will have access to the larger organization’s systems and clinical model as an affiliate of Devereux. The acquisition will enable […]

Landmark Recovery Faces Fresh Scrutiny After a Patient Died at the Hands of Another Patient

Police documents show that a patient allegedly killed another patient at a Landmark Recovery facility in Louisville, Kentucky. The death adds another troubling entry to the company’s litany of bad news. The Nashville, Tennessee-based addiction treatment facility operator has self-reported the incident to Kentucky regulators and the Joint Commission, Matt Boyle, CEO and founder of […]

Embark Behavioral Health Expands into Integrated Care Offerings

Editor’s note (Feb. 13, 2025): This story was updated after publishing with additional details. Embark Behavioral Health plans to expand its service offerings, increasing the severity of conditions it can treat and adding technology support. The Chandler, Arizona-based youth and family behavioral health provider said on Feb. 11 that it would roll out an integrative […]

Employers Reap $190 for Every $100 Invested in Behavioral Health

Employers are increasingly seeking out behavioral health benefits to improve employee care and save on long-term health costs. Providers have, in turn, stepped up to expand employer offerings. These employer offerings have meaningful returns, according to new research published in JAMA Network Open. Researchers found that employers saved $190 in overall medical claims cost for […]

New Partnership Propels Lyra Past Employer Models, Jump-Starts Rogers’ Virtual Care Capabilities

Not-for-profit behavioral health care provider Rogers Behavioral Health and for-profit workforce mental health provider Lyra Health have forged an alliance. The collaboration, announced Tuesday, gives Lyra access to Rogers’ health plan networks while allowing Rogers to scale its virtual services using Lyra’s national footprint. For Rogers and Lyra executives, the most important aspect of the […]

‘Not For the Faint of Heart’: What Makes (or Breaks) Mental Health Payer Pilots 

Fostering successful pilots with health plans is critical for digital mental health startups. These relationships can promise significant promise for providers and payers, but a negative outcome can mean wasted time and resources. While risk is an inherent part of a trial run for a digital mental health provider, both health care companies and payers […]