Headspace, a mental health company, announced on Tuesday that it is expanding its specialty care ecosystem with partnerships for neurodiversity, eating disorders, substance use and other complex needs.
San Francisco-based Headspace is a digital health company serving consumers, employers and health plans by offering sleep support, mindfulness, coaching and therapy. With its specialty care ecosystem, its clinicians can now refer members directly to its partners for specialty care if needed. These partners include:
- Charlie Health, which offers virtual intensive outpatient programs for patients ages 8 to 64 struggling with serious mental health challenges, addiction or co-occurring conditions
- Cortica, which provides care for children with autism spectrum disorder and other neurodevelopmental conditions
- Prosper Health, a telehealth platform serving adults with autism and neurodiversity
- Equip, a virtual eating disorder company for those ages 6 and older
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When a Headspace clinician identifies that a member has a specific need, a referral coordination team will work with that member to connect them with one of the specialty care partners. Then the referral coordination team will continue following that patient to track their progress.
“This expansion really is allowing us to build a more connected ecosystem within the areas where we are seeing the highest set of needs,” said Jenna Glover, chief clinical officer of Headspace, in an interview. “We don’t want to just provide a list of referrals for members. We really want them to have an intentional experience. And we wanted to make sure that we could direct people specifically to partners that really met our bar for clinical quality, for access, and for member experience.”
Headspace had several criteria for selecting its partners, Glover noted. This includes using measurement-based care, rigorous quality assurance of providers, fast access to appointments and data-sharing capabilities.
Having this specialty care ecosystem is especially beneficial for employers as they look to improve their mental health benefits, according to Glover.
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“No company can do all of mental health, they just can’t,” Glover stated. “There are a lot of companies that have done these niche areas really, really well, and so I do think part of how we improve the mental health system is through strategic partnerships.”
In expanding its specialty care support, Headspace hopes to get members to the right care when they need it most.
“When somebody is diagnosed with an eating disorder, on average, it’s two to seven years before they get treatment,” Glover said. “And this is the deadliest set of disorders that we have. You think about substance use disorder. When somebody is finally ready to get help, how devastating is it that they raise their hand and [a company is] like, ‘Oh, we don’t offer that service.’ I am hopeful that for some of the highest-acuity, most damaging disorders, people are getting care exactly when they need it and getting better faster.”
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