Mental health care in the U.S. is undergoing a profound transformation. The growing demand for services, compounded by a shift in attitudes toward mental health, has created an urgent need for innovative solutions. Grow Therapy, an outpatient digital mental health platform, has made a powerful move in the sector by partnering with Big Health, a pioneer in digital therapeutics. This collaboration is set to expand access to evidence-based mental health care and reshape how services are delivered, offering a blend of high-quality therapy and advanced digital tools.
This partnership is much more than a business deal—it’s a significant step toward building a more integrated, accessible mental health care system that could become a model for future digital therapeutics and telehealth services.
A Strategic Partnership to Drive Change
The collaboration between Grow Therapy and Big Health aims to make digital mental health solutions more widely available to patients and providers. Through this partnership, Grow Therapy’s extensive network of over 5,800 clinicians across 47 states will gain access to Big Health’s suite of mental health-focused digital therapeutics. Big Health’s offerings include Sleepio, a digital tool for insomnia, Daylight for managing anxiety, and Spark Direct for addressing depression, particularly among teens aged 13 and older. These digital mental health tools are designed to support patients between therapy sessions, bridging the gap and enhancing the therapeutic process.
As Arun Gupta, CEO and Executive Chairman of Big Health, explained in a conversation with Behavioral Health Business, the partnership marks a strategic expansion of their model. “This partnership massively further allows us to expand what’s working about our commercialization model in the digital therapeutics space, which has been, in the U.S., going through the employers. We believe that these digital mental health tools are most valuable when they’re seamlessly side-by-side with evidence-based high-quality therapy interactions,” he said. The idea is to integrate digital mental health tools into the therapeutic process, ensuring that patients receive continuous, comprehensive care that complements in-person or virtual sessions with clinicians.
This move is crucial, as it provides patients with tools that not only support their mental health during therapy but also help them maintain their progress in between sessions. For Grow Therapy’s providers, it means an opportunity to enhance their care delivery with high-tech solutions that are evidence-backed and user-friendly, without compromising the quality of therapy.
Solving the Digital Therapeutics Dilemma: Patient Acquisition
One of the most significant challenges for digital mental health tools is patient acquisition. The mental health space is crowded with direct-to-consumer (D2C) apps, services, and platforms, each offering solutions to various mental health concerns. However, the competition is fierce, and many platforms struggle with high patient churn and the need for an ever-expanding customer base to maintain profitability.
While mental health issues are on the rise in the U.S., with generational shifts in attitudes toward seeking mental health care, the digital mental health market is also highly fragmented. Many digital therapeutics companies have tried to solve the patient acquisition problem by focusing on consumer-facing models, only to face difficulties in scaling and sustaining patient volumes.
This is where the Business-to-Business (B2B) model comes into play. By partnering with established platforms like Grow Therapy, Big Health can tap into an already engaged patient population, minimizing the burden of acquiring patients directly. This partnership allows Big Health to expand its reach without relying on costly marketing campaigns or navigating the complexities of the crowded D2C space.
In fact, this B2B model has been growing in popularity within the digital health sector. Telehealth companies like Talkspace have pivoted away from the direct-to-consumer model in favor of building partnerships with employers and insurance providers, seeking stability and scalability in the B2B space. The pandemic highlighted the advantages of this approach, as telehealth services gained traction within businesses, health plans, and employee assistance programs (EAPs).
The Shift from D2C to B2B in Digital Therapeutics
While the D2C market still has a place in the digital health ecosystem, it is increasingly becoming clear that B2B partnerships offer a more sustainable path forward for digital mental health tools companies. By working with health plans, employers, and large telehealth platforms like Grow Therapy, companies like Big Health can not only ensure a steady stream of patients but also offer more comprehensive, integrated care.
For Big Health, this move comes at a time when the digital mental health tools space is seeing increasing pressure to prove its value. Digital mental health tools, especially in mental health, have struggled with the challenge of demonstrating sustained patient engagement and long-term outcomes. By working closely with Grow Therapy, Big Health can build a more robust data set, analyzing how its tools work in real-world clinical settings, and improving care based on these insights.
However, navigating the B2B space is not without its hurdles. Some digital therapeutics companies have attempted to secure approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in hopes of getting their products prescribed by clinicians. Yet, this process is lengthy, costly, and fraught with uncertainty. Pear Therapeutics, a digital therapeutics company focused on addiction treatment, filed for bankruptcy in April 2023, and Akili Inc., which produces video games for ADHD, announced it would stop seeking FDA approval in September 2023 after experiencing significant setbacks.
This shift away from pursuing FDA approval may be a sign that digital mental health tools companies are recognizing the difficulty of navigating regulatory pathways. Instead, partnering with large mental health platforms like Grow Therapy offers a more immediate and practical route to delivering digital mental health tools to patients at scale, without the lengthy delays associated with regulatory hurdles.
The Power of Combining Digital Therapeutics and Therapy
The true strength of the Grow Therapy and Big Health partnership lies in the synergy between traditional therapy and digital mental health tools. While digital mental health tools are valuable in helping patients manage their conditions between sessions, they are most effective when paired with professional therapy. As Gupta pointed out, “We believe that these digital mental health tools are most valuable when they’re seamlessly side-by-side with evidence-based high-quality therapy interactions.” By combining therapy with digital mental health tools, both companies aim to create a more holistic and effective treatment experience for patients, helping them achieve better long-term mental health outcomes.
This model also addresses another key challenge in the mental health space: continuity of care. Mental health patients often experience gaps in treatment, particularly between sessions, which can impede progress. The integration of digital mental health tools like Big Health’s Sleepio, Daylight, and Spark Direct ensures that patients have ongoing support, reinforcing the skills and strategies learned during therapy.
Looking Toward the Future: Big Health’s Ambitious Goals
As for what lies ahead, Big Health is optimistic about the potential of its partnership with Grow Therapy. Gupta predicts a breakout year for the company in 2024, with patient volumes that could surpass the entirety of the digital therapeutics industry. “It’s a true win-win for both organizations because we can get a lot more employers onboard to these solutions, which creates a lot more patient flow,” Gupta added.
This partnership is set to be a game-changer not only for Big Health and Grow Therapy but for the entire digital mental health ecosystem. As more companies like Grow Therapy expand their networks and integrate digital mental health tools into their offerings, the market for digital mental health services will continue to grow. And as evidenced by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), digital mental health platforms are one of the fastest-growing sectors in the U.S. With spending on these platforms increasing by about 275% in 2022, there is significant momentum behind this shift toward digital-first mental health care.
The Takeaway: A New Era for Mental Health Care
The partnership between Grow Therapy and Big Health represents a promising new era in the delivery of mental health care. By combining high-quality therapy with advanced digital mental health tools, both companies are poised to meet the growing demand for mental health services in the U.S. Their collaboration offers a practical solution to the challenges of patient acquisition, continuity of care, and scalability, setting a new standard for how digital mental health services can be delivered.
With the right balance of innovation, integration, and data-driven insights, Grow Therapy and Big Health are leading the charge toward a more accessible, efficient, and effective mental health care system—one that could revolutionize the way we approach mental wellness for years to come.
Stay tuned for more updates as Grow Therapy and Big Health continue to pave the way for the future of digital mental health care.
