Hey there. Shân here.

Welcome to The Census, your weekly roundup of what matters in behavioral healthcare.

Your top stories today: 

1. HEADLINES: Smoking’s role in overdose deaths, Beacon’s ambitious expansion, and Carelon’s $340M contract.

2. Money Moves: $3M for AI-tackled claim denials, foreign capital as  “cheaper PE,” and more. 

3. On Our Radar: Can bipolar disorder be managed via diet? We’ll soon find out.

4. Catch Up Quick: This week’s top stories in less than a minute.

Let’s go.

P.S. A wave of new clinics and programs were announced this week. They’re all under Catch Up Quick.

Reading time: ~4.4 minutes.

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🚬 Smoking Now Causes More Overdose Deaths Than Injections

This reflects both the changing nature of the US drug epidemic, and the need for expanded public health messaging.

The leading method of drug use in overdose deaths is no longer injections but smoking, per a new CDC analysis. 

Why it matters: The nature of US drug use is shifting, and more people using fentanyl + fentanyl analogs now smoke rather than inject opioids.

• Compared with injection, smoking can reduce some risks like transmission of blood-borne diseases

• But when smoked, drugs are more rapidly absorbed, leading to “substantial overdose risk” 

The CDC stressed the importance of stronger public health messaging that emphasizes the overdose risk of smoking —  plus better outreach and harm reduction services. Full report here. 

🎉  Carelon Behavioral Health Lands $340M Contract

Carelon will provide mental health and SUD services to 1.7M Medicaid members in Maryland from 2025.

Drug overdose deaths per 100k population have almost quadrupled in Maryland since 2011, and demand for mental health services in general is rising (see above). 

Yet the state’s current provider of behavioral health care to Medicaid members, Optum, has “failed to deliver.”

💸 It’s also cost Maryland millions. An audit found:

• Optum’s processing system overpaid some behavioral health providers by more than $223M, while underpaying others

• Optum subcontractors were not vetted properly and the claims system was not tested before launching with providers

And in case you thought your year was off to a rough start, Optum also recently ended big contracts with both SSM Health and the state of Idaho. Ouch. 

Elevance Health’s Carelon is, understandably, excited to take over from Optum. It’s not like they have very big shoes to fill. Read their announcement here. 

🧑‍⚕️ Beacon Acquires Nine New Clinics — And Gives Physicians Autonomy + Equity

This PE-backed expansion aims to put clinicians first.

Moving fast and breaking things is a PE in behavioral healthcare specialty (see: BRC). 

So when PE-backed Beacon Behavioral Partners announced their aim to double growth in 2024, starting with the acquisition of nine (9!) new partner clinics in the southeast, you could almost hear eyeballs rolling.

👀 But instead of skimping on standards and clobbering employee satisfaction (a little example), Beacon has announced it will empower acquired staff by giving them:

• Clinical autonomy

• Comprehensive back-end admin support

• Skin in the game via company equity — a smart long-term strategy amongst appalling staff retention rates

Beacon’s CEO went further to say they are “committed to building an environment where [our physicians] can continue to thrive, collaborate, and evolve together.” 

Beacon isn’t the only PE-backed behavioral health network prioritizing physicians. Thurston-backed ARC Health has also promised clinicians autonomy and company equity amid growth plans.

We can only hope it looks as good in practice as it does on paper.

Money Moves

Funding rounds, mergers, & partnerships

🤖 $3M for AI-tackled healthcare claim denials: RapidClaims landed VC. 

👪 $5.8M for AI-driven population health management: Siftwell Analytics closed seed round. 

🧠 $2.5M for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation therapy and esketamine nasal spray: Greenbrook TMS raised (more) debt financing.

🏃 A $12M grant will support research on exercise management for people with type 1 diabetes.

🤑 “Like private equity, but cheaper:” Amid high interest rates, foreign capital may provide a future cash infusion for behavioral health providers.

🤝 Nema Health will join Horizon Healthcare Services Network to bring virtual PTSD treatment to New Jersey members.

