Benzinga | Jun 9, 2021 04:16PM EDT

KKR Reports Creation Of Geode Health, A Mental Health Services Co.

KKR today announced the creation of Geode Health ("Geode" or the "Company"), a mental health services company that will partner with leading psychiatrists, psychologists, and therapists to offer high-quality in-person and virtual outpatient care to adults and children in the United States. Geode provides comprehensive support for mental health professionals, enabling them to increase access and augment outcomes for their patients. The Company intends to partner with existing providers and open new clinics to fulfill the substantial unmet need for high-quality mental health services.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210609005822/en/

Gaurav Bhattacharyya, a proven multi-site health care services executive, will serve as Chief Executive Officer of Geode. Most recently, Mr. Bhattacharyya served as CEO of Elite Dental Partners, a dental support organization with 100+ offices across 12 states. Previously, he was Division Vice President at DaVita, a leading provider of renal and outpatient multi-site health care services.

Geode has also appointed Mike King to serve as Chief Operating Officer. Mr. King was most recently General Manager at Cityblock Health, a leading Medicaid- and duals-focused value-based care platform. Previously, Mr. King was COO at Impact Fitness and Division Vice President at DaVita.

"While 1 in every 5 Americans suffers from mental illness, treatment options remain considerably less prevalent -- a gap that has unfortunately only widened as a result of COVID-19," said Gaurav Bhattacharyya. "With Geode, we hope to address this urgent need and enable better clinical outcomes for more patients by building a scaled, provider-focused mental health services platform."

"We are excited to partner with Gaurav, Mike and the rest of the team at Geode on such a critical mission and look forward to supporting them with the resources and capital needed to expand high-quality access to mental health care for many patients in need," said Ali Satvat, Co-Head of Americas Health Care Private Equity and Global Head of Health Care Strategic Growth at KKR.

For KKR, the investment is being funded through the firm's Health Care Strategic Growth strategy, which is focused on investing in high-growth health care-related companies for which KKR can be a unique partner in helping reach scale. KKR has established a strong track record of supporting health care companies, having invested approximately $14 billion across the sector since 2004.