The number of startups focused on mental health has surged in the wake of the pandemic and a growing mental health crisis. They want to help people to meditate on their phones, or prescribe drugs that can be delivered right to their doors. But few focus on the most vulnerable patients, people with serious mental illness, in the real world.
This month, a for-profit startup co-founded by former National Institute of Mental Health leader Thomas Insel quietly launched with $29 million in funding to focus on patients with conditions such as schizophrenia that can seriously impair their function. Vanna Health, which has already struck partnerships with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and of Arizona as well as Jefferson Insurance Group, aims to connect patients with serious mental illness with existing local resources and, in areas where resources are scarce, to create them.
“I’ve done a bunch of different things, but through it all, the outcomes have gotten worse and worse,” said Insel, who has been involved with several mental health-related startups since leaving the NIMH in 2015. “We’re spending more money, we’ve made more progress on the science, and there are so many good treatments that we have available. And yet the outcomes are just dire, particularly for people with serious mental illness,” he said.
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