Major Phoenix-Based Behavioral Health Provider Changes Name, Plans to Expand Statewide and Regionally

Beginning Monday, July 17, one of the largest behavioral health providers in Maricopa County will rebrand and conduct business under a new name – Denova Collaborative Health.

After operating as Bayless Integrated Healthcare for decades, company leadership is rebranding the organization in conjunction with revealing plans to expand its in-person service lines to Tucson and Flagstaff during the first quarter of 2024. Expansion plans also involve providing both virtual and in-person care in other communities throughout Maricopa County and statewide later next year, then growing regionally into Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Washington in 2025.

“Within the next two years, we expect to be operating beyond Arizona,” said Graham B. Johnson, Denova CEO. “We’re committed to taking our collaborative health care model to other states, ensuring they have the opportunity to benefit from our whole person approach,” he added.

Denova will continue to specialize in providing behavioral health, psychiatry, addiction treatment and primary care medical services to largely underserved and economically disadvantaged populations of children, teens, adults and older adults including patients on AHCCCS (Medicaid), Medicare and most commercial insurance plans.

“Our whole concept is built on a model that can provide same day/next day access to care for psychiatry and medical services, and the ability to see a licensed behavioral health therapist within 72-hours,” Johnson said.

More than 540 employees comprise the Denova clinical, administrative and support staff, which serves patients both virtually and from eight physical locations throughout the metropolitan Phoenix area.

The name change will not affect the current leadership team or the organizational chart, and the company will be hiring additional employees for up to 50 full-time positions in Tucson and up to an additional 40 positions in Flagstaff.

“Although Denova already provides virtual services for patients across the entire state of Arizona, we’ve signed a lease for our first brick and mortar location in Tucson to provide in-person services,” said Johnson. “And we have identified and are negotiating a location in Flagstaff,” he added.

The company currently employs 16 primary care physicians who work in its local clinics and more than 270 behavioral health professionals who provide both virtual and in-person counseling.

“Our roots are in behavioral health, but we also have primary care providers — or partner with them — because you can’t treat someone’s mind if their physical needs aren’t being met,” said Silvia Garcia, MPA, chief administrative officer for Denova.

Denova is the only provider in Arizona that is accredited by the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission (URAC) for telemedicine, and its counselors are required to receive training to gain certification as telemedicine therapists.

The organization has seen an 80% growth in patient volume since January 2021 and Johnson estimates Denova will conduct more than 390,000 patient visits in 2023, 90 percent of which are anticipated to be via telemedicine.