On Our Radar

What we’re watching this week 

🥩 The Ketogenic Diet for Bipolar Disorder

A Belmont hospital will launch a $2M clinical trial to study the effects of nutritional ketosis on bipolar disorder. It may have wide-ranging implications.

They’re here for our carbs again, but this time in the name of behavioral health.

What’s happening: The high-fat low-carb keto diet, famous for its weight-loss benefits, was actually created to treat unmanaged epilepsy in the 1920s (fact). 

Now, it’s being studied as a serious mental illness treatment option. 

A cross-disciplinary team at McLean Hospital will investigate nutritional ketosis as both:

• A new treatment strategy for bipolar disorder

• A critical tool for understanding the underlying mechanisms of the disorder

Why it matters: This study will build on decades of science showing disordered metabolism can be a key driver of psychiatric illnesses. 

➡ If results are positive, expect to see more SMI + nutritional ketosis studies — and implementation in behavioral health clinics.

Catch Up Quick

This week’s hot headlines, including a slew of new clinic announcements

🏥 Ideal Option opened a new MAT outpatient clinic in Great Falls, Montana.

🏗️ Acadia & Orlando Health have broken ground on their 144-bed joint venture behavioral health facility in Apopka, Florida.

🧠 Silver Hill Psychiatric Hospital opened its new Ketamine Treatment Program in New Canaan, Connecticut.

🏛️ Behavioral health provider Oaklawn will open a new 24/7 crisis center in South Bend, Indiana. 

🧒 Lighthouse Autism Centers will expand ABA services through a new clinic in Lincoln, Nebraska. 

🎉 Advantage Behavioral Health will expand into New York, California, and Arizona.

🌿 Six new cannabis dispensaries will open in Illinois courtesy of The 1937 Group.

🎒 EdTheory, a provider of K-12 special education and related services, announced its expansion into center-based therapy and ABA practice.

🌎 After a rough Q4, Teladoc will look to the international market to grow its DTC behavioral health segment, BetterHelp. According to their CEO, “There’s a lot of untapped potential outside the US.”

💵 SUD treatment providers are ditching fee-for-service and embracing alternative payment models, per BHB. 

🧑‍💼 Digital SUD platform Kyros established an Independent Clinical Advisory Board and appointed national experts in psychology and addiction counseling.

🤖 New-Jersey-based Virtua Health is partnering with an AI company to scale a new Virtual Nursing program.

🍄 Apex Labs can sell psilocybin in Canada, thanks to a newly granted Dealer's Licence.

🤝 Peer support specialists are quickly becoming an essential part of SUD treatment, and providers are using bundled payment models to afford them. 

💊 The DEA needs to help expand OUD treatment according to telehealth advocates. 

❤️‍🩹 How pediatricians can do more to prevent deadly opioid overdoses in kids: A report.

👀 11% of CFOs say their organizations have violated bond and/or loan covenants in the past year; here’s how they’re shifting their strategies in response. 

🤔 90%+ of American workers say that employer-sponsored mental health coverage is important for workplace culture, leading to a flood of employer mental health startups — but the impact of their programs is still hella unclear. 

🧾 Anatomy Financial launched its AI-powered financial automation solution for healthcare billing companies.

🫢 While 86% of health executives say digital health solutions have the potential to reduce costs, 70% haven’t seen a return on investment so far, per a new survey.

💻 Southwest Behavioral Health Center provided a notice following last year’s data security incident.

🙋 Quartet Health announced industry vet Karen Mitchell as its new Chief Growth Officer.

🏛️ Mississippi lawmakers are pursuing a Medicaid expansion bill that includes a work requirement.

💔 Older, unemployed, and lower-income patients with serious psychological distress receive less outpatient treatment due to a lack of telehealth access. 

💰 Serious mental illness care may be ripe for VC disruption, at least according to BHB.  

🥽 A VR mask for PTSD is aiming for FDA breakthrough designation after a successful clinical trial. 

🧑‍🎓 Western Wyoming Community College is providing support for rural and working students through immediate access to the teletherapy platform UWill.

🧑‍💼 Evolent Health added Russell Glass, Headspace CEO, to its Board of Directors.

That’s it for this week. See you next Wednesday!

- Shân

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