By JESSICA DAMASSA

Despite the fact that kids make up 20% of our national patient population and that their parents are likely just the tech-savvy market of health consumers that most digital health companies are targeting with their own virtual care solutions, very little has been done to use technology to ‘transform’ the way that they take care of their kids. One of the founders hoping to push this market into a growth spurt is Naomi Allen, co-founder & CEO of pediatric behavioral health company Brightline.

From seed to Series A in just 8 months ($25M total funding), Brightline is already looking to scale out its full-stack clinical model to help tackle the behavioral health issues that are often under-diagnosed and under-treated in kids. Naomi says that 75% of all severe mental illness manifests before age 14, but that only 1 in 5 kids will ever even get a behavioral health diagnosis. And more shocking? Of those that are diagnosed, only 1 in 5 of those kids will ever even receive any care.

The supply-and-demand equation is off — stymied not only by a clinician shortage, but by literally poor reimbursement from health plans concerned about the lack of quality metrics, measurements, and processes in pediatric behavioral health despite the prevalence of those kinds of quality guidelines around adult mental health care.

So, how is Brightline going to fix this? Technology, clinicians, coaches. A full-stack clinical model with a “scaffolding” of support for parents built around it using telehealth, digital tools, and, for those health plans, metrics. Tune in to find out more about their business model, what Brightline’s kids are saying, and how you can find their services yourself if you think your child might need help.

Hear more from the ‘who’s who’ of health tech and health innovation as they work to make digital health, telehealth, data analytics, and virtual care a bigger part of the future of the healthcare industry.

Subscribe to WTF Health’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/wtfhealth Follow Jess DaMassa on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jessdamassa Visit WTF Health: https://www.wtf.health

Jessica DaMassa, the emerging ‘It girl’ of health tech interviewing, chats it up with the ‘who’s who’ of the health innovation set on ‘WTF Health – What’s the Future, Health?’ Catch 100’s of interviews with leading health tech startups and the VC investors, accelerators, health insurance companies, pharmas, and hospital systems helping bring their new ideas into the healthcare establishment. From AI and Big Data to virtual care, digital therapeutics, payment model innovation, health policy, and investing, Jessica helps you spot the trends and figure out what’s next.

To learn more about WTF Health, find out where Jess will be next, or throw some dollars at our show, check out www.wtf.health.

Sponsored by Bayer G4A, Livongo Health, GuideWell Innovation, Teladoc Health, OneDrop & The Health Care Blog