Mindpath is a cautionary tale for private equity in mental health

As a Covid-driven psychological well being disaster enveloped the U.S. in 2020, two personal fairness corporations started quickly shopping for up psychiatric practices from coast to coast. By late final 12 months, they owned greater than 100 remedy clinics in eight states — rebranded as Mindpath Well being — and had plans to broaden additional.

Remedy, from a private-equity perspective, was ripe for the taking, and the corporate’s timing appeared ultimate, given the surge in demand for outpatient psychological well being care. However initially of this 12 months, Mindpath all of a sudden laid off fleets of employees and shuttered some places it had acquired simply over a 12 months earlier.