Headway Enters California to Help People Get In-Network Mental Health Care Quickly and Easily

Company will accelerate speed-to-care for Californians across race, language, and geography, aiming to greatly improve the state's mental health care crisis

NEW YORK, Oct. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Headway, a tech-enabled company that has built the easiest way for people to get quality in-network mental health care, announced it is available in California. As the country's largest and most diverse state faces a growing mental health care crisis, Headway is the solution to expand access. With Headway, patients can attend a virtual or in-person appointment in as little as 48 hours, and on average patients attend their first appointment less than 6 days after online booking; this is compared to the national average of two to three weeks, if not months.

California is facing a growing mental health care crisis. According to Mental Health America's "State of Mental Health in America" 2022 report, the state ranks  48th out of 50 states for "Adults with AMI (any mental illness) Who Did Not Receive Treatment." The state has had regulations in place requiring that patients have access to an initial in-network mental health care appointment within 10 days; and since July 1, 2022 – with the implementation of CA SB221 – this 10 day requirement has been extended to follow-up appointments as well. While additional pressure is on insurance companies to get members timely care, across the state access within these timely windows is not the current reality. In contrast, across the country Headway patients attend their second appointment in just 7.6 days to support ongoing treatment.

"The mental health care crisis in California could happen anywhere, and is a reflection of our country's broken system," said Andrew Adams, founder and CEO, Headway. "At Headway, we are helping to fix this crisis by simultaneously solving the barriers faced by providers, health plans, and the patients they serve. Headway's ground-breaking solution supports all stakeholders, enabling patients to receive timely mental health care that takes their insurance."

In just 30 days, Headway has built a robust network of high-quality providers across the state who are credentialed with select insurance providers. The California network is nearly 60% non-white, with 30% of providers fluent in a language other than English, such as Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean, Armenian and more. Moreover, 25% of providers support LGBTQIA+ needs, and 15% of the network identifies as Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI). Headway's search platform headway.co is the easiest way for patients to find and immediately book an appointment on the calendar of a the right in-network provider, matched based on the patient's demographic, cultural, geographic preferences, and clinical needs.

Here's how it works:

• Providers are actively engaged in-network. They are supported administratively with credentialing, scheduling, billing, and revenue-cycle management, saving on average 5-10 hours a week. In turn, Headway has built a robust network of actively engaged in-network providers, with appointments available to patients in as soon as 48 hours.
• Patients easily get the quality in-network mental health care they deserve. They can browse and book appointments easily at headway.co, selecting the mental health provider of their choice based on race, gender, location, specialty, in-person vs virtual, and more. In addition, patients get help navigating their insurance benefits and price transparency before booking. Headway's national average speed to first appointment is 5.9 days, and more than 70% of patients report improvements in the first 30 days of care, as measured by PHQ-9 and GAD-7 clinical assessments.
• Health plans get a scalable and integrated solution. Plans expand their mental health care provider network, gain the ability to manage and integrate care across multiple touch-points (e.g. case management, care navigation, PCP referrals, directory integrations), and get actionable and cross-functional data and insights in return.

Headway currently operates in 14 more states including the District of Columbia, and is powering more than 2.5 million appointments annually. This year, the company has announced partnerships with some of the nation's biggest providers including Empire BlueCross BlueShield, Carefirst BlueCross BlueShield, and BlueCross NC, helping to scale their mental health care programs.

Providers interested in joining the Headway platform can visit here.

About Headway 
Headway is the easiest way to get quality in-network mental health care. With the nation's largest mental health provider network operating on a single technology platform, our solution makes historically manual and inefficient processes seamless by removing barriers faced by providers, health plans, and the patients they serve. The company powers 2.5 million appointments annually, and patients can book care in just one-click, with patients attending their first appointment in an average of 5.9 days after booking. More than 20,000 credentialed mental health providers across race, gender, ethnicity and specialty deliver care through Headway, which currently operates in 15 states and the District of Columbia. Headway has received venture funding from top investors, including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Accel, Thrive Capital, and GV (formerly Google Ventures). Schedule an in-network session today at headway.co.

Media Contact: Erik Milster
[email protected] 

SOURCE Headway