Margin with mission: Inside EHP’s investment in autism therapy services

Enhanced Healthcare Partners recently made an investment in Howard J Chudler & Associates, a behavioral therapy services provider for people with autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities. PE Hub spoke to Brandon Einstein, a partner at the firm, to learn more about EHP’s backing of HCA.

“We have held investment theses in the behavioral health sector for quite some time, and we are most focused on finding methodologies of care that lead to high-quality outcomes for patients and their families and finding businesses where we can combine margin with mission,” Einstein told PE Hub. “Several years ago, applied behavior analysis therapy became the gold standard of care with real evidence for making positive changes in the lives of people with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. When we first learned about the outcomes associated with ABA, we got excited about the space and developed a thesis around it. We looked for the right platform to take that thesis and build on it.”

Part of the growth strategy for this investment will be to focus on connecting the strong demand for these services “with the limited supply of people who can provide the care,” Einstein said. “We want to create a best-in-class place for people to work, become clinicians and learn how to best take care of the adults and kids with autism.

“We’re focused on both the training of individuals who have had previous experience in ABA to deepen their skillset and individuals who have never been in the space before but might be interested in taking care of children or adults with behavioral health issues. By broadening the funnel of potential people who can work at a company like HCA, we can get one step closer to meeting the demand for ABA therapy.”

After the initial training, a second key piece is providing career advancement for treatment providers over time, “a path where there are opportunities for development to not only come in as their first entry point into healthcare but then advance to a longitudinal career with potential for continued growth and development.”

Founded in 2005 and based in New York, EHP is a healthcare-focused private equity firm dedicated to making minority and majority investments in founder- and entrepreneur-led mid-market companies. The EHP team has managed approximately $1 billion in equity capital. The firm seeks to invest in companies between $50 million and $250 million in enterprise value.

In April, EHP made a strategic growth investment in Vytalize Health, a provider of value-based care services for seniors and their primary care physicians.