New York, NY — November 10, 2025 — HITLAB, the global authority on digital health innovation and evidence generation, today announced a transformative partnership with One Small Step, a behavioral-health technology company founded by former Facebook and Garmin alumni. Together, they aim to validate, scale, and accelerate the adoption of One Small Step’s breakthrough peer-support platform—designed to reduce crises, improve outcomes, and humanize behavioral health care at scale.

At the heart of One Small Step’s innovation is a simple but powerful insight: people in recovery thrive when they feel genuinely understood. The platform connects individuals in behavioral-health treatment or recovery with certified peer support specialists who share lived experience—augmenting clinical care with authentic human connection.

Using human-in-the-loop AI, data-informed engagement tracking, and seamless EMR integration, One Small Step keeps patients engaged between clinical visits and during off hours—reducing isolation, improving adherence, and preventing relapse before it happens.

“One Small Step represents the future of behavioral health—where empathy meets evidence, and technology amplifies human connection,” said Stan Kachnowski, PhD, MPA, Chair of HITLAB. “This partnership reflects HITLAB’s mission to rigorously validate and accelerate digital solutions that make healthcare more accessible, effective, and deeply human.”

Fully integrated with Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) and care-coordination systems, One Small Step enables real-time collaboration among peers, clinicians, and case managers. Its measurable impact aligns directly with key national quality measures for behavioral health.

Early results demonstrate One Small Step’s powerful impact on both patient engagement and clinical outcomes. At one partner facility, Against Medical Advice (AMA) discharges have decreased by 30%, while among outpatient members, crisis visits have dropped by 85% since adopting the platform.

Globally, average engagements last 45 minutes, with 40% of the information shared representing novel patient insights that are automatically documented and shared with the care team. The platform maintains an average satisfaction rating of 4.93/5 and retention exceeding 50%, underscoring its ability to sustain meaningful, long-term engagement.

One Small Step is Medicaid-reimbursable for community-based treatment centers and integrated health networks seeking to improve outcomes and reduce avoidable emergency-room visits, offering a sustainable and scalable model. For inpatient rehab facilities, One Small Step offers a subscription model driving 4-5x ROI through a reduction in early discharges.

“We built One Small Step to make trusted, lived-experience support available anytime, anywhere,” said Mike Meaney, Co-Founder and CEO of One Small Step. “With HITLAB’s validation expertise and national reach, we can expand access, strengthen our evidence base, and empower providers to deliver measurable improvements in patient outcomes.”

Under the partnership, HITLAB will:

• Conduct a heuristic validation study to measure usability, engagement, and outcome impact across diverse treatment environments.
• Drive nationwide adoption
• Support fundraising and commercialization efforts to position One Small Step as a leading standard for scalable, evidence-based peer support.