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

Top stories this week: 

• On Our Radar: Providers are using software to manage online reputation.

• Catch Up Quick: The latest news headlines in under two minutes. 

• One Good Thing: Teen drug use is on a downward trend.

Let’s dive in.

- Shân

P.S. Autism detection tech attracted over $80M in funding this week (you can skim read to “Funding Rounds” below).

Reading time: ~4 minutes.

This Issue Is Sponsored By Stodzy Internet Marketing.

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On Our Radar

What we’re watching this week 

🧑‍💻 The $230B Online Reputation Market Is Coming for Behavioral Health 

Most patients Google providers before seeking care — so it’s no surprise that boosting clinics’ virtual reputation is big business. 

Looking to up your online rep? There’s a SaaS for that. 

Online Reputation Management (ORM) software can respond to negative reviews on your behalf and will even feed the Internet Beast shit you want people to talk about (like your killer new inpatient dinner menu). 

Here’s why online reputation is vital for providers:

• 86% of patients read online reviews, and 60% read at least five (!) when choosing a provider

• Because all healthcare organizations need to manage reviews in a HIPAA-compliant way, dealing effectively and professionally with negative comments ain’t easy (case in point)

Unsurprisingly, the ORM industry is forecast to hit $440B by 2030, and tailored solutions for healthcare are already emerging.

An example is rater8, which raised a Series A last week.

➡ But it’s not just about reputation management. These SaaS tools also analyze patient satisfaction across industries and players — so you can identify opportunities to move on.

If ORM use takes off in behavioral healthcare, providers can’t afford to be left behind.

Let’s get to your news headlines.

Catch Up Quick

This week’s top stories

Latest News

🧑‍💼 Chief AI officers are shaking up C-suites. 

⛔ A Utah psychiatric hospital will close after the CEO’s exit.

🧠 Neuralink rival Synchron is readying a clinical trial of its brain implant.

🕵️ Why providers PE firms (our little correction) must do their homework on for-profit and nonprofit provider conditions before geographic expansion. 

👉 A lack of parity may be hindering the transition to value-based care.

🎲 Gambling addiction hotlines say volume is up and callers are younger as online sports betting booms.

🙋 Mental health first responders in New Mexico are increasingly civilians, not police — and it’s much safer for the people in crisis.

🕵️ Insurance companies are reaping hidden fees with help from a little-known data firm (and, of course, patients are paying the price).

📉 The financial stability of private therapy practices looks dicey as many therapists report dropping revenues and turning to alternative income sources. 

🚨 Regulators aren’t doing enough to stop rogue health insurance brokers from making unauthorized switches for ACA policyholders, experts say. 

🤖 Autism providers may finally be ready to embrace AI (read: are terrified people using AI will come for their jobs).

💊 Colorado jails are scrambling to continue opioid treatment programs as a $3M grant dries up.

🏫 The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is set to open its healthcare career-focused high school in 2025.

🧑‍💻 North Park University’s Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling will be entirely online this fall. 

✍️ CMS has finalized new behavioral health policies in Medicare Advantage to hold private health insurance companies more accountable. 

☎️ The end of internet subsidies for low-income households will threaten telehealth access for 23M families come May. 

❤️‍🩹 The No. 3 Democrat in the Colorado Senate is seeking medical treatment for substance abuse.

🏃 Teladoc’s CEO has stepped down amid the company’s ongoing (and very public) struggles they’ve doggedly linked to the return to in-person care.

🧬 Experts are pushing for a DNA test that predicts OUD to be pulled off the market as it’s “based on old genetic studies that have largely been abandoned.” 

🧩 Matching psychiatric drugs to patients is an ongoing puzzle as one-size-fits-all treatments for complex conditions come up short.

👀 CMS has fallen short in ensuring that several states comply with Medicaid managed care mental health and SUD parity requirements.

🧑‍⚖️ A Philadelphia nonprofit lost its bid for a supervised drug injection site after a federal judge ruled it would violate US law.

