Over the past several years, we have seen the rise of Venture Capital Companies such as Headway, Alma, Grow, Rula and TalkSpace offering connections to Mental Health providers who are in-network with the consumer’s insurance.

While the plan for both clinicians and clients seems innocent and helpful in the beginning, the end result is one where mental health care becomes managed not by clinicians but by VC companies and insurance and AI gets pushed onto consumers to their detriment.  

The plan has been from the beginning: 1. Create a desirable environment that reduces friction to connect therapist and client and “help” therapists by taking over the administrative billing. 2. Partner with insurance companies while building relationships with those companies and get them to invest in the platforms (ex- Optum’s investment in Alma and Blue Cross Blue Shield’s investment in Headway) to push in-network clinicians towards use of the platforms by offering higher rates to clinicians while also receiving commission from the funds of reimbursement to the clinician. 3. Make it financially unviable for solo practitioners or group practices to independently participate in insurance networks by telling clinicians that they either won’t negotiate rates and/or do not need new clinicians unless they are on a platform the insurance company has invested in. 4. Create additional profits by selling client data. 5. Utilize data from client sessions to build AI therapists. 6. Allow insurance companies to reduce provider rates and begin pushing AI Therapists (marketed as support rather than therapy to dodge laws against AI therapy). 

We the undersigned understand that this will end with mental health care becoming less accessible to everyone, with a particular concern for already intentionally marginalized communities. We recognize that client care is best decided by trained mental health providers alongside their clients and not by corporations and we call on State and Federal legislators to regulate these companies, look into the data they are selling and stop the eroding of mental health care for clients. We recognize that clinicians are trained and deserve reasonable compensation for their services as would any helping professional and demand standards be set for reasonable compensation. Additionally, we recognize that AI cannot replace competent clinicians. We would ask that legislators look to laws regulating AI usage in Mental health such as the one in Illinois: HB 1806 and additionally Illinois HB 1856 regulating a minimum standard for mental health reimbursement by insurance companies. We ask for regulation over the sale of clinician owned practices to Venture Capital companies to ensure they are in the best interest of the people providing and accessing services.

Sign the petition to make meaningful changes in the mental health landscape.