Team Spotlight: Brendon Kelly

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For our latest Team Spotlight interview, we spoke to Brendon Kelly who recently joined ieso as Head of US Business Development.

Brendon shared insights from his background in digital mental health, his perspective on the evolving partnerships landscape, and predictions for the US digital behavioral health market in 2025.

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Hi Brendon! Tell us a bit about your background and your new role at ieso.

You can call me a digital mental health OG! I've been working in the space for nearly a decade, and it's been a wild ride to see how far things have evolved in that time. I’ve always been on the commercial side of the house and started my journey with coaching and DTx before eventually expanding into behavioral telehealth. Over the past three years I’ve had an incredible opportunity to consult some amazing, disruptive companies – from AI-driven tools to brick-and-mortar clinics – but ieso was the company that finally convinced me to go all in again.

At ieso, my job is to help health systems, insurers, and our partners give more people access to quality mental healthcare. What sets us apart is our blend of AI technology and clinical expertise, coupled with human support – and we've got research showing our program works just as well as human-delivered care. The numbers are still staggering – according to Mental Health America, nearly 60 million Americans experienced mental illness in the past year, but access to care remains a huge challenge. With about 340 people for every one mental health provider in the US, and one in four adults unable to access care due to financial constraints, we absolutely must innovate.

So, the solution has to come from combining technology with human support to ultimately solve this crisis, and from a variety of angles: access, quality, and cost chief among them. That's what attracted me to ieso – decades of industry experience; responsible AI innovation and machine learning expertise; investment in R&D; commitment to integrating lived experience; and, most importantly, maintaining the highest clinical standards. (Getting to work with an awesome team doesn’t hurt, either – between you and I, that was the deciding factor). It's exactly the kind of thoughtful approach that health systems and payers are looking for.

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How do you see partnerships evolving between digital health companies, health systems, and payers?

It's such an interesting time in behavioral healthcare right now. In fact, mental health is one of the big areas where organizations want digital solutions – they're investing just as heavily here as they are in digital diabetes, primary, and preventative care solutions. And it's all being driven by consumer demand. Research from the Peterson Health Technology Institute (PHTI) shows that 75% of health systems, payers, and employers have increased their digital health investments over the past two years, with 83% citing consumer demand as the primary motivator, followed by improved outcomes and cost savings.

What's really shifted is how these partnerships work. Organizations aren't just looking for vendors with fancy features or cutting-edge technology anymore – they want strategic partners who can solve their real-world clinical and operational challenges. The data backs this up: having a proven track record is actually the top criteria they look for when choosing a partner. Health systems want to know how we can help reduce wait times, extend their clinical teams' capacity, support existing clinical workflows, and deliver consistent, measurement-based care at scale. Payers want to see how we can improve member access to high-quality care while keeping outcomes high and costs manageable.

I'm also seeing movement toward value-based partnerships, where success is tied directly to patient outcomes. It's not just talk – about 80% of organizations are already using some form of risk-based contracts in their digital health partnerships. The most successful partnerships are those where we can demonstrate both clinical and economic value while supporting the organization's broader behavioral health strategy.

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What developments do you anticipate we’ll see across the US behavioral health market this year?

I see several important trends emerging. First, health systems and payers are becoming more sophisticated in how they evaluate and implement digital behavioral health solutions. They're looking for evidence of clinical effectiveness, clear ROI, and the ability to integrate smoothly with existing care delivery models. One example: offering digital mental health interventions to primary care patients through their EHR, before they ever step foot into the exam room. Integrations like this can increase access to high-quality care and get patients feeling better, faster – at a fraction of the cost of traditional care.

There's growing recognition that one-size-fits-all digital interventions often fall short of their promises and may lack clinical rigor. There are something like 20,000 mental health apps on the market today – not all are created equal! While many mental health apps aim to improve access, it's crucial that these solutions are both engaging to patients and clinically validated. As AI enables greater personalization in behavioral healthcare, the focus will narrow on clinical validity, patient safety, and measured outcomes. The market has moved past the “peak of inflated expectations” on the AI hype cycle; payers and providers are now seeking digital solutions that demonstrate safe, durable, scalable impact backed by evidence.

Finally, I'm really excited about the evolution of payment models in digital behavioral health. The shift toward value-based care is opening doors for some creative approaches to reimbursement that work better for everyone involved. Looking deep into my 2025 crystal ball, I think these doors will open even wider. VBC will really come into its own, making it possible to deliver high-quality care in a way that's sustainable and rewards real results. It's such an exciting time to be working in this space – I can't wait to see how it all unfolds.

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How can people get in touch with you?

Connect with me on LinkedIn – it’s the best place to reach me. And you can always email me at b.kelly@iesohealth.com. Let’s talk!