Denton-based Connections Wellness Group, a provider of behavioral and mental health services with more than 10 locations across Dallas-Fort Worth, has merged with Tennessee-based Vertava Health and Integrated Addiction Care, which Vertava acquired in 2021.
Matt Morgan
The newly formed platform company—Blended Health—aims to focus on “expanding access to care for adolescents and adults struggling with acute mental health challenges with primary emphasis on group services consisting of partial hospitalization programs and intensive outpatient programs,” the company said.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Blended Health launches with 18 clinics across Texas and Tennessee, and plans to add additional locations later this year. The company employs over 400 people, including more than 300 medical psychiatrists, psychiatric physician assistants, advanced psychiatric nurse practitioners, as well as licensed clinical therapists offering onsite and virtual treatment options in medication management, group and individual therapy.
Clinics will use Connections Wellness Group branding
Blended Health said its Texas clinics will continue to operate under the Connections Wellness Group consumer-facing brand. The company will convert all its Tennessee locations to the Connections Wellness Group brand as well this month.
Awstin Gregg
Vertava Health CEO Matt Morgan will take the helm as founder and CEO of Blended Health, and will lead a newly formed executive team to support the growth of Blended Health. As part of the merger, CWG founder and former CEO Awstin Gregg has transitioned out of his former role and is serving as an advisor to the newly formed company.
“It’s an exciting time to launch our company and continue increasing access to expert care and high-quality outcomes provided by our medical and clinical providers,” Morgan said in a statement. “We’re focused on connecting people to what matters in mental health by providing PHP and IOP services to adolescents and adults in a unique and profound way.”
“Our vision is to create a healthy society empowered through positive mental health,” he added. “The care Blended Health provides will change lives. The impact we have on their lives today will shape the health of our communities tomorrow.”
Blended Health is backed by Boston-based Summit Partners, a growth equity investor with “extensive and long-standing experience in the healthcare sector.”
The company says the localized programs of CWG—which was founded in 2018—can help prevent crisis situations as well as reduce the medical costs incurred by local hospital emergency rooms, allowing for a “more intensive therapy option from traditional mental health care and a local step down from inpatient care.” Its programs are available both by day and evening to accommodate schedules.
The company notes that many Americans experiencing mental health challenges seeking treatment “wait up to three months to receive treatment, and fewer than 50% of adults and 70% of adolescents experiencing mental challenges receive treatment.” It aims to help meet this growing demand as a newly formed and growing platform.
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