Build, Lease or Buy: Behavioral Health Providers Debate Best AI Strategies

Behavioral health providers are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve efficiency, personalize treatment pathways and produce outcomes. How best to develop an AI-enabled technology stack remains unclear, however. While leasing AI technology from vendors is a relatively easy path to keep up with the digital Joneses, providers with more specialized needs or those looking […]

Citing Increased Payer and Health System Demand, Brightside Health Expands into Teen Mental Health Services

Behavioral health providers are increasingly expanding care continuums to include teenagers and meet the growing need for age-specific care. Virtual behavioral health provider Brightside Health is the latest to do so. Announced Tuesday, its expansion into care options for teens aims to address what Brad Kittredge, founder and CEO of Brightside, calls a “teen mental […]

Why MAT for Alcohol Use Disorder Gets Overshadowed

A small portion of Americans who have alcohol use disorder (AUD) get potentially lifesaving and effective treatment. Patients and providers alike overlook medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for AUD due to rather potent market forces. Unlike most substances for which people seek treatment, huge sectors of American society and the economy encourage the consumption of alcohol. Spirits […]

Brightside Health Acquires Lionrock Recovery, Expands into SUD

Virtual behavioral health provider Brightside Health has expanded into addiction treatment by acquiring Lionrock Recovery. The move expands San Francisco-based Brightside Health into virtual addiction treatment. Specifically, the acquisition adds a virtual intensive outpatient program (IOP) to Brightside’s fleet of services. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. It also addresses a significant overlap […]

‘There’s Not a Business Case’: Lack of Parity Hinders Transition to Value-Based Care

Value-based care and parity go hand-in-hand as the behavioral health industry continues to evolve beyond the fee-for-service paradigm. The interrelatedness of the two concepts often means that progress on one indirectly impacts the other. Moving toward either comes with several hurdles that require cash to fuel efforts to surmount them. Where things stand now, patients […]

Digital Psychiatry Provider Brightside Health Raises $33M

Virtual mental health company Brightside Health has landed $33 million in Series C funding. Venture firm S32 led the new round of funding, which included participation from Kennedy Lewis, Time BioVentures, Redwood Pacific, ACME, Mousse Partners, and Triventures. This comes roughly two years after Brightside Health closed a $50 million Series B funding round led […]

Psych Hub Names New CEO; Talkspace Appoints CMO

Psych Hub appoints new CEO Psych Hub, a Nashville, Tennessee-based mental health education startup, has appointed Scott Healy as its new CEO.  Healy previously helped build Care.com, an online marketplace for child care, senior care and other family care services. Most recently, he was the general manager of health care ventures at Ascend Learning, a […]

Brightside Health Expands into Medicare and Medicaid, Doubles Its Potential Patients

Brightside Health, a digital mental health company, has extended its scope to include Medicare and Medicaid enrollees. In so doing, it increases its potential reach to about 100 million lives covered. The San Francisco-based startup has secured deals with several leading health plans to extend mental health and digital support services to this new population. […]

Eager for Parity Reform, Outpatient Mental Health Should Expect to ‘Step Up’ Care Quality

Parity reform may heighten clinical and administrative requirements for outpatient mental health providers. These laws may make in-network agreements simpler and more profitable, as many providers hope. Yet talk of parity is often one-sided, focused on perceived payer wrongs. This overshadows the role of clinicians and their organizations in increasing access to and improving care […]

Rogers Behavioral Health Adds 3rd CEO Since 2022; Brightside Health Adds Thirty Madison Alum to Leadership Team

Nonprofit giant Rogers Behavioral Health names new CEO Robergs Behavioral Health, an Oconomowoc, Wisconsin-based diversified behavioral health provider, is on its third CEO since the fall of 2022. On Aug. 18, the nonprofit announced that Cindy Meyer had been named CEO. She has had the role on an interim basis since May 2023. She stepped […]