SOL Mental Health is a rapidly growing behavioral health platform focused on expanding access to high-quality, in-network care.
When Varun, a board member and investor, stepped into a more active operational role 18 months ago, the organization had approximately 15 clinicians in Colorado. Today, SOL supports more than 300 clinicians across multiple states.
As the organization grew, credentialing moved from a back-office function to a strategic growth lever.
"Credentialing timelines and accuracy are not just operational details for us. They directly impact revenue, provider engagement, and patient access.
Varun Sawhney, CFO of SOL Mental Health
With 99% of patients in-network, payer relationships are core to SOL’s model. That means credentialing performance, particularly with large behavioral health payers like Carelon and Optum, directly determines how quickly providers can see patients and generate revenue.
As the business expanded, credentialing complexity began to compound. What once felt manageable became a critical growth bottleneck.
Although delegated credentialing was a clear long-term strategic goal, building and managing it internally during a high-growth phase would have required time, headcount, and specialized expertise - resources better deployed toward patient care and market expansion.
At the same time, expansion into new markets introduced even greater payer complexity. SOL increasingly needed to contract with large national plans known for extended credentialing timelines. In many of their core markets, Carelon and Optum are among the largest payers, making fast, reliable credentialing non-negotiable.
“Carelon is known for having long timelines, but in the states we operate in, they’re one of the largest payers. We have to get credentialed quickly, there’s no optionality there.”
Delays had real business consequences: slower provider onboarding, delayed time-to-revenue, constraints on opening new locations, provider frustration when compensation lagged expectations, and reduced patient access during periods of growth.
With credentialing emerging as a structural growth constraint, SOL began evaluating external partners.
Varun prioritized three key criteria:
As growth doubled and onboarding volume increased, including 40-50 clinicians in Q4 alone, scalability and responsiveness became non-negotiable.
“We weren’t just looking for someone to submit paperwork. We needed a partner who could keep up with our growth.”
Assured stood out for its speed, domain expertise, and responsive customer support. Upon onboarding, what impressed Varun most was Assured’s ability to step in midstream, even for applications that had already been submitted, and create structure and predictability as volumes grew.
“As our volume increased, Assured was able to keep up. That was critical.”
Since onboarding with Assured, SOL has scaled to record levels of provider growth, successfully credentialing 40-50+ clinicians in a single quarter.
Carelon and Optum workflows in particular improved, with more reliable follow-up and clearer status tracking. What had previously required constant internal monitoring became far more predictable.
Beyond volume, the biggest shift has been predictability. What once required constant oversight is now operationally stable.
“At this point, things only come to me when there’s an issue. When I’m not hearing anything, that means things are running well.”
As SOL continues expanding into new markets, the focus extends beyond initial credentialing to broader payer operations infrastructure.
Maintaining accurate provider data across payer portals( including location updates, directory validation, and new patient availability) becomes increasingly complex at scale. Each payer operates its own manual processes, creating operational burden as volume grows.
SOL is exploring additional ways to partner with Assured to centralize payer communication, streamline bulk updates, and improve data integrity.
With scalable credentialing infrastructure now in place, SOL can focus on its core mission: expanding access to behavioral health care, without worrying that credentialing will slow growth again.
“Get a partner who understands the nuances of behavioral health plans and can keep pace with growth. For us, that’s been Assured.”
Automated credentialing, licensing, and payer enrollment — all in one system.
