Carrum Health and Lyra Health have formed a strategic partnership aimed at filling the existing gaps between specialty medical care and behavioral health support. The partnership combines Carrum’s value-based Centers of Excellence (COE) model for complex specialty medical care with Lyra’s full-service mental health support to provide employers with a more integrated and cost-effective benefits solution.
The partnership combines high-acuity physical care, such as surgery, cancer care, and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, with full-service mental health support. Using a two-way referral system, members can easily transition between specialty and behavioral health support, leading to better outcomes for some of the highest-need and highest-cost members while eliminating unnecessary costs.
Access to mental health services remains a major challenge across the U.S. healthcare system, with provider shortages, long wait times, and high out-of-pocket expenses continuing to strain employees. Behavioral health also leads all medical specialties in out-of-network utilization, particularly in substance use treatment, where costs have risen sharply. The Carrum–Lyra partnership is designed to reduce these barriers by coordinating care within a unified network.
The collaboration extends support beyond acute treatment episodes. Individuals receiving SUD care can transition smoothly into Lyra’s recovery programs, while surgical and oncology patients gain access to mental health resources that address anxiety, depression, and emotional stress commonly linked to serious illness.
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“Behavioral health and physical health aren’t separate challenges, they’re interconnected,” said Matthew Eurey, Chief Commercial Officer at Carrum Health. “Our members facing cancer, surgery, or substance use disorder need support across the full care continuum, not just at the point of crisis. Partnering with and being integrated in Lyra’s best-in-class solution ensures our members get coordinated care from early intervention through intensive treatment and back to sustainable recovery, addressing both their immediate health needs and their mental wellbeing.”
For employers, the partnership addresses a growing cost concern. Mental health care has become one of the largest drivers of health plan spending, while fragmented delivery models often push members into expensive out-of-network care. By aligning specialty and behavioral health pathways, the two companies aim to lower medical spend, shorten disability durations, and improve employee outcomes.
“The behavioral health care gap is particularly pronounced, and particularly costly in these high acuity populations,” said Sean McBride, Lyra Health’s President of Employer Solutions. “When members get stuck between services that don’t talk to each other, it leads to preventable crises and costly out-of-network claims. We’re partnering with Carrum Health because they’ve built the infrastructure for true care coordination in specialty care to get people better faster and bend the cost curve for employers.”
Through simplified contracting, predictable pricing, and coordinated care navigation, the partnership delivers faster access to treatment, eliminates gaps between services, and ensures members receive evidence-based care without additional cost burdens.
