- It Won’t Be Enough To Fix The Crisis
By Gaby Galvin
Venture capital funding for digital behavioral health tools for children and teenagers reached US$919 million in 2021, up from US$54 million in 2017 and more than double the amount raised in 2020, according to Rock Health data provided exclusively to Morning Consult.
As of August 2021, about 1 in 3 behavioral health outpatient visits for people 18 and younger were done via telehealth.
New virtual care companies face challenges with payment, access and building up their clinical workforces as they look to broaden their reach with younger patients.
Virtual health care has exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic, and new data indicates digital tools targeting the behavioral health needs of children and teenagers are no exception.
The mental well-being of young people has long been a concern, given there are few pediatric mental health specialists in the United States, leaving long waiting lists for care and a growing number of kids sent to the emergency room in crisis. The pandemic has only exacerbated those challenges, prompting the surgeon general to call late last year for a “swift and coordinated response” to the youth mental health crisis. Now, digital health companies are stepping up.
Venture capital funding for digital behavioral health tools for children and teens, which also include those tackling issues like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism, ballooned to US$919 million in 2021, up from US$54 million in 2017 and more than double the amount raised in 2020, according to exclusive data shared with Morning Consult from health tech investment and advisory firm Rock Health. That’s 16 per cent of the funding for such tools targeting all ages last year, a small but growing share.
Yet while clinicians and health executives say these tools could offer some solutions for young people, they also come with challenges of their own.
