Alma Company Overview

In recent times there has been a spike in mental health problems across the United States and the world. The primary reason behind this spike is our urban lifestyle; most of us now have adapted. To help this segment of our people with the best possible care, we need to have a better ecosystem that brings together all the moving parts, the customers, the therapists, a platform that connects them, and a system that ties them together. This is how  Alma is trying to achieve by creating a platform that conjoins all the moving parts of this ecosystem, helping all members.

Alma operates as a co-working space or a shared office that is accessible to their therapists where they can work with their clients. The universe of these therapists have been long fragmented by their diversity and requirements of their practice. Elements such as a space to sit down with their clients to have in-person sessions, a dedicated area where they can conduct group therapy sessions and private areas for therapeutic sessions. Not only that, in our fast-moving and complex world, there is always a requirement of tools enabled by technology to perform micro and macro management tasks. Before  Alma, these professionals never had access to a shared set of resources they can tap into. Yet, these professionals understood the value of a collaborative and growth-oriented environment. 

The people at Alma believe that the ecosystem they have created can be best utilized when they create a community around their company. This approach helps the therapists and their clients to learn and gain from each other's experiences plus areas of expertise. Alma has also rolled out community membership options for those who aren't interested in using the space provided by Helo Alma but would still like to use their other service offerings. Currently, this offering is only available to those who are based out of New York and have their own offices. The services offered with this package include access to Alma's network, Referrals, Client Matching, Event, and Billing Services.

Is Alma right for you?

Alma is a place that can provide services to two sets of people, one the seekers, and two the providers.

For those who seek help

For those who seek help from a mental health care professional,  Alma could be addressed to a lot of questions with the best answers to them. Someone who is going through a mental problem, the most critical question is, what is happening to me? And who can help me with this? To address this question and find the right help for it becomes vital, and the team at  Alma guides all by connecting them with the best healthcare professional who can help them through their tough times. 

For some, it might be difficult to have regular in-person sessions or might want to have a session on an urgent basis while they are away from the city of their therapist.  Alma's platform has enabled both the seeker and the provider to connect virtually via their seamless platform. 

For the providers

Alma is debatably the best platform there is, which can help mental healthcare professionals grow their practice with the help of the team at  Alma. Beyond that, Alma is very suitable for the therapists who are in the early stages of their practice and want to leverage a well-knitted community of seekers and providers. This enables young professionals to grow themselves and their practice from a very nascent stage. 

Alma can also be handy for the providers who have been working full time in hospitals and want to start their private practice. The seamless integration process of  Alma can be concluded in a matter of 4-7 days, and by the end of it, any therapist can have their practice started. The community at Alma makes it easier for the providers to help their patients by redirecting them to a specialist in case they require attention from a doctor or a therapist outside their area of expertise. 

Is Alma Credible?

Alma was founded by Dr. Harry Ritter, who is the former VP at Oscar Insurance and supported by a brilliant team of people from different backgrounds that are working to create this community revolving around mental health care professionals. The team at  Alma has created a great process to find suitable therapists for the seekers who make sure that the seekers are connected with the best suitable therapist of their choice. 

"They have therapists having different levels of degrees starting from Ph.D., MD to a psychiatric nurse practitioner to an accredited life coach. "

 Alma also follows a strict regime in terms of letting therapists into their platform who first have to go through their on-boarding process, which entails a brief background check keeping a tab of quality of services provided by them.

Alma Health Services?

Alma provides services to both the seekers and the service providers.

Healthcare services for Seekers:

For the seekers,  Alma has curated a complete array of professionals, experts in different areas related to mental health care. Seekers can go to their website, find the right therapist based on various filters like degree, service type, specialties, locations, and payment options.

Alma will then connect with you so that you can start taking their medical help. 

If the seeker is having problems finding the right healthcare professional, they can get in touch with the expert team at  Alma, who will help them with tailored recommendations and one-on-one support for finding the right person. Beyond that, Alma also facilitates the process of making payment through your insurance policy.

Services for Providers:

For mental health care professionals,  Alma can help them in three important areas:

1) Growing their practice: The team at  Alma helps the health care professionals create an informative and attractive profile. The practitioners are provided access to Alma's client matching team for client referrals, and they are provided with digital tools to better manage their practice.

2) Making insurance easy:  Alma helps with enhanced payback rates for sessions. Alma manages eligibility checks, credentialing, and submission of claims on their behalf; furthermore, they guarantee payback within two weeks.

3) Access to the community: Having access to online and in-person peer supervision groups, enhanced courses to earn CE credits, and direct access to robust referral networks.

How much does Alma cost?

For seekers, the cost of sessions depends on the therapist they take services from as  Alma has given the liberty to the therapist to set their charges. A seeker can have the option to choose the healthcare professional based on their paying capacity.

For the mental healthcare service provider, there are three sets of criteria upon which they are billed monthly:

What do we think about Alma?

The most common mental illness of all is anxiety, and about 40 million people in the United States are suffering from it. The problem is most of these cases are highly treatable and require fundamental, yet right attention from a mental health care professional. This creates a growing need to address the mental health care situation in the United States. Given the ongoing situation of a global pandemic, we can only imagine how the world will look like after we are out of it. Still, many experts suggest that this pandemic will lead to more mental health problems across the globe. 

There is a dire need to have an ecosystem that makes it easier for the seekers to get the right medical attention and the service providers to provide it with the best facilities they can get. Hence, a community like  Alma could play a significant role in helping the world come out of this pandemic and our daily struggles better and stronger.