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

Today, we’re breaking down:

• How to launch a successful virtual IOP 

• New stats on the senior behavioral health crisis

• All your latest news headlines in under two minutes

Let’s dive in.

- Shân

P.S. Ultrasound therapy may treat addiction (jump straight to ‘Catch Up Quick’ below).

Reading time: ~4 minutes.

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On Our Radar

What we’re watching this week 

💡 Tips for Running a Successful Virtual IOP

Patients want virtual IOP options. So we got an expert’s top two tips for launching one.

Dr. Erica Aten is the Intensive Outpatient Program Director at Portland Mental Health & Wellness. 

Their virtual IOPs see 500+ patients each year.

Here’s her quick advice for online success.

1. Have well-defined policies and procedures, and communicate them clearly with patients

2. Don’t expect perfection off the bat — rather be ready to resolve snags quickly

Special thanks to Erica and Brad at PMHW for these insights.

🧓 The Seniors Are Not Alright

It’s time to call your pop — and provide tailored behavioral health care to the elderly.

We’ll get straight to the numbers. 

Among Americans aged 60 and older:

• One in eight used illicit drugs in the past year

• Fewer than one in three who needed SUD treatment received it

And in those aged 65 and older, mental health diagnoses have increased by 57%+ since 2019.

• This is the biggest jump of ANY age group — including the notoriously troubled Gen Zers

Except unlike youths, Baby Boomers don’t tend to discuss mental health issues openly. Let alone seek help.

Tailored behavioral health care for the 76M+ older Americans will only become more vital in years to come. Solving the patient acquisition problem is a clear way to start.

Let’s get to your news headlines.

Catch Up Quick

This week’s top stories

Latest News

🤯 Ultrasound therapy may be effective in treating addiction by “basically doing brain surgery without the surgery.”

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Peer support services are rapidly gaining mainstream acceptance thanks to federal initiatives and new reimbursement opportunities.

💰 PE has been critical to the autism industry in recent years — but now investors are waiting for valuation standards to be redefined. 

🧑‍💻 Talkspace continues to thin its financial losses as it grows its payer- and government-focused business lines. 

💡 RBT exam pass rates for registered training entities in the autism field are rather mixed (Vargas University, we have questions).

📝 Colorado eating disorder treatment providers will now get specific regulations thanks to a new bill passed by The House on Saturday. 

🧑‍💼 More than a third of employers are integrating value-based care into their employer-sponsored insurance, according to a new survey.

👀 How you portray privacy and data-sharing practices to customers is key — a lesson taught courtesy of Cerebral and Monument’s FTC fines.

🚬 Marijuana looks likely to be moved from a Schedule I to a III drug, meaning it will no longer be on par with illicit substances such as heroin.

🎮 In the latest troubling sign for digital therapeutics makers, a firm developing video games to treat ADHD is shedding staff and rethinking strategy.

💸 Chinese crime groups and drug traffickers may have been enabled by TD Bank when laundering money from US fentanyl sales.

🏥 A Jacksonville psych hospital is rife with violence and abuse, and staff say they were even told to falsify patient records.

💉 The Biden administration has allocated $1.5B to state and trial opioid response efforts.

🤔 Cigna is optimistic about their new behavioral unit despite falling patient numbers.

📈 Acadia Healthcare has ramped up its focus on comprehensive treatment centers and outpatient expansion.

🏛️ A new policy extending Medicaid coverage to incarcerated people at least a month before their release has drawn a slew of state applications.

🏫 ‘Rampant’ drug use is raising concern at Montgomery’s Kennedy High School.

👄 Sexually transmitted disease rates in Florida have skyrocketed by 42% in the last decade.

🫰 Amneal Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay ~$272M in opioid settlement cash.

💲 And, Endo Health was ordered to pay more than $1.5B in its opioid criminal case.

💊 Buprenorphine is gaining ground at community health centers, with a ~4x increase in doctors prescribing it since 2016.

📊 Related: The opioid withdrawal syndrome drug market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 4% until 2034.

🍄 There’s skepticism about clinical trials for the first psychedelic drug seeking FDA approval as a mental health treatment.

🏃 How the virtual care market is shaking out as Walmart and Optum exit telehealth.

🔎 And, going deeper: Retailers retreat from health care delivery. 

💄 Ulta Beauty is turning to teen mental health nonprofits to build new customer connections.

☎️ Medicare telehealth flexibilities have been extended for two years. 

🧑‍⚖️ A Palm Springs behavioral health facility has been targeted in a $17M foreclosure lawsuit.

⚠️ McKinsey is under a federal criminal investigation related to its role in the opioid crisis.

🤑 Hmmm, that’s interesting: What health insurance CEOs earned last year.

Funding Rounds & Investor Moves

🧑‍💻 $13M for Blackwell Security, a startup tailoring cybersecurity to health systems and providers.

💉 $16M+ for Hope River Ranch, an addiction provider set to open in Utah this month. 

🧠 $15M for Amae Health, an SMI startup focused on in-person clinics and precision medicine.

💻 $126M for Transcarent, a San Francisco-based digital health startup.

🏥 Autism therapy provider Opya Care acquired the Center for Autism Spectrum Therapy — marking a move into center-based care. 

💳 PE-backed Your Behavioral Health acquired teen mental health and SUD treatment provider Insight Treatment Programs.

🤔 Private equity owns ~6% of mental health and ~7% of addiction treatment facilities in the US — which is less than recent dealmaking trends suggest. 

Expansions, Launches, & Partnerships

🏥 A $44M new behavioral health center has broken ground in Youngstown.

🤝 The PA Clinical Network and Guidehealth have entered into a multiyear partnership to drive value-based care in Philly.

🗣️ Jefferson Health announced the opening of its Bridge Program, a coordinated care initiative for people with severe SUD.

🥾 Meditation app Calm has partnered with hiking app AllTrails to encourage people to get outdoors for their mental health. 

Studies & Opinion Pieces

☎️ Virtual-first telehealth is flaming out — but a virtual-second model can refresh the industry (opinion). 

❤️‍🩹 Injured workers need behavioral health support, or they could be away from their jobs for almost 3X as long (study).

🫂 Multidisciplinary teams are needed to support teens with autism achieve independence (study). 

💊 A telehealth program created to improve access to specialty care was found to reduce reliance on opioids in pain management (study). 

🧠 Three in four Americans feel mental health takes a back seat to physical health within the healthcare system (survey). 

💡 Why Amae Health is building an in-person approach to mental healthcare in an increasingly digital space (opinion). 

😞 Anti-LGBTQ+ policies have an alarming effect on youth mental health (survey). 

🚺 Perimenopause may spike the risk of depression by 40% (study). 

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

- Shân

P.S. Our founder, Tim Stoddart, is hosting a webinar on three simple tactics to increase your leads tomorrow. Register here.

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