💉 Trump's surgeon general has urged red states to support needle exchanges as the opioid epidemic rages on.

📅 Delayed Medicaid plans may finally launch on July 1st for ~150k North Carolina residents with complex care needs.

🏆 Blue Ridge Eating Disorder Care Center has earned The Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval for Behavioral Health Care Accreditation. 

🏊 How flotation therapy may help people with eating disorders. 

📝 7 fast facts on the new SUD privacy regulations, per HealthLeaders Media. 

Expansions, Launches, & Partnerships

💻 Digital addiction provider Pelago has launched a new contingency management program for SUD. 

🎉 Family Care Center is expanding with a new outpatient clinic in Clarksville, TN.

🏛️ A 24-hour crisis center for youth mental health in Henrico County will officially open this spring. 

🤝 Opioid addiction care provider Ophelia has partnered with Highmark Wholecare to improve OUD treatment access to Medicaid members.

🏗️ The first privately operated residential addiction treatment center in  Rockville will break ground in June.

🏥 BayCare will open a $548M hospital — its 17th — in Manatee County.

⛹️ OnBalance, a digital tool for improving athletes’ mental health, has partnered with the University of Miami Athletics.

🩺 MedStar and DispatchHealth aim to close the recovery gap between hospital and at-home care with acute care services for discharged patients.

🧠 Universal Brain has expanded its executive team to accelerate precision psychiatry.

💊 Zero Overdose has partnered with Pear Suite to provide training for community health workers across the country. 

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Talkiatry will collaborate with HCA Healthcare practices and urgent care centers to improve access to quality psychiatric care.

Studies & Opinion Pieces

💔 Children visiting the ED for mental health crises during the pandemic had longer stays and more severe diagnoses (study). 

​​👪 Today’s parents suffer from anxiety about anxiety, which is actually much more serious than anxiety (opinion). 

🤔 Relieving patients’ medical debt didn't improve their financial well-being or mental health (study). 

💡 Why and how behavioral health organizations should adopt measurement-based care (opinion). 

💡 A longitudinal registry study by Otsuka and Verily aims to enhance our understanding of depression and other mental health conditions (enroll here). 

Tech & AI

📝 Augmedix, which “captures ambient visit conversation” for clinicians (i.e. listens in on patient consults) has partnered with cloud tech company SADA.

👀 Not to be outdone, Greenway Health just partnered with Nabla to launch their ambient AI assistant for clinicians. 

🤖 WHO announced the launch of S.A.R.A.H, a gen-AI assistant that provides patients with information on healthy lifestyle habits and mental health.

🤔 How LLMs will approve the patient experience, per MedCity News. 

Funding Rounds & Investor Moves

🧒 $21.5M for (aptly named) EarliTec, a startup creating early autism detection tech.

📊 $60M for the Autism Impact Fund to fuel new diagnostics and treatments. 

📝 $88M for Grow Therapy, a mental health tech startup focused on measurement-informed care delivery and value-based care reporting.

💻 $5M for HealthArc, a virtual healthcare company integrating behavioral health support into overall care plans.

🧑‍💻 $20M for Providence and its spin-out Praia Health, a platform that personalizes patients’ healthcare journeys.

👀 PE firms would need to “obtain a license” from HHS to invest in a healthcare services firm under new legislation proposed by Democrats.

✍️ But for now, PE deals are still expected to keep law firms busy in the coming months given likely rate cuts and expansion opportunities.

One Good Thing

❤️ Teen Drug Use Is On A Downward Trend

Dr. Nora Volkow, who leads the National Institutes of Drug Abuse, would like the public to know that things are getting better.

She says that education, prevention campaigns, and policy changes are the major drivers. 

It’s also possible that teens are shifting to other ways of escaping, like social media and video games. Full interview here.

That’s it for this week. See you next Wednesday with the latest headlines.

- Shân

P.S. You can email me here if you want to share any feedback, or let me know about something important your company is doing.

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