The sustained demand for telehealth services in mental health has led to a great number of telehealth private therapy startups. The result of this has come to pass in the form of the fact that nearly 40 % of all telehealth visits in 2023 focused on mental health services. This opens a window of opportunity for both new entrants as well as experienced mental health businesses to scale up and grow. In this blog, our focus will be on how telehealth companies for mental health can develop and scale up.
Are you interested in growing your telehealth company for mental health? Get help from Strategique Partners’ company development services.
What are Telehealth Businesses in the Mental Health Sector?
Telehealth businesses offer mental health care services remotely with the help of digital platforms such as video conferencing, phone calls, and chat-based apps. Telehealth businesses offer:
- Mental health assessments
- Therapy
- Counselling
- Medication management
The underlying motive of planning your first therapy business should be accessibility, convenience, and affordability for patients of underserved areas.
Understanding the Need for Mental Health Telehealth Businesses To Scale
The demand for virtual mental health services is surging and inspiring a revolution in the behavioral health sector. Now mental health businesses can expand and grow with the help of the following:
- Software advancements
- AI-driven chatbots
- Virtual assistants
This has given rise to a steady demand, which is evident from these facts:
- The United States Virtual Mental Health Services Market is set to grow at a CAGR of 10.09% through 2028.
- Last year, telehealth use remained the most popular for mental health. 37% of mental health appointments were made online.Â
These positive signs for telehealth businesses in the mental health sector ask for greater investment in developing virtual mental health services, which can help them reap great dividends.
How Can You Grow Your Telehealth Company for Mental Health?Â
After having started a private practice in counseling, the next thing you need to look at is company growth and expansion. Scaling growth, however, in this space requires a combined effort in bettering:
- Operational efficiency
- Marketing innovation
- Regulatory compliance
- Financial planning
Therefore, when planning the costs of your mental health business, you should allocate funds for research and innovation.Â
Here are the key steps you can follow to scale and grow your telehealth company for mental health:
1. Exploring and Investing in Efficient and HIPAA-Compliant Telehealth Technology to Grow
The first thing when planning to offer virtual therapy services as a business will be finding the most suitable and user-friendly technological platform. The choice of platform and technology is such that it affords you growth and can accommodate a greater number of clients. The other things worth considering for a mental health business offering telehealth services include:
- Seamless Video Conferencing
- HIPAA Compliance in Behavioral Health
- Appointment Setting and SchedulingÂ
- Patient Portals for Easy Access
- Electronic Health Record Integration
Program development services from mental health business experts like Strategique Partners can help you find the best technology to invest in.
2. Expanding the Payer Mix and Credentialing with Insurance Companies
Normally, businesses in the behavioral health sector only accept direct payments. However, a much wider patient population relies on insurance reimbursement, which is why it is time to scale up and become paneled. Through credentialing with insurance companies, you can achieve:
- Quicker Reimbursements
- Greater Reach to Diverse Patients
- Expansion of Payer Network
- Greater Opportunity for Network Engagement
You can rely on expanding your payer mix as a major step towards growth. Strategique Partners through its billing services, can offer great help.
3. Seeking Multi-State Licensing and Accreditations for Greater Reach
Since you can make your services available to clients situated anywhere, you should consider getting licensed in multiple states. This is a key strategy when it comes to mental health business development that you expand your client base. To attract new clients to your virtual mental health business, you should do the following:
- Get licensing in multiple states
- Stay updated on changing regulatory requirements
- Seek accreditations
Strategique Partners, as a behavioral health business expert, offers services in all three domains to help you understand how you can use expanded licensing to your favor.
4. Marketing Your Scalability Efforts for Virtual Mental Healthcare Business
It is a matter of common knowledge today that mental health marketing can skyrocket your practice. Otherwise, your company’s efforts at expansion would not yield positive results. The success of your growth strategy relies on your marketing. You can scale and thrive solely based on robust digital marketing services which include:
- Search Engine Optimization through content marketing
- Social Media Engagement
- Email Marketing
5. Expanding Service Offerings
Expansion of service offerings is a great driver of scalability. As a mental health business offering virtual services, you can consider diversifying your services to include the following:
- Group Therapy Sessions
- Specialized Therapy Programs
- Gender or Age Specific Programs
- Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)
- Developing Mental Health Apps or Digital Tools
These are only a few programs you can develop to increase the chances of attracting greater customer segments to your mental health services.
