King of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Services has completed its acquisition of online behavioral health provider Talkspace in a deal valued at about $835 million.
UHS and Talkspace first announced the deal in March and have now received all necessary regulatory approvals and satisfied customary closing conditions, according to an Aug. 17 UHS news release. The for-profit, publicly traded system and Talkspace will immediately begin working to integrate capabilities while ensuring uninterrupted services.
Talkspace has a network of about 6,000 licensed behavioral health professionals serving all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. As of Dec. 31, Talkspace’s services were available to more than 200 million people through their health insurance plans, employee assistance programs, or as a benefit through their employer, school or government agency.
UHS President and CEO Marc Miller said on the system’s July 28 earnings call that the deal “represents not only a unique opportunity for us to accelerate our presence in the outpatient market, but also creates the nation’s first end-to-end continuum of behavioral healthcare services” spanning acute inpatient and residential care, in-person outpatient treatment, and Talkspace’s virtual services nationally.
UHS CFO Steve Filton said on that same call two factors have historically limited UHS’ ability to capture “step-down” business — the follow-up care needed by patients discharged from its inpatient behavioral health facilities. The first is geography: many patients live too far from a UHS facility to make repeat outpatient visits practical, even if they were willing to travel there for inpatient care. The second is therapist capacity — UHS often hasn’t had enough clinicians available to take on additional follow-up patients.
“One of the great advantages of Talkspace is that they have a panel of over 6,000 therapists that can be available to our patients once the acquisition is completed,” Mr. Filton said. “I think those two items really cemented our view that the Talkspace acquisition should help accelerate our growth in outpatient.”
Talkspace recently announced Tee, an AI-powered, purpose-built mental health guide developed to meet HIPAA privacy standards and provide subscribers with real-time support and feedback, according to the release. Tee can assist patients between appointments or as a standalone supportive companion.
Talkspace CEO Jon Cohen, MD, said joining UHS allows the company to accelerate its mission to make high-quality mental healthcare more accessible to more people.
UHS operates 30 inpatient acute care hospitals, more than 380 inpatient behavioral health facilities, about 170 outpatient and other facilities, a health plan and a physician network in 40 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
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