About one in four Medicare enrollees have a mental illness, but 40% of those over the age of 50 with serious mental illness struggle accessing care.
That’s the gap Author Health is trying to fill. The company, which launched Wednesday with $115 million in financing, targets seniors with serious mental illness and substance use disorders by working with Medicare Advantage plans. It also announced its first payer partnership with Humana in South Florida. Author Health, based in Boston, provides virtual and in-person care with a team that consists of specialized physicians, nurses, therapists and community health workers.
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The company treats patients with severe conditions including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s and substance use disorders. Its services include diagnostic evaluations, medication prescriptions, psychotherapy, talk therapy and social support.
The $115 million in financing was led by General Atlantic and included participation from Flare Capital Partners. Michael Greeley, co-founder and general partner of Flare Capital Partners, said the firm chose to invest in Author Health because it is filling an unmet need.
“[There are] disappointingly poor existing care models that are scaled and so we think there is an opportunity in partnership with Humana … to provide really transformative services to that population that’s just woefully underserved today,” Greeley said in an interview.
The senior population is rapidly growing, with the number of Americans ages 65 and older expected to reach 80 million by 2040, according to the Urban Institute.
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With the financing, Author Health is focused on advancing its technology and expanding into new markets, said Dr. Katherine Hobbs, CEO of the company, in an interview. While its services are currently only offered in Florida, the startup plans to expand into other locations and work with additional Medicare Advantage and Special Needs plans by 2024. Author Health will also use the funding to hire more employees.
The arrangement with Humana is currently based on a fee-for-service model. However, Author Health aims to transition into a value-based care model, with a focus on behavioral health outcomes like reducing symptoms of depression, as well as a focus on physical health outcomes like seeing an improvement in glucose management for diabetes, Hobbs said.
The actual treatment of the patient (such as from the nurse practitioner, physician and therapist) is all done virtually, but the community health workers employed by Author Health work with patients in person to address social challenges and help with technology. This support can be provided in patients’ homes, at the primary care office or other locations. This hybrid model is built to ease workforce shortages, according to Hobbs.
“Because we’re offering services by telehealth, we can recruit really anywhere in the country and license people appropriately in the state where patients are being seen,” Hobbs stated. “It builds real efficiencies on the team in the way that we’re using the MD really for the most complex patients. That MD is the scarcest person in the workforce and they can now serve a much broader population of people because they’re working through this team and also working by telehealth.”
The name of Author Health came from the idea of helping patients “define the life that they want to lead,” Hobbs added.
“You’re the author of your own life story,” she said. “It may look one way today, but you have the ability to write new chapters to build a different life tomorrow. Our company is here to support people, to identify and build on those tools so that they have the agency to write that story.”
Another company that treats serious mental illness is Brightside Health, though this company doesn’t focus on older populations like Author Health does. Valera Health also provides support for serious mental illness, though it cares for those with more mild conditions as well and patients of all different age groups.
Ultimately, in launching Author Health, Hobbs aims to help as many seniors battling serious mental illness and substance use disorder as possible.
“We’ve identified this major need nationally. … How do we create as quickly as possible a scalable model that actually engages this patient population and then gets them the right care such that they get better and can remain in their homes, remain in the community? That’s our singular focus,” she said.
Photo: PixelsEffect, Getty Images
