Investment round led by CVS Health provides leading virtual behavioral health provider support to meet mental health needs across the care continuum
Array Behavioral Care, a virtual psychiatry and therapy practice, closed its latest equity round to further scale modern behavioral health care across the continuum, with CVS Health leading the round. Existing investors also joined the round and contributed additional capital.
The financing builds upon a long history between Array and CVS Health and opens doors to new levels of collaboration to expand access to high-quality behavioral care.
“Array has consistently been a strong mental health care provider within Aetna’s network,” said Cara McNulty, President of Behavioral Health and Mental Well-being for CVS Health. “As CVS Health drives more innovation into care delivery, we look forward to working with Array to enhance access that complements our existing services in new ways.”
Serving hospitals, clinics, and individuals directly at home, Array uniquely delivers psychiatry and therapy across the continuum of care. With CVS Health as a new investor, Array will scale faster to provide further access to quality, timely behavioral care in new and existing markets through enhanced service offerings and operations, innovative technology, and expansion of the practice team.
“The Array team’s experience with telepsychiatry spans more than two decades, and during this time, we’ve been at the forefront of creating, implementing, and evolving virtualized mental health programs across the continuum of care. From our first telepsychiatry encounter in a rural hospital in 1999 to caring for patients online from their homes today, we’ve stayed true to our mission to meet patients where they are regardless of acuity level or setting to deliver the behavioral health care they deserve,” said Geoffrey Boyce, CEO and Co-founder of Array. “As we continue to lead the charge in transforming access to modern behavioral health care, we’re proud to do it with our existing partners and CVS Health.”
“Array’s long history in virtual behavioral care and its devotion to quality stand out,” said Vijay Patel, Managing Partner and co-founder of CVS Health Ventures, the company’s dedicated corporate venture capital platform. “Our collaboration and investment can help enhance access to these services, which is particularly important with demand for mental health services increasing significantly in recent years.”
As an early champion of telepsychiatry more than 20 years ago, Array and its early founders have been instrumental in the reinvention of how mental health care is delivered. The practice has long advocated for improved access to timely, quality behavioral health care in hospitals, community clinics, primary care offices, and homes for patients nationwide. Today, there are about 90 million Americans who can access Array’s services across all 50 states.
An estimated 150 million Americans, or 40% of the population, live in federally designated mental health professional shortage areas. According to research by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, only 27.7% of the national need for mental health professionals is actively being met. This scarcity of mental health professionals prevents patients from receiving the care they need, resulting in adverse health outcomes. The virtual care model allows for a more equitable distribution of clinical resources, particularly in rural and underserved communities, helping to remove barriers that limit patient access and increasing collaboration between mental and physical health clinicians.
“Our practice has always focused on helping provide patients the care they need, when and where they need it, without sacrificing quality,” said Dr. James Varrell, Executive Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of Array. “It’s clear that telebehavioral care is one of the most meaningful ways to address the clinician shortage and mental health crisis. As our practice broadens its reach, our patients and partners can rest assured in knowing that we lead with quality and clinical excellence first and foremost.”
Virtual solutions can also benefit psychiatrists, therapists, and other clinicians who can often be burdened with excessive administrative work that detracts from time that could be spent providing direct patient care. At Array, clinicians have a support team of clinical, operational, administrative, and technical specialists who help providers operate at the top of their licenses, integrate with care teams, and similarly practice as they would if they were physically present with the patient. In 2022, Array earned the Great Place to Work Certification, with 90 percent of team members calling Array a great place to work.
CVS Health joins other industry leaders and early investors in Array Behavioral Care, including Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, Health Velocity Capital, Harbour Point Capital, HLM Venture Partners, OCA Ventures, and OSF Healthcare.
Wells Fargo served as Array’s advisor on the transaction with a team led by Puneet Chandhok.
David Fairchild, MD, MPH, SVP and Chief Medical Officer of Retail Health for CVS Health will join Array’s board of directors. “Providing high-quality, whole-person care to consumers is essential to improving the health care system,” said Dr. Fairchild. “Working with Dr. Varrell, Geoffrey Boyce and the entire Array organization, we believe that we can help increase access to excellent, convenient behavioral health care services.”