With San Diego-based Equip, Kristina Saffran and Erin Parks have convinced health insurers from UnitedHealthcare to Aetna to pay for research-backed treatment for thousands of patients struggling with eating disorders.

A decade after recovering from anorexia, Saffran started a company to help make this same type of therapy more accessible by offering a single online portal through which families can treat and manage a child’s eating disorder. Equip also offers wraparound services that aren’t always offered alongside in-person therapy, with the full care team including a therapist, medical doctor, dietician and peer and parent mentors.

Equip’s virtual therapy is so powerful because of a shortage of specialized therapists and in-person clinics, said Saffran’s cofounder Erin Parks, 44, a clinical psychologist who previously worked at the UC San Diego Eating Disorder Clinic. Before starting Equip, Parks treated families who had flown in from all over the country seeking care.

Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiejennings/2024/08/15/after-surviving-anorexia-this-founder-raised-110-million-to-treat-the-deadly-disease-online/

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