Virna Little was gardening when she got a phone call from an enthusiastic entrepreneur with an intriguing idea. Though they had never met before, Spencer Hutchins wanted Virna to join his mission to scale Collaborative Care Management nationwide. As an experienced clinical leader well-versed in the evidence behind and practice of Collaborative Care, Virna skeptically agreed to an afternoon discussion.
Spencer had first learned of Collaborative Care in an entrepreneurship program and had been fascinated by the enormous amount of high-quality data behind the model that proved it worked. When Medicare ruled to begin offering reimbursements for Collaborative Care, he knew that it would finally be possible to make critical behavioral health services available at a national level. But he knew that scaling this service would require a world-class clinical leader with a vision for better behavioral health services and deep experience in the field. Virna agreed to join his mission that soon became Concert Health.