Iris Telehealth

A psychiatrist on the screen, for the places that have none

In much of the United States, a patient in a mental health crisis can wait weeks - sometimes months - to see a psychiatrist. Rural hospitals often have none on staff. Community clinics compete for a shrinking pool of providers. Iris Telehealth was built for exactly that gap.

Founded in 2013 in Austin, Texas, Iris Telehealth is a telepsychiatry company that partners with hospitals, health systems, community mental health centers, federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), and certified community behavioral health clinics (CCBHCs). It supplies vetted, credentialed psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and licensed therapists who deliver care over secure video - and, increasingly, the data platform to measure whether that care is working.

The company does not sell an app to consumers. It sells reach and reliability to the organizations that already serve patients but cannot find enough clinicians to meet demand. In practice, that means a single Iris psychiatrist can extend care across communities that would otherwise share none at all.

Built for the safety net, not the app store

Iris Telehealth's customers are healthcare organizations, not individuals. Its roster spans roughly 200 partner organizations: hospital emergency departments that need overnight psychiatric coverage, community mental health centers filling provider vacancies, and safety-net clinics - FQHCs and CCBHCs - serving underserved and rural populations.

Behind those partnerships, more than 400 clinicians treat patients across all ages and diagnoses. The end patient rarely knows the company's name; they know that a provider was available when, historically, one was not.

The math of the psychiatrist shortage

The U.S. has far fewer psychiatrists than it needs, and the shortage is concentrated exactly where access is already thinnest. Hiring a full-time psychiatrist for a rural hospital is often impossible; even when a candidate exists, the caseload may not justify a full salary. That leaves patients waiting, emergency departments boarding behavioral health cases, and clinics turning people away.

Iris Telehealth's answer is to treat clinical capacity as something to be shared rather than owned. By matching vetted providers to multiple partner sites virtually, it spreads a scarce resource across many communities - and pairs it with accreditation and analytics so partners can trust the quality of what they are buying.

Four ways to deliver care

How Iris stands apart

The telepsychiatry market is crowded, and many entrants lead with a consumer app or a slick platform. Iris Telehealth's differentiation is quieter and, for a health system, more consequential: clinical rigor and a B2B focus on the organizations that already carry the load.

It is the only virtual mental health company to earn The Joint Commission's behavioral health care accreditation twice - a credential that matters enormously to risk-averse hospitals. Its emphasis is on the vetted clinician, not the interface. And its growth, by the founder's own telling, came less from marketing than from partners who stayed satisfied and told the next organization.

A meaningful slice of a fast-growing market

Third-party analysts place Iris among the notable players in a telepsychiatry market projected to keep expanding at double-digit rates through the decade. Its share sits alongside longer-established and consumer-facing rivals - a strong position for a company built on health-system partnerships. Figures below are approximate analyst estimates.

Contracts, not co-pays

Iris Telehealth earns revenue through B2B service agreements. Partner organizations contract for recurring scheduled coverage, on-demand emergency support, or the virtual clinic model, typically on subscription-style terms rather than fee-per-consumer-visit. The company estimates in the range of roughly $99 million in annual revenue by third-party accounts, though as a private company it does not publicly disclose financials.

Clinical care is delivered through Iris Telehealth Medical Group, PA - the entity that holds the Joint Commission accreditation - a structure common among medical services companies operating across state lines.

From word-of-mouth to a $40M round

For years, Iris grew organically - “from one state to two, from local to national,” as the founder put it. In April 2022 it raised a $40 million Series B, led by investors including Concord Health Partners, Revelation Partners, and Columbia Pacific Advisors, bringing total funding to about $43 million. In January 2025 it acquired innovaTel Telepsychiatry from Quartet Health to extend its reach across health systems.

Psychiatry, technology, people

The founder trained as a psychiatrist at the University of Virginia and framed the company around three passions - psychiatry, technology, and people. That trio still shows up in how Iris operates: clinical vetting first, technology as the delivery layer, and a stated culture that puts “people over all else.”

Its internal values are refreshingly plain-spoken - among them “Suck Less Every Day,” a continuous-improvement mantra, and “Be quick, but don't hurry.” The leadership bench includes CEO Andy Flanagan and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tom Milam, who also serves as president of Iris Medical Group.

Achievements

Frequently asked

Find Iris Telehealth

Watch & learn: search Iris Telehealth on YouTube for partner interviews and product overviews, or explore the Iris Insights platform demo.