Current State of Behavioral Health in Oncology
Behavioral health is a visible, growing gap within the cancer system. A significant portion of cancer patients experience anxiety, depression, or related conditions, but only a minority receive treatment. Untreated behavioral health conditions reduce adherence to treatment plans and increase overall cost of care.
The gap persists despite broad recognition from providers. Oncology practices lack the infrastructure to address the problem. Clinical workflows are tightly constrained, and physicians are not equipped to manage longitudinal behavioral health needs. Referral pathways to external providers are inconsistent and often ineffective, particularly in markets where access to behavioral health specialists is limited. And building this capability internally is not practical for most practices.
The data needed to address these needs already exists. Screening tools, clinical notes, and treatment changes provide clear signals of patient distress. But, those signals are rarely operationalized. Care remains reactive, triggered by acute events rather than managed proactively over time.
The key recent change in the market is that reimbursement now supports solving this problem. The Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) provides a framework for integrating behavioral health into specialty care and, importantly, a mechanism for getting paid. These billing codes are established and supported by a strong evidence base. They create a direct financial incentive for oncology practices to adopt integrated care models.
With AI continuing to improve workflow and reduce the administrative burden on clinicians, there is an opportunity to enable more efficient care delivery.
The combination of clinical need, reimbursement support, and operational feasibility has created a clear entry point for companies that can execute.
Colla’s platform combines workflow software with a managed clinical layer that easily fits within existing oncology operations.
Their platform is integrated with oncology EMRs, allowing Colla to ingest relevant patient data and identify individuals who may benefit from behavioral health support in real-time. This shifts the model from reactive referral to proactive identification.
On top of this is a care management system that tracks patients over time, surfaces recommended actions, and supports documentation and billing. The goal is to reduce friction for clinicians and ensure that care delivery aligns with reimbursement requirements.
The clinical component is essential and what makes immediate deployment possible. Colla provides behavioral health care managers and psychiatric support as an extension of the oncology practice. They deliver cancer-specific mental health treatment, which includes individual therapy, medication management, and remote crisis intervention.
All of their care is grounded in evidence-based models from psycho-oncology and collaborative care research. Early outcomes data shows meaningful remission rates in patients with clinically significant depression and anxiety scores after three to six months in care.
Over time, the combination of integration, data, and clinical delivery creates a sticky feedback loop. As more patients are enrolled, the platform becomes even more effective at identifying needs and managing care.
Colla Health is live with numerous top-tier cancer centers, improving behavioral health care for cancer patients who need it.
Cancer centers adopting Colla Health don’t take on additional cost burden. Practices get a fully staffed clinical layer, integrated directly into their existing EMR workflows, that pays for itself.
The platform is built on fully reimbursable frameworks under existing insurance and billing codes (e.g. CoCM mentioned above), meaning Colla actively generates revenue for the oncology practices it partners with. What makes this operationally compelling is the speed of deployment, with a pricing model structured to be immediately accretive to the provider.
Oncology Ventures is excited to partner with Milan, Beau and the Colla Health team, alongside Menlo Ventures and 2048 Ventures.
Comedy!
Let’s talk about my favorite mode of transportation that shouldn’t exist. Blimps. There are only 25 blimps in the world. I thought there were thousands. I thought blimps were a part of our economy.
25 is an oddly small amount of something that we built an entire FAA regulatory framework around. Only eight people in America are licensed to fly a blimp. Not enough to field a full softball team. Which is probably why the Zamboni operators have won 12 years in a row.
A blimp has no business existing in the modern world and yet there it is, just floating over your city like it owns the place. And you can’t be mad at it. That’s the thing about a blimp. It’s impossible to be annoyed by. You just point and say “oh... there’s a blimp”.
We killed the rotary phone and the Walkman. Pluto’s not a planet anymore. But blimps are still working. They are the only thing that is going to survive the AI revolution. There is no version of AI that improves a blimp. The blimp is already at peak blimp.
The only modern thing about a blimp is that we use it exclusively for advertising. We took the calmest object in the sky and we made it a billboard.
“Blimp” is the perfect word for a blimp. It sounds exactly like what it is. Say it out loud. Blimp.
The blimp travels through the air at 35 miles per hour. That’s not flying, that’s drifting. If you like loitering, do I have the job for you.
I look forward to one day, when the robots have taken over, there will still be one slow round shape in the sky, with a logo on it, gently going nowhere. And we’ll look up, smile and together we’ll say “oh… a blimp.”
Ask
If you are a cancer center looking to improve behavioral health care for your patients, let me know and we will connect you with the Colla Health team
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