New Directions Behavioral Health

What New Directions Behavioral Health does

New Directions Behavioral Health, now operating as Lucet, is a Kansas City-based managed behavioral healthcare company founded in 1995 that serves health plans, employer groups, members, and behavioral health providers across the United States. The company delivers employee assistance programs (EAP), care coordination, in-home behavioral health services through Lucet at Home, and student-focused support via WellConnect, operating as a tech-enabled platform that combines digital portals with human clinical expertise to connect insured populations to in-network behavioral health care.

Lucet's product architecture centers on a unified platform with five stakeholder-specific portals: an HR/Manager Portal for employer EAP administration, a Partner Portal for health plans, Member and Student Portals for end-user access, a Provider Portal for network clinicians, and a Provider Directory for care navigation. The company augments this platform with Lucet Care Solutions for health plan partners and Lucet at Home for in-home service delivery. The company acquired Tridiuum in January 2022 to extend its digital behavioral health assessment and provider enablement capabilities, and published its 2025-26 Impact Report documenting measurable outcomes across its member populations. The platform is HIPAA-compliant and serves as the operational backbone across all four customer segments.

Lucet generates revenue through recurring subscription-style contracts with health plans and employer groups for behavioral health benefit management, EAP services, care coordination, and member support; specific pricing is not publicly disclosed. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City is a named enterprise anchor partner, and the company serves a diversified base of health plan and employer accounts. The company employs 501-1,000 people and operates exclusively in the United States under private ownership, with Shana Hoffman serving as President & CEO and Lynn Merritt as Chief People Officer.

Name

New Directions Behavioral Health

Legal name

Lucet

Website

https://ndbh.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Lucet (formerly New Directions Behavioral Health) is a Kansas City-based managed behavioral healthcare company that delivers EAP, care coordination, and in-home behavioral health services to health plans, employer groups, members, and providers through a multi-portal tech-enabled platform across the United States.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Managed Behavioral Healthcare Services

NAICS

Outpatient Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers (621420)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Behavioral Health Provider Network Management & Credentialing (HLAEAHAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Behavioral Health PPO Networks (HLAEANAG), Patient Engagement, Education & Messaging Platforms (portal/CRM integrated) (HLALABAJ)

Keywords

• Managed behavioral healthcare
• Employee assistance programs
• Behavioral health benefits
• Mental health services
• Care coordination platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Kansas City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Behavioral Health Benefit Services: Revenue generated through contracts with health plans and employer groups for behavioral health services including EAP, care coordination, and member support. Services are covered and in-network for members.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

New Directions Behavioral Health (operating as Lucet) provides managed behavioral healthcare services, employee assistance programs (EAP), and organizational consulting. The company delivers a tech-enabled behavioral health platform connecting health plan members and employees to quality, in-network mental health and substance use care across the full acuity spectrum, supported by dedicated portals for health plans, employers, members, students, and providers.

Product overview

Lucet is a unified behavioral health platform offering a comprehensive suite of solutions for employers, health plans, members, and providers. The platform consists of the core Lucet Platform supplemented by multiple integrated portals and solutions: HR/Manager Portal for employer EAP management, Lucet Care Solutions and Lucet at Home for health plan services, EAP Member Portal and Provider Directory for member access, Provider Portal for clinician tools, and WellConnect (Student Portal) for student populations. This multi-stakeholder architecture enables coordinated behavioral healthcare delivery across the entire ecosystem.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Lucet at Home: Behavioral health services delivered in-home for members
• EAP (Employee Assistance Program)
• WellConnect

Quantifiable outcome

• Lucet's 2025–26 Impact Report published documenting measurable differences in behavioral health outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas CitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBlue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City appears as a key health plan partner, with Lucet providing behavioral health services to BCBSKC members. The partnership includes transparency in coverage machine-readable file hosting and ongoing care coordination for members.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Lyra Health: Tech-enabled mental health benefit provider for employers and payers. Emerging competitor targeting the same enterprise behavioral health benefit market as Lucet with a therapy + coaching + medication model.
• Spring Health: Digital-first mental health benefit platform serving employers and health plans. An emerging player taking share in the same employer-EAP and behavioral health benefit RFPs Lucet competes for, with modern UX and faster matching.
• Modern Health: Digital mental health and EAP platform for employers globally. Overlaps with Lucet's EAP and member engagement offerings, particularly for self-funded employer customers.

Direct peers

• Carelon Behavioral Health: Formerly Beacon Health Options, owned by Elevance Health. One of the largest MBHOs serving health plan and employer clients with provider network management, EAP, and care management services comparable to Lucet's offering.
• Evernorth Behavioral Health: Cigna's health services platform including behavioral health management. Competes head-to-head with Lucet on EAP, MBHO services, and integrated behavioral health benefits for employer and health plan customers.
• Optum Behavioral Health: The largest managed behavioral health organization in the US, part of UnitedHealth Group. Directly competes with Lucet for health plan behavioral health carve-out contracts and offers EAP, provider network management, and care coordination at massive scale.
• Magellan Health: Managed behavioral health and specialty health management organization, now part of Centene. Competes with Lucet across health plan behavioral health management, EAP, and integrated care coordination.
• ComPsych: World's largest EAP provider, offering employee assistance programs, behavioral health, and integrated absence management. Direct competitor to Lucet's EAP and employer-facing behavioral health services.

Others

• Wellbehaviour / Wellvana: Adjacent behavioral health ecosystem participants (e.g., provider credentialing services, behavioral health analytics vendors) that compete for parts of the MBHO value chain but do not directly contest Lucet's integrated offering.

Broad incumbents

• Aetna Behavioral Health: CVS Health-owned behavioral health division managing mental health and substance use benefits for Aetna plan members. Larger incumbent with broader portfolio; competes with Lucet in payer-procured MBHO engagements.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/NewDirectionsBehavioralHealth

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about New Directions Behavioral Health