New Blues network spinout Lucet aims to simplify mental health benefits for payers

A new behavioral health solution launched this week aims to make it easier for insurers to connect members with tools that may benefit their mental health care.

Lucet represents the combination of New Directions Behavioral Health and Tridiuum and is a spinout from the Blues network, where its core product cut its teeth. Lucet's Navigate & Connect platform harnesses a large team of care navigators with an advanced technology stack that allows insurers to better optimize care and access for members.

Shana Hoffman, president and CEO of Lucet, told Fierce Healthcare that the platform enables faster connections to appointments and helps cut through the noise on which solutions a plan may want to bring into the fold.

"What we’re bringing to the market is really an operating system platform for health plans that allows them to reliably connect members to care," Hoffman said.

The number of adults with mental health conditions continues to grow in the wake of COVID-19, and a recent study found that wait times can stretch to more than three months for an initial visit. Lucet's platform, however, can slash those wait times to five days and as soon as one day after initial contact, the company said.

The platform also lead to improvements in outcomes as well as savings for both inpatient and outpatient care, the company said.

GuideWell, the parent company of Florida Blue, is a major stakeholder in Lucet, and the company has piloted its tools with Florida Blue members. That relationship gives it access to a broad swath of patients and a clear ability to build scale, Hoffman said.

"It gave us a platform to deploy that across kind of quickly to see those results," she said.

Through its care navigators, Lucet enables payers to provide concierge-level care to members, and they are able to quickly assess member needs and match them to the appropriate care. The assessment is backed by a proprietary claims data algorithm that allows the navigators to adapt a patient's care options as their needs evolve.

Lucet's platform also integrates into provider electronic health records, practice management systems and other point solutions to allow navigators access to even more valuable data, the company said.

The payer can see all those data deployed in a "mission control" dashboard that offers real-time insight into member demand, quality, outcomes and network adequacy, Lucet said.

"Lucet’s Navigate & Connect solution quickly drove material positive impact on our behavioral health offerings, and we expect that the value and support it delivers to our members will continue to expand over time," said Chuck Divita, executive vice president of commercial markets for GuideWell and Florida Blue, in the release.