Last week, I outlined our current areas of interest in healthcare: patient networks, digital therapeutics, patient care management, new diagnostics, and disrupting health insurance. 

At the same time, one of my closest friends, Josh Nussbaum, introduced his new company, Halcyon Health, to the world. I encourage everyone to read Josh’s own words about Halcyon and the need to bring cost-effective care of the highest quality to millions of people suffering from SUD (substance use disorder). His announcement is eloquent, compelling, and deeply personal.    

Today, we are excited to announce our investment in Halcyon Health. Drug overdose is the leading cause of death in America for people under the age of 50. And it’s clear that the current care delivery system for substance use doesn’t work for everyone. Here are some of the problems:

• There’s no standard protocol for treatment – only a fraction of people with SUD receive evidence-based care.
• Services are fragmented. The myriad of providers (hospitals, outpatient, inpatient, social service agencies, housing providers, etc.) are disconnected from one another and simply introducing a “Slack for patient care” isn’t going to be enough. 
• And too often, addiction is treated acutely rather than chronically. Long-term recovery requires much more support than one-time interventions. 

Enter Halcyon Health: an integrated, evidence-based SUD treatment program focused on long-term care. Halcyon begins in environments where the highest acuity patients are often found and offers a full continuum of care, leveraging fully integrated care teams empowered by technology.

Here’s a brief overview of how it works:  

• When a patient is admitted to the emergency department and is assessed for SUD, s/he is immediately linked to a member of the Halcyon care team for onboarding to the treatment program.
• Halcyon works with the patient to understand his or her biopsychosocial needs to develop a post-discharge plan. This includes assigning a peer recovery coach who will work with the patient in following his or her care plan.
• A Halcyon care coordinator will refer the patient into outpatient care with vetted network providers and continue to collaborate with providers and engage with the patient to assist in addressing their needs as s/he recovers. 

There is a big opportunity and need to transform addiction treatment. We couldn’t imagine a better entrepreneur to tackle this problem than Josh (seriously, read his blog post). And, co-founder Andrew Bryk complements Josh perfectly, bringing a wealth of experience in patient care management with his tenure at Quartet.

If you’re interested in learning more and following Halcyon’s mission to overcome today’s roadblocks to recovery with managed personalized care, please visit their website and/or follow them on Twitter.