Behavioral health startup Concert Health raised $14 million in funding. The San Diego-based company helps primary care providers connect patients to behavioral health services.
Vertical Venture Partners led the series A round, with participation from Town Hall Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, and previous investors Healthy Ventures and Clear Vision Equity. Concert plans to use the funds to grow its team, ramp up training programs and built out its technology platform.
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The company currently operates in seven states, and partners with 44 medical groups. They include Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health and Women’s Health USA, a group of more than 600 ObGyns, as well as several smaller independent practices.
The idea is to connect patients with licensed clinical social workers or nurses that can provide therapy and help come up with a care plan. They also serve as a liaison between a patient’s primary care physician and psychiatric provider.
“Primary care physicians are stuck managing and identifying a huge amount of depression and anxiety. They’re already writing the majority of prescriptions for antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications,” Concert Health CEO Spencer Hutchins said in a phone interview.
One of the challenges physicians face is getting patients in to see someone, either because patients can’t find a therapist that takes their insurance or don’t want to start therapy. Through Concert Health, they can introduce patients to a behavioral health provider, and hold weekly consultations with psychiatrists for advice.
Those services are reimbursed as collaborative care management, which is covered by Medicare, Medicaid plans in 18 states, and most commercial insurance plans.
“You’re finding, finally, a general recognition in the industry that we need to integrate behavioral health,” Hutchins said.
Last year, Concert launched a collaboration with CommonSpirit to provide behavioral health services, starting in Bakersfield, Calif. and expanding across Southern California’s Inland Empire. The partnership is expected to extend to additional states.
Concert also works with several independent practices in New York, many of whom were hit hard in the initial surge of Covid-19 in the U.S. Some physicians became sick as patients came into their offices, while others had trouble staying open as volumes dropped.
“Being able to be part of a partnership that allows them to deliver better care and be compensated for it has been helpful,” Hutchins said. “It’s been exciting for us to be a part of that, helping folks not only survive but thrive during the hardest professional year of their lives.”
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