Sensible Care - Volition Capital

Digital Health

Sensible Care is a leading end-to-end online behavioral health provider that puts patient and provider experience first.

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About Sensible Care

Headquartered in Santa Ana, Sensible Care is an end-to-end online behavioral health provider that’s founded and led by veterans. Patients are able to easily book same-week psychiatric and therapy video visits for themselves or their children, using the insurance they already have.

Background

Sensible Care was founded in 2017 by Paul Kim, an Army veteran who enlisted after 9/11 and experienced PTSD following his service in Iraq. Paul experienced firsthand the challenges, especially for military veterans, to access high-quality mental health care that was traditionally restricted to on-base uniformed providers.

Since its inception, the company’s success has been driven by the executive team’s nuanced understanding of the behavioral health industry’s complexities and pain points, as well as deep experience in technology.

WHY WE INVESTED IN Sensible Care

Access to mental healthcare has always been challenging, but the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated an already-strained system. The Kaiser Family Foundation reported that 11 percent of adults reported symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder in 2019. That number quickly jumped to more than 41 percent by January 2021. This prompted an influx of telehealth solutions, many of which function as digital marketplaces for freelance practitioners, designed specifically to address the need for convenient access to behavioral healthcare. However, these first-generation teletherapy providers tended to overlook two critical parts of the picture: patient and provider experience.

Sensible Care fills this market gap as a dedicated behavioral health provider. The company, which currently operates in California, is on a mission to put patient and provider experience first and has successfully delivered on this goal thus far. In a recent patient survey, 98.5% of patients reported being more satisfied with Sensible Care than with other services providers they’ve tried, and 99.5% of patients reported being satisfied with their experience.

In addition, the company has differentiated itself from other teletherapy providers by offering both psychiatric and therapy services, while also accepting most major insurance, including TRICARE, a healthcare program for US military service members and their families. The company has invested in hiring licensed mental health professionals and developing in-network relationships with health insurance payers to create value for stakeholders across the entire ecosystem.

“Our goal is to not only provide patients with on-demand access to mental healthcare services but to do so with a level of quality that comes with long-term patient-provider relationships, which are the bedrock of any traditional practice,” said Paul Kim, CEO of Sensible Care. “Having personally experienced the frustrating obstacles of accessing quality mental healthcare, especially for military veterans, my co-founders and I set out to create a solution that maximizes access for patients by leveraging their insurance while offering value for providers through tech-enabled employment.”

With the investment, Sensible Care will continue to develop its platform and expand its services to additional states with major TRICARE populations (TX, FL, VA) by executing on insurance relationships state-by-state as it enters new geographies. With many mental healthcare professionals preferring flexible hours, steady wages and a remote care delivery model, Sensible Care is well-positioned to attract the highest-quality providers, which will be vital for providing the best possible patient experience.

“Our enthusiasm for investing in Sensible Care rests on their deep commitment to providing an amazing experience for providers and delivering best-in-class care to patients,” said Larry Cheng, Managing Partner at Volition Capital. “While delighting providers and patients sounds simple, it is clear to us that the first generation of teletherapy and telepsychiatry companies have done neither well. We are deeply committed to working with Paul and the entire Sensible Care team to build the premier service experience in digital mental health.”

Sensible Care prioritizes the entire patient journey by encouraging lasting relationships with a single provider that they meet with during each appointment. The company maximizes convenience with simple online scheduling, does not charge patients a monthly fee, offers transparent billing and copay clarity and accepts insurance, including the uniformed services health care program, TRICARE, which is not commonly accepted by many providers.