6. Scalability Through Strategic Mergers, Acquisitions, and Community Partnerships
You can rapidly grow by merging or acquiring another telehealth company for mental health. The behavioral health market is fragmented, which means it is made up of smaller businesses and programs. Therefore, you have the opportunity to consolidate and grow. It can be done through the tested and proven strategy of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). This can help you with:
- Service line expansion
- Increased market share
However, before choosing this way of scaling, you need to develop an understanding of behavioral health mergers and acquisitions. Our behavioral health merger & acquisition services can help telehealth companies with mental health greatly.Â
7. Improving Your Workforce by Offering Flexible Work Hours
It is known that virtual modes of care provide easy accessibility to mental health services. Another benefit of this telehealth revolution, however, is the creation of considerable ease for professionals and company owners. As a mental health business owner, you can benefit by:
- Hiring marketable and known professionals nationwide or internationally
- Ease in credentialing and licensing renewal through automated data about staff
- Reduced staffing cost due to flexible hiring
- Reduced staff requirements due to automated operations
As a telehealth company in mental health, you can benefit through improved staffing that virtual platforms provide.Â
How Can Strategique Partners Help You Scale Your Telehealth Company for Mental Health?
Strategique Partners is a one-stop solution if you are looking to open and run a mental health clinic or scale it up and introduce new programs and virtual services. Our experts offer the following core services that are necessary for your telehealth business to grow and thrive:
These service offerings are specially designed to achieve guaranteed results. As a telehealth business for mental health services, you can benefit greatly if you are confused about how to grow your business. Our expertise expands to the market landscape, technological advancements, and sustainability of mental health businesses.Â
If you want to make your telehealth company development a reality, you should be consulting experts at Strategique Partners now.Â
Commonly Asked Questions Regarding Telehealth Companies for Mental Health
We have answered the questions most commonly asked about the growth of telehealth companies for mental health in the following lines:
1. Is it Possible to Integrate Virtual Mental Health Services Effectively With Existing Healthcare Systems?
Many mental health businesses offer their services physically and virtually. So it is possible to integrate telehealth mental health services with existing healthcare systems. By maintaining consistent communication channels to provide cohesive patient care, you can make this integration seamless.Â
2. What Are the Primary Challenges Telehealth Companies for Mental Health Face When Scaling Their Services?
When looking to grow your telehealth company for mental health, you may face the following challenges:
- Adapting scalable technology
- Cost management
- Ensuring regulatory compliance
- Keeping up service quality
3. How Can You Implement Data-Driven Decision Making When Scaling Your Telehealth Business for Mental Health?
Data-driven decision-making can help you achieve operational efficiency and hence better results. It can be achieved by leveraging the following data:
- Patient Outcomes
- Operational Metrics
- Financial Data
All these are made easier through data tracking & outcome management.Â
Related Resources:
- Companies That Buy Mental Health Practices: A Comprehensive Guide to Selling
- Understanding How to Start a Private Therapy Practice
- How to Buy a Mental and Behavioral Health Company: A Comprehensive Buyer’s Guide
- How to Sell Your Psychiatry Practice: Understanding the Process
- Companies That Buy Mental Health Practices: A Comprehensive Guide to Selling
- Step-by-Step Guide To Selling Your Mental Health Business
Julie Kniceley
Behavioral Health Business Selling Expert
From Author
The recent times have seen a steady boom of telehealth and virtual services in the mental health sector. All the statistics represent a growing demand for these services. However, my experience in helping mental health businesses start, expand and consolidate suggests that established businesses can better cash this boom rather than ones just starting up. This is where the point to understand lies. If you are looking to expand your telehealth services, you will be required to do strategic planning in fields such as insurance credentialing, expanding the payer mix, finding HIPAA-compliant virtual platforms and many more. These aspects are normally not understood well by mental health businesses owing to their fresh emergence. Therefore, in such cases, businesses should rely on expert advice and hire telehealth expansion advisors. Strategique Partners is one such expert with loads of experience in company growth, telehealth services and the mental health market landscape. This is why it is most beneficial to seek their help. Begin your journey to telehealth expansion for your mental health businesses with our help from today