CVS Health leads $25M round in telepsychiatry provider Array Behavioral Care

The company integrates virtual therapy and psychiatry providers in in hospitals and care settings

Even before the pandemic, the mental health space was seeing huge growth and increased interest, but since 2020 it has attracted a lot of new players in the space, from D2C to B2B solutions providers, as demand suddenly rose. In 2021, mental health companies brought in $5.5 billion globally across 324 deals, a 139% increase year-to-year.

Of course, big problems remain, and one of the biggest plaguing the industry is a deficit of licensed mental health providers, including psychiatrists and therapists.

"Nearly every area in the country lacks the number of providers needed to serve the existing need we have. Not to mention the provider number is projected to only decrease further as our population increases," said Geoffrey Boyce, CEO and co-founder of Array Behavioral Care, a virtual psychiatry and therapy practice. 

Array helps solve for this issue by leveraging telemedicine and an administrative team that supports the clinical team, so they spend less time on administrative tasks and more time interfacing with patients.

The company is now looking to scale operations, and on Monday it announced $25 million in new funding to do just that. The round was led by CVS Health along with existing investors, including Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, Health Velocity Capital, Harbour Point Capital, HLM Venture Partners, OCA Ventures, and OSF Healthcare. Array had previously raised a $24 million round of funding in 2021. 

Along with the funding, it was also revealed that David Fairchild, MD, MPH, SVP and Chief Medical Officer of Retail Health for CVS Health, will join Array’s board of directors.

"Dr. Fairchild’s deep expertise and knowledge will add to our existing bench of board members," said Boyce. 

Array, which was founded in 1999, helps in both non-acute and acute care settings. On the non-acute side, the company partners with many of the nation’s leading health insurers and is in-network for millions of covered lives across the country.

"The national practice is comprised of more than 650 clinical and administrative professionals who provide services to millions of covered lives, with licensed clinicians in all 50 states. So, patients can find local providers in their area and schedule appropriate appointments from the comfort of their homes, office, etc," said Boyce. 

On the acute care side, Array works with a hospital to integrate virtual therapy and psychiatry providers into their hospital, clinic, or site which means that, when a rural hospital doesn’t have a psychiatrist on staff to evaluate a patient, they need someone who speaks another language, they don’t have to hold the patient in their ED for three to four times longer than average patients; instead they can wheel in a telemedicine cart, the patient can speak to a provider and then they can be referred to the proper level of care.

This helps patients get the right care faster, decreases the patient's length of stay, which Boyces notes is "a HUGE deal for hospitals and the financial equation," and also helps leverage the existing pool of providers to the full extent possible.

That focus on both sides of care is also what differentiates the company from its competitors, who also provide virtual mental health services, said Boyce.

"Patients could interface with an Array provider in the hospital and continue their care plan at home with the at-home offering. We don’t know anyone else doing both the way Array does it. That, coupled with the clinician and administrative team layout that, allows providers to operate at the top of their experience because admin work is streamlined across the team," he explained.

There are about 90 million Americans who can access Array’s services across all 50 states, and last year, Array had around 400,000 patient encounters.

Now the company plans to use the new company to scale; that means growing its team and growing into new and existing markets, while also enhancing its service offerings and operations, as well as its technology.

"Array’s ultimate goal is to help provide access to quality, timely behavioral care to those who need it," Boyce said.