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Latest investment aims to further integrate behavioral and medical care solutions in health benefit design to reduce delays in diagnosis and treatment and connect children with high-quality providers in more communities nationwide.
Washington, D.C.
November 20, 2024
Morgan Health, a JPMorganChase (NYSE: JPM) business unit, co-led an $80 million raise in Cortica, the nation’s leading care provider for autistic and neurodivergent children, with Nexus NeuroTech Ventures. Autism Impact Fund, an existing Cortica investor, also participated in the raise. These investments will play an important role in scaling Cortica and their ability to offer whole-child care through a fully dedicated, physician-led care team covering a broad range of pediatric expertise, including neurologists, behavior analysts, speech pathologists, physical occupational therapists and more.
The San Diego-based company currently has a geographic footprint of 24 medical home clinics across eight states and offers medical care, developmental therapies, Applied Behavior Analysis therapy and family wellness counseling. Cortica's care model has shown improved outcomes across conditions that frequently co-occur with autism, including sleep disorders, seizures, psychiatric comorbidities, and gastrointestinal, communication, behavioral and sensorimotor issues — while utilizing less than 50 percent of standard applied behavioral analysis volumes, limiting the use of antipsychotic and stimulant medications and reducing emergency department and inpatient admissions.
Given that the prevalence of autism and other developmental disabilities continues to grow, this investment strategically supports Morgan Health’s commitment to testing and scaling solutions that address unmet needs in employer-sponsored health care.
“Families with autistic or neurodivergent children are often burdened by a highly fragmented, complex health care system. Delays in diagnosis, uncoordinated care across clinician teams and limited data to inform clinical measures leave people unsure where to turn for care or access the appropriate intervention for their child,” says Dan Mendelson, CEO of Morgan Health. “Our investment in Cortica is aimed at reducing this burden — ensuring that more families have access to a singular, primary point of care so their children can get better faster.”
The investment builds on Morgan Health’s commitment to championing innovations that help employees and their families enter the right health ecosystem, better navigate their care and utilize high-value insurance products. Through this investment, Morgan Health aims to:
One in 36 children are now diagnosed with autism in the United States — representing a five-fold increase in prevalence since 2000. In parallel, total costs associated with autism are rapidly increasing for health plans, employers and affected families.
Traditional care and payment models have not kept pace with this growing prevalence — underscoring the importance of broadening access to integrated medical and behavioral care. Cortica is the only innovator who offers this approach and has spent the past decade offering interventions that improve outcomes, while providing 34 percent in annual savings per patient.1
“Cortica is making possible our goal of advancing precision medicine using data and technology to diagnose and more effectively treat neurodevelopmental conditions,” said William Marks, M.D., Chief Medical Officer and General Partner at Nexus NeuroTech Ventures. “Nexus and Cortica envision a future where each autistic child’s personalized signature will guide parents and clinicians along an improved treatment pathway, with continuing optimization based on the child’s changing clinical profile.”
“Autism Impact Fund first invested in Cortica in 2022 because we understood that Cortica's whole-child model for autism is unique, pioneering and fully aligned with our mission,” said Chris Male, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Autism Impact Fund. “Today, Cortica continues to set the standard for autism diagnosis and intervention, and we are pleased to participat in this latest funding round.”
Morgan Health is a JPMorganChase business unit focused on improving employer-sponsored health care. Through its investments and the advancement of accountable care, Morgan Health is working to improve the quality, equity and affordability of employer-sponsored health care for JPMorgan Chase employees, their families and the U.S. health system. The business is led by Dan Mendelson, CEO of Morgan Health, reporting to Peter Scher, Vice Chairman of JPMorganChase. Morgan Health is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Visit morganhealth.com.
Cortica's mission is to design and deliver life changing care — one child, one family, one community at a time. Founded in 2017, Cortica now employs more than 2,000 experts across disciplines, including pediatric neurologists, developmental pediatricians, epileptologists, pediatric nurse practitioners, speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, music therapists, board certified behavior analysts, marriage and family therapists, and more. The researchers and physicians in the company's Cortica Innovation Network conduct outcomes research, serve as global leaders in clinical trial recruitment, and have assembled the largest long and wide dataset in autism and neurodevelopment. Cortica will serve more than 20,000 children and their families this year. For more information, visit corticacare.com.
Nexus NeuroTech Ventures is an investment firm dedicated to advancing pioneering technologies — including medical devices, software, diagnostics, technology-enabled care services, and research tools — for brain disorders. Spanning seed through crossover, Nexus invests with the goal of improving the lives of people affected by neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric conditions. With substantial unmet needs in autism spectrum disorder, Nexus is committed to supporting solutions for this condition. See nexusneurotech.com for more information.
The Autism Impact Fund (AIF) is the investment and innovation arm of the autism community. AIF's mission is to revolutionize the status quo for diagnosing, treating and living with autism, neurodevelopmental disorders, mental health and other complex chronic conditions. Through a venture capital model, AIF accelerates the development and delivery of emerging technologies, translational science and innovative services to empower individuals to reach their full potential. For more information, visit www.autismimpact.fund.
Trey Hollern
trey.hollern@jpmchase.com
Comparison of Cortica’s Whole Child Care Model vs Community Standard of Care on spend for ABA, Medical testing and treatment, Developmental Therapies, Family Support, Pharmacy, and Inpatient/Emergency Department. Community Standard data informed by Accorded Actuarial Consulting and MarketScan.
