Alma's Next Chapter: Building a Better Future for Mental Health

When I started Alma, it was because I believed the world needed better access to mental health care, and to achieve that, we needed to support the providers at the center of care.

I’m a physician, trained in a medical system that historically treated mental health as a secondary concern – something separate from, and often subordinate to, the rest of healthcare. But it wasn’t my clinical training alone that led me here. When my father became sick and I stepped into the role of his sole caregiver, it was my own mental health journey that most profoundly shaped who I have become – as a colleague, a leader, a parent, a partner, and a member of my community.

That journey was not an easy one. Like so many others, I encountered stigma around seeking care. I struggled to find providers, especially those who could take insurance. And I felt the financial burden of engaging in care that was essential not just in that moment, but for my long-term well-being. Over time, I came to see mental health care as foundational to overall health – and to my ability to show up fully in my life and work.

That belief has guided Alma from the beginning.

The COVID-19 pandemic marked a watershed moment for the mental health industry. Not because it created mental health challenges overnight, but because it revealed something that had long been true: many of us were carrying similar burdens, largely in silence. Even before the pandemic, the data was clear – rising rates of child and adolescent suicide, increasing substance use, and widespread unmet need.

COVID changed the conversation. Stigma receded. People spoke more openly about their mental health. Employers began demanding better access to care through the benefits they offered, both directly and through payer partners. At the same time, telehealth moved from the margins to the mainstream. What began as a necessity quickly proved to be an exceptionally effective modality for mental health care in particular – removing geographic barriers and making it easier for people to find providers who were right for them.

Together, these shifts enabled the industry to mature rapidly. Access expanded in meaningful ways. Millions of people were able to receive affordable, high-quality mental health care through their insurance – something that, not long ago, felt aspirational at best. When you look back at benchmarks like the Milliman study on mental health parity, the progress is real and worth acknowledging. As an industry, this is something we should be proud of.

But progress also creates responsibility.

The chapter we’ve just lived through invites a harder question: what comes next? How do we build on the gains we’ve made to continue improving outcomes, reducing costs, and making the system work better for everyone?

From our perspective at Alma, two opportunities stand out.

The first is the continued role of technology in transforming how mental health care is delivered. In 2020 and 2021, the most impactful technology wasn’t new – it was virtual care, used at scale in a way we hadn’t seen before. Today, the opportunity is broader and more nuanced. Advances in AI have the potential to fundamentally change how clinicians manage the administrative demands of running a practice, freeing up time for clinical work and creating better ways for clients to engage in care.

But this potential comes with responsibility. These tools must be deployed safely and ethically. They must be clinician-centered, with clinicians firmly in the driver’s seat, and always in service of better care for clients.

The second opportunity is continuity of care. From a delivery standpoint, people need access to a broad spectrum of services – from digital interventions for those with milder needs to evidence-based, outcomes-driven specialty programs for individuals facing more serious mental health challenges. From the patient’s perspective, care should not feel fragmented or episodic. It should be something that stays with them over time, helping them pursue long-term goals and navigate life’s inevitable changes.

It’s with these two industry-shaping opportunities in mind that I’m excited to share that Alma has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Spring Health.

We’ve long admired the Spring team for their investment in industry-leading technology, their leadership in the ethical and responsible use of AI, and their thoughtful approach to building care experiences that span the full continuum – from digital tools to specialty care. We believe that together, we’ll be better positioned to serve the stakeholders who matter most to us: the providers we support, the clients they care for, and the payers we partner with.

For providers, our hope is that this combination accelerates both the quality and the pace of innovation we can make available to their private practices. We want to deliver better tools that make running a practice easier, enhance the care experience for clients, and open new opportunities to grow caseloads and extend reach – without losing the independence and clinical integrity that define great care.

For clients, our hope is to be an even stronger partner in helping them find the right care, regardless of coverage, and in navigating a healthcare system that is often unnecessarily complex. Care should feel accessible, coordinated, and supportive over time.

And for payers, our hope is to continue building on the progress we’ve made together, not just expanding access, but deepening how the industry understands quality, outcomes, and the profound impact that effective mental health care can have on total cost of care. We see an opportunity to collaborate on new products and models that better serve the full spectrum of their customers’ needs.

Alma’s mission has always been grounded in a simple belief: that better mental health care makes lives better – individually and collectively. This next chapter doesn’t change that belief. It strengthens our ability to act on it.

I’m deeply grateful to the providers, clients, payers, and Alma team members who have brought us to this point. I’m excited about what we can build next, and I’m optimistic about what this means for the future of mental health care.

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Harry Ritter, M.D.

Founder and CEO, Alma