Patient surface
Insurance-aware discovery proposition with explicit verification boundaries and no collection of patient PHI in the directory beta.
A supply-first mental-health access marketplace.
The thesis: provider scarcity and administrative fragmentation make supply quality the first constraint. Build the most current, structured view of insurance participation and appointment access for independent mental-health providers, then monetize payer and administrative value around a free patient/provider marketplace.
What is live now
Supply acquisition
Separate funnels for independent providers and group-practice roster onboarding, both free during beta.
Payer wedge
A narrow access-data pilot focused on directory freshness, network participation confidence, and approximate appointment availability.
Business model
Supply firstprovider network as core asset
Freepatient/provider beta
B2Bpayer/admin monetization
Laterclaims/credentialing only after contracts
Milestones that matter
Supply density: enough accepting providers in one local market to make the directory useful.
Freshness: measurable reduction in stale coverage and availability information.
Patient conversion: directory visit → provider contact → reported successful connection, without collecting clinical content.
Payer pull: at least one paid or contract-backed pilot for network/access data.
Expansion: replicate the same operating loop into additional states, specialties, or payer networks only after local proof.
The reference model is Headway’s provider-first network strategy, not its exact regulated operating stack. This beta deliberately starts with the lowest-regulatory-complexity discovery and data layer, then earns the right to add contracted insurance operations.
Why this model
Three-sided leverage
Every provider can improve patient choice and payer network visibility; every payer relationship can improve verification quality across many provider profiles.
Data moat hypothesis
The defensible asset is not generic AI. It is a continuously refreshed graph of provider participation, availability, service area, and real access signals.
Capital discipline
The beta avoids claims financing, reimbursement guarantees, and clinical infrastructure until provider demand and payer willingness to pay are demonstrated.