‘We Wanted to Put a Spotlight on Behavioral Health’: Inside Highmark’s Whole-Person Health Strategy

Access to behavioral health care continues to elude people across the country. To solve this problem, Highmark Health is taking a whole-person approach to behavioral health, Senior Vice President and Executive Medical Director of Population and Curated Health Dr. Anil Singh told Behavioral Health Business. The challenge to Highmark Health’s behavioral health strategy is the […]

Lifestance Surpasses 2024 Forecasts But Predicts Rockier Waters Ahead 

LifeStance Health (Nasdaq: LFST) is overhauling its facilities with a new operating model — one that it hopes will strengthen its position ahead of what executives expect to be a rocky 2025. The outpatient mental health giant’s executives project that federal reimbursement rate cuts will challenge the company’s financial progress. LifeStance is banking on momentum […]

New Study Reveals Factors Behind Increased Psychosis in Adolescent Cannabis Users

Previous research has consistently demonstrated that cannabis use among adolescents contributes to symptoms of psychosis, but the exact reasons have remained unclear. Researchers have now identified that external factors and self-medication likelihood play a part in increased psychotic symptoms, according to a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry. The study’s authors recommend that their findings […]

Sabra Health Care Cools on Behavioral Health, Prospective Partners are ‘Rarely of Institutional Quality’

Sabra Health Care REIT (Nasdaq: SBRA) is less enthusiastic about doing deals in the behavioral health space. Leaders of the Tustin, California-based health care real estate investment trust (REIT) said they no longer see the same opportunity to diversify portions of their portfolio to behavioral health uses. The company has also identified few prospective behavioral […]

SUD Providers Struggle with Payers’ ‘Lip Service’ on Outcomes Data

Outcomes data has been touted as both the key to value-based care and the best leverage SUD providers have in payer negotiations. A handful of providers are seeing that in reality: Some payers are becoming amenable in negotiations when outcomes data is on the table, industry insiders said at the Behavioral Health Business INVEST conference.  […]

Cerebral Hit with $6.6M Penalty In Settlement with Prosecutors

Digital mental health startup Cerebral has reached a nonprosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The agreement resolves the investigation of Cerebral’s policies and practices for controlled substance prescribing, specifically stimulants for ADHD. The company now faces fines totaling $6.57 million, according to a copy of the nonprosecution […]

Nema Health Raises $14M For Digital Trauma, PTSD Treatment Platform

Nema Health has raised $14.5 million in its latest funding round, according to public disclosure documents. The new round brings the digital mental health startup’s total funding to about $18.6 million for its digital trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) care platform. Founded in 2020, Nema Health offers talk therapy, psychiatric medication management and peer […]

Major Insurance Companies Back New Behavioral Health Measurement Standards Program

The National Quality Forum (NQF) has partnered with a coalition of health plans and the national digital therapy enablement platform Headway to create a new assessment tool that standardizes how behavioral health clinicians measure the progress of care. The behavioral health industry, across specialties, has struggled with a lack of a standardized data measurement set. […]

Going Nuclear: In Suing NIMBY Cities, Behavioral Health Providers Face Major Dilemma

Earlier this year, the city commission of Stuart, Florida, said “no” to a zoning variance requested by Behavioral Health Centers LLC, which sought to repurpose an existing building into a mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) center. The commission, and residents of the Florida Treasure Coast town, feared that the clinic’s patients would cause […]

‘A Testimonial to Not Giving Up’: Otsuka’s New DTx Offers Hope for Behavioral Health Industry

Almost 10% of Americans will experience a depressive illness in their life.  Despite depression’s prevalence, the burgeoning digital therapeutics (DTx) industry had, until recently, not made a dedicated attempt to treat the illness. Now, pharmaceutical giant Otsuka’s (OTCMKTS:OTSKY) company, ​​Otsuka Precision Health, has created the first FDA-approved digital therapeutic designed to treat depression alongside an […]