Phil Hickmon, MPA
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Phil Hickmon, MPA, brings 25 years of experience in the public health and behavioral health fields to the OPEN MINDS team. Prior to joining OPEN MINDS, Mr. Hickmon acted as the Vice President of Business Development for Hope Network.
Mr. Hickmon was responsible for fostering organic and strategic growth, assisting in creating a five-year plan to grow the company to $200 million by 2020. Day-to-day activities included overall business development strategy, contracting support, and execution of strategies for growth across multiple service lines.
Previously, Mr. Hickmon served as a Chief Operating Officer for an Acadia Healthcare facility. In this role, Mr. Hickmon was responsible for P&L analysis, health plan contracting and negotiation, strategic planning, future inpatient hospital expansion, and contract analysis.
Prior to his time at Acadia Healthcare, Mr. Hickmon served as a Chief Operating Officer and a Chief Executive Officer of a Universal Health Services facility. In this position, Mr. Hickmon successfully reached a 94% year-to-date occupancy. He led regulatory compliance initiatives including both internal corporate audits and state Medicaid contract audits. While with UHS, Mr. Hickmon developed and implemented strategies to grow hospital census, improve clinical operations, achieve regulatory standards of excellence, and lower bad debt.
Mr. Hickmon also has extensive experience in crisis services and emergency psychiatric programming. As the President of ConnectionsAZ, he built the corporate business plan in order to launch the physician led company. He negotiated vendor contracts and managed all health plan contracts. He also executed operational oversite in order to reduce employee turnover and improve employee satisfaction.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Hickmon worked in the Michigan Community Mental Health system and in direct service delivery for ten years. He has experience as a case manager and care coordinator. This experience includes a variety of program settings including psychosocial rehab programs, ACT teams, partial hospitalization, and home health.
In addition to a wealth of professional experience, Mr. Hickmon is also involved with his community. He has served in various positions in the Coloma Rocket Football League, where he is currently a head coach. Mr. Hickmon has also participated in the Relay-For-Life and the Coloma Wrestling Program.