Virtual behavioral health company Brave Health is partnering with the Doula Network, a service that pairs pregnant Medicaid patients with doulas, to offer maternal mental healthcare.

As part of the partnership, TDN will refer its patients to Brave for services like individual, group, family and couples therapy, as well as psychiatry and medication management. TDN currently works with Medicaid plans in Florida and New Jersey, but plans to add seven new states to its roster this year.

CEO and cofounder Anna Lindow said Brave works with the same insurers as TDN, allowing the companies to work together and stay in touch regarding their patients' care.

"It's about everybody who's working towards the members' health doing so together," Lindow told MobiHealthNews. "And the more that we can close loops, rather than making a baton handoff where you never talk again, the better we see the member feels that their care is being coordinated and integrated." 

WHY IT MATTERS

According to a CDC study, about 13% of women with a recent live birth reported postpartum depressive symptoms. However, one in five said a healthcare provider didn't ask about depressive symptoms during prenatal visits, and one in eight said they weren't asked about depression during postpartum visits. 

The prevalence of postpartum depressive symptoms was greater than 20% in some groups, including people who were less than 19 years old, American Indian or Alaska Native, those who had smoked during and after pregnancy, people who had experienced partner violence, and those whose infant had died since birth. 

THE LARGER TREND

Though digital health funding has decreased during the first quarter, compared with the fourth quarter last year, Rock Health still ranks mental health as the most funded clinical area. The report also found reproductive and maternal care companies had moved into the top six for the first time since 2019.

Alpha Medical, a virtual primary care and women's health company, includes support for postpartum depression. The startup raised $24 million in September. Maternal health company Cayaba Care launched last year with $3.2 million in seeding funding and also offers mental health services. Meanwhile, Woebot Health received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation about a year ago for its digital therapeutic aimed at treating postpartum depression. 

Brave, which mostly receives patients through referrals from providers and payers, is focused on serving the Medicaid market, though it does work with commercial insurers as well. Lindow said the referral model allows patients to benefit from mental health services even if they don't have the time to search out and vet direct-to-consumer virtual care options. 

"In the United States, we have a high expectation of individuals. We place that on them and say, 'You have to be able to navigate a complicated system yourself,'" she said. 

"When you have something else going on in your life – and being pregnant and having a baby are monumental events – it becomes even harder to navigate what might be a tricky system."