In an era marked by new opportunities and challenges across the healthcare system, the behavioral health market is experiencing a dynamic transformation, propelling it into uncharted territories of innovation and investment that will shape the future of care delivery. As these changes unfold, we see the autism, or the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), sector as a leading opportunity for investors to participate in growth and transformation. To win in this increasingly complex sector of healthcare, investors will need to be grounded in the forces shaping the next wave of opportunity.
It’s no secret that the broader behavioral health segment has received attention resulting from increased recognition of its impact on overall health and well-being. As a component of the broader ecosystem, the autism sector has also undergone tremendous disruption and innovation in the last decade, fueled by an influx of investment into new technologies, services, and therapies.
More recently, the autism sector has seen continued evolution as leading companies emerge, others fade into the background, and the overall industry focuses on creating clinical and measurement standards. Fueling this continued evolution are the strategic bets from investors, payers, and providers (and the vendors that serve them), seeking to scale proven capabilities across a patient base with strong demand and growing need (See Figure 1).