Headway

Headway is a New York City-based company operating a platform that connects three stakeholders in mental health care: patients seeking therapy, licensed clinicians in private practice, and health insurance plans. The company's stated aim is to make it easier for patients to find a therapist covered by insurance and easier for therapists to accept insurance. On the provider side, Headway handles credentialing, onboarding, clinical training, scheduling, benefits verification, claim submission, billing and payments, with providers receiving guaranteed biweekly payments and credentialing with top plans in their state described as taking as little as 30 days (onboarding to first insurance clients described as 4-8 weeks) [1][2][6].

On the patient side, users select location, clinical concerns and insurance carrier, then browse providers filtered by specialty, location, gender, language and ethnicity, with upfront visibility into expected cost. Copays are described as usually under $30, compared with out-of-pocket costs often above $200 without coverage. Booking can be one-click, with care available within 48 hours and an average of fewer than six days from online booking to first appointment. Provider types include psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, counselors and social workers, spanning specialized therapy and prescription medication management [2][6].

The company also operates support infrastructure for both sides of the marketplace, including an insurance-native electronic health record with AI-assisted note generation formatted for insurers, embedded telehealth, e-prescribing (powered by DrFirst), group-practice tooling, clinical documentation templates, and billing-compliance, audit and chart-review programs. Its help center documents credentialing policies by state, plan-specific programs (for example Florida Blue, BCBS TX, BCBS MN Crisis Response, Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, Independence Blue Cross virtual network), HIPAA/PHI handling and No Surprises Act policies [0][7].

Founding story

Founder and CEO Andrew Adams moved to New York City from California in 2015 and was unable to find a therapist who accepted his insurance; he has said roughly 70% of therapists do not accept insurance and that therapists would accept insurance if it were not so difficult administratively. He co-founded Headway to address access and affordability in mental health care. Contrary Research reports the company was founded in April 2019 by Adams (co-founder/CEO), Jake Sussman (co-founder, departed 2022), Dan Ross (Head of Ops, departed 2021) and Kevin Chan (co-founder and Head of Engineering, departed 2021), though the same source's profile header lists a founding date of January 2017; the company's own press release states it launched in 2019 [1][2][6][7].

Business model

Headway operates a three-sided marketplace between patients, independent mental health clinicians and payers. It contracts with health plans to place clinicians in-network, then absorbs the administrative work of insurance participation (credentialing, claims, billing, payments) on the clinician's behalf. Patients do not pay a fee to use the platform and pay only their copay; clinicians receive guaranteed biweekly payments from Headway [2][6].

Sources do not state Headway's pricing or fee structure directly. Patients pay no platform fee and pay only their insurance copay, while clinicians are paid by Headway on a biweekly basis, indicating revenue is derived from the payer/claims side of the marketplace. The company reported revenue more than doubling in the 12 months to July 2024 and said it had a clear line of sight to company-level profitability [1][6].

Traction

Reported milestones: 34,000 in-network clinicians and more than 40 commercial health plans across all 50 states and DC as of July 2024, up from 26,000 providers and 19 plans in October 2023; an average of more than 600,000 therapy appointments per month; revenue more than doubling year over year; and more than 70,000 providers having used the platform since launch as of March 2026. Contrary Research listed 723 employees as of its May 2023 update [1][2][6][7].

Latest developments

In March 2026 Headway announced the acquisition of the team behind AI company Tezi, integrating them into engineering and product work on responsible AI for patient and provider experience; Tezi co-founder Raghavendra Prabhu joined as VP of engineering. Earlier, the company expanded its EHR with AI-assisted notes and embedded telehealth. Following the July 2024 Series D, Headway targeted being live with Medicare Advantage in 51 markets by end of 2024 and launching Medicaid in 2025 [1][2][7].