UnitedHealthcare’s recent partnership with the digital school-focused health care provider Hazel Health will benefit more than just the health plans’ members.
The payer will cover the costs of startup partnerships with Hazel Health and school districts to provide students with mental health services. All students, regardless of payer or coverage status, will have access to services.
Krista Nelson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the benefits division of the health care conglomerate UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), said in a blog post that the partnership will expand to 14 states and cover as many as 1 million students by 2025.
The partnership has led to operational services in Iowa school districts. No other states have been announced.
“Our goal is to break down barriers to care and connect students directly to health care providers, ensuring students and their families have access to the care they need,” the report states. “We believe this is the future of pediatric health care.”
It’s not clear which states are on the agenda, how specific states will be chosen and what exactly the financial commitments of UnitedHealthcare and partnering school districts will be after they are established. UnitedHealthcare declined to comment for this story.
In June, UnitedHealthcare announced that it had “invested $1.5 million in Hazel Health to expand access to mental health care for 100K students across Iowa.” Local media reported in August that Hazel Health programs had been established in the Iowa cities of Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and Council Bluffs.
Andrew Post, president of Hazel Health, described the engagement of UnitedHealthcare as a “sponsorship.” He also declined to discuss the details of the partnership.
However, Post told Behavioral Health Business that the partnership is a major win for Hazel Health. On one hand, it will allow the company to deepen its presence in some existing state markets and help it get a foothold in new state markets.
Typically, Hazel Health has the school district pay a per-student fee to help cover technology costs and unreimbursed care while it bills the student’s health plan for services. Earlier in the year, the company said that over 4 million students had access to Hazel Health, which offers virtual mental health as well as virtual physical health services in schools and in patients’ homes.
“The reality is that [mental health care] is six times more likely to get to children through schools,” Post said. “As this data point suggests, students spend a ton of waking hours [at school], so it needs to be available there.”
Schools are logical settings to provide health care services. The American compulsory education system makes schools major centers of gravity around which communities orbit.
Hazel Health raised a $51.5 million Series C1 round in 2022. At that time, the company covered about 2.5 million students.
The company’s school-focused strategy reflects the wider trend of expanding behavioral health organizations turning to public entities to swiftly establish a patient population. Another virtual care provider, Uwill, has grown significantly through partnerships with both K-12 and post-secondary education entities. Uwill is also one of the fastest-growing behavioral health care providers in the U.S.
