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Welcome to The Census, your biweekly roundup of what matters in behavioral health care.

Today, we’re breaking down:

• Comprehensive autism care models see 30% growth

• All your latest news headlines in under two minutes

Let’s dive in.

- Shân

P.S. Of course you’ve all heard about HHS axing the entire team behind America’s key drug use and mental health surveys. You know, the primary source of behavioral health data in the country. If you’re from that team, share your story here.

What we’re watching this week 

🫶 Multidisciplinary autism & IDD care models are booming

They’ve grown at a 30% CAGR since 2020. Analysts say it’s only the beginning.

And it’s not just ABA providers moving to offer comprehensive services — speech therapists, OTs, and PTs are also expanding into the ABA space. 

Of course, this growth isn’t a surprise. We know comprehensive autism care is the gold standard. Google search volumes show parents agree.

It also mirrors the behavioral health industry’s general move toward more collaborative care models. 

The problem is that despite this growth in both demand and services, autism practices are still using less than half of their authorized hours. Largely thanks to staffing shortages and scheduling challenges.

Experts say billable hours can be increased by:

• Investing in caregiver training — providers who do so have a ~30% lower client churn rate 

• Improving employee retention through comprehensive onboarding programs, (good) supervision workflows, and fulfilling requested hours

CentralReach (who so nicely compiled the data above) also noted another trend: a continued shift toward in-clinic autism + IDD care. At least in all states except California, an outlier favoring in-home care. You can download the full report here.

Let’s get to your news headlines.

Catch up quick

This week’s top stories

Latest news

👀 NYC is keeping inmates with mental illness on Rikers Island due to hospital bed shortages, as judges find a growing number of criminal defendants mentally unfit to stand trial.

🫰 Insurance companies under-reimburse therapists by 36% on average, a new Heard survey shows.

💰 Interestingly, the survey also found that almost 40% of therapists generate income from non-therapy sources, most commonly consulting. 

☹️ A unique pain research office, which focused on issues like non-opioid pain relief, was eliminated in the HHS purge.

🧠 Californians are bracing for changes that could weaken recent gains in mental health care and addiction treatment due to potential cuts to Medicaid.

🔎 AI screening for opioid use disorder led to 47% lower odds of hospital readmission compared to patients who received provider-initiated consultation.

🤑 Medicare’s financial future got a whole lot rosier after the Budget Office found it has enough funds in trust to last an extra 17 years. 

🤔 The NIH is planning a new multimillion-dollar research program to examine the causes of autism and the spike in US diagnoses (let’s hope they look at obesity and gestational diabetes…). 

🤖 Generative AI is freely giving mental health advice for DSM-5 mental disorders, causing experts to call for more industry guardrails. 

🌿 New Mexico has advanced two bills that would expand protections for medical marijuana patients and permit the use of medical psilocybin.

🍄 Speaking of mushrooms, Colorado’s first licensed psilocybin healing center is getting ready to open.

✍️ And in Minnesota, new Bills call for legal access to psilocybin for medical purposes and for the legalization of personal psilocybin use.

🧑‍🎓 On a final fungi-related note, you can now do a bachelor in psychedelic studies at (of course) a Californian university. 

❌ Digital pediatric behavioral health provider Meliora Health has shut US operations after a three-year campaign to expand ADHD & autism treatment.

🏥 TeamHealth joined forces with Array Behavioral Care to bring virtual psychiatry into its 2.4k+ emergency rooms.

🏢 Behavioral Health Network bought a 57k+ sq. ft. industrial warehouse in Springfield to expand its operations across Western Massachusetts.

🤝 A new RethinkBH–WebPT partnership aims to simplify care for pediatric therapy providers delivering multi-specialty therapy.

🏗️ Construction has officially commenced on the $145M Kedren Children’s Village Behavioral Health Hospital in Los Angeles.

💡 Some SUD providers offer free alumni programs to support recovery — and future business.

(Announcing something cool? Reply to this mail with the details, and I’ll try to share them in the newsletter.)

Also! We’re hosting an exclusive, 40-seat summit for Chief Marketing Officers in mental and behavioral health.

Join the waitlist here.

Funding rounds & investor moves

🤑 Digital therapeutics company Click Therapeutics raised $48M+ to treat conditions including major depressive disorder, OUD, and schizophrenia.

💻 Digital platform Tad Health landed ~$8M to help mental health providers streamline administrative tasks.

💸 PE firm Clearview Capital invested in outpatient behavioral health provider Advantage Behavioral Health to “further accelerate [its] growth trajectory.”

Studies & opinion pieces

🤖 An AI therapy chatbot can effectively treat clinical mental health symptoms — although, for now, only in ‘narrow and discrete settings’ (study).

🧒 Preterm children are more likely to screen positive for autism, with gestational age being the strongest predictor (study).

💡 Autism symptoms arise in mice when a certain pair of competing nerve proteins falls out of equilibrium (study).

🤝 The importance of aligning payer and provider goals in value-based care (opinion). 

That’s it for this week! See you next time,

- Shân

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