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Michelle Turner

CEO, Here Now Health

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Bio: Michelle is the Founder and CEO of Here Now Health, the first virtual healthcare company purpose-built for children and families impacted by the child welfare system. Her leadership blends professional and personal experiences, shaped by fostering more than 40 children, volunteering as a CASA, and holding executive roles across healthcare. She was the Development Director at an FQHC, the Executive Director of a global telehealth nonprofit, and a Vice President at Hazel Health, where she helped scale school-based virtual care nationwide. Michelle is dedicated to building scalable, trauma-informed programs that meet kids and families where and when they need care most.

Org Info: Here Now Health is the first virtual healthcare company built exclusively for children and families impacted by the child welfare system. We deliver child welfare–informed therapy and caregiver support through partnerships with Medicaid Managed Care Organizations and state agencies, ensuring foster-connected youth can access care without delays. Built by experts in child welfare mental health and informed by lived experience, our model addresses one of Medicaid’s highest-need, highest-cost populations. By integrating with public systems, we provide scalable, sustainable care that improves outcomes, strengthens families, and reduces preventable crises.

What motivated you to pursue your current work? (i.e., What is your “why”?)

Over 10 years ago my husband and I became foster parents in Georgia, welcoming more than 40 children over five years and adopting four of our six children from foster care. After closing our home, I became a CASA volunteer working to get resources to families to prevent separation. Again and again I saw kids unable to get the care they needed for stability, which could have prevented disruptions, hospitalizations, or extended stays in residential treatment. Families were separated longer because of these gaps. Here Now Health is the solution I wish had existed then and that so many families still need today.

What distinct value does your work bring to the digital health field?

We are purpose built to serve the highest cost, least served population within Medicaid, children and families connected to the foster care system. While they deserve the best possible care, they too often are an afterthought. We believe digital health is not a backup plan but often the best mode of care, allowing children to keep trusted providers even when they move and connecting families with therapy even when they are not living together. We are proving that digital health can transform the way we bridge gaps in care and create specialized healthcare systems that can scale.

How does your work impact your target end-users or stakeholders?

We deliver a high-touch clinical model with caregiver support at the center, led by clinicians who specialize in child welfare, many with lived experience. This approach reduces ER visits, hospitalizations, and residential placements, shortens time in care, and prevents family separations. For children, it means keeping trusted providers through placement changes and getting help before crises escalate. For families, it’s therapy access even when apart. For stakeholders, it’s providing measurable impact, reducing Medicaid costs, and scaling a sustainable workforce ready to serve one of the highest-need populations in the system.

What is one exciting update or near-term opportunity that you would like to share with the digital health community?

This month, we launched services in Virginia and will launch our first state-level partnership in October. These milestones mark the start of scaling our child welfare–informed care model to close critical gaps in Medicaid mental health services for youth in foster care across the country.

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