Registration & Executive Networking Breakfast In The Institute Exhibit Hall
Start the morning off right - after you've checked in for the institute, head to the exhibit hall for coffee and breakfast. Take the time to network with your fellow institute attendees, including health and human service executives, technology innovators, and thought leaders from the field.
Cognitive Computing & Big Data: How They Will Shape The Future Of Care Delivery
Craig Rhinehart
Craig Rhinehart is the Director, IBM Watson Health Innovation and Market Development. He has more than 30 years executive experience bringing innovative solutions to market in healthcare, government and other industries.
Craig writes and speaks about corporate entrepreneurship, healthcare and innovation. He is considered an expert in Intrapreneurship, innovation models and managing unstructured data. His technology expertise includes cognitive computing, enterprise content management, records management, big data, content analytics and case/care management.
Craig founded and leads IBM’s corporate entrepreneurship efforts through the Intrapreneurship@IBM community. He came to IBM through the 2006 acquisition of FileNet, where he served as Vice President of Product Marketing.
Planning & Budgeting For Technology: How Much Is Enough?
Lots of investment in health and human services is going into technology. There are the “must have” technologies for billing and electronic health records (EHR) required by payers for reimbursement for many kinds of systems, and there are technologies that are increasingly “required” by consumers – like telehealth and web-based communication. Beyond that, how much should health and human service organizations invest? In this session, we’ll cover the big challenge facing executives as they lead their organization on the path to a tech-driven future, including how to develop a technology strategy, set a budget, and how to apply best practices to tech selection.
Joseph P. Naughton-Travers, EdM
Joseph P. Naughton-Travers, EdM, Senior Associate, has more than 30 years of experience in the health and human service field. In this tenure as senior associate with OPEN MINDS since 1998, he has served as lead of dozens of client initiatives, served as editor of OPEN MINDS publications, and is the author of many groundbreaking articles and presentations.
Mr. Naughton-Travers brings to OPEN MINDS a broad range of experiences in private and public sector delivery of behavioral health and social services. He started his career as a behavioral health clinician, working in both child welfare and community mental health clinic settings. Subsequently, Mr. Naughton-Travers held a senior business operations management position for a psychiatric hospital system and its community mental health clinics. Later, he was vice president of a firm specializing in information systems and billing and receivables management for community-based mental health programs.
Since joining OPEN MINDS, Mr. Naughton-Travers has developed business solutions for provider and professional organizations, state and county government, technology companies, and venture capital firms. His primary areas of expertise include strategic planning and metrics-based management, electronic health record (EHR) and technology selection and implementation, operations improvement, and corporate compliance. For the past decade, over half his consulting practice has focused on aiding organizations in technology selection and implementation, including all aspects of strategic technology planning, functional specifications development, request for proposal development, vendor selection, and contracting.
He has written numerous articles, including “Winning the Human Resource Wars: Tried, True and New Strategies for Behavioral Health and Social Service Organizations,” “Five Pillars of Management Competency,” “Data Driven Decision Making: Moving to an Organizational Measurement Culture,” “Survival of the Smartest: What is Your Organization’s Information Literacy IQ?,” and “Strategic Human Resource Management: Aligning Compensation with Employee Performance and Organizational Strategy.” Mr. Naughton-Travers is also a nationally recognized speaker, having conducted hundreds of executive and professional executive training events around the nation.
Mr. Naughton-Travers received his Bachelor’s degree from Miami University of Ohio and his Masters’ of Education in Counseling Psychology from Boston University.
Tom Haglund, CPA, MBA
Tom Haglund is the Chief Financial Officer at Rise, Inc., a Minnesota-based social service organization that specializes in vocational services for persons with disabilities. Tom has more than 30 years in the field of accounting and finance. He began his career in public accounting and subsequently served both as the lead accountant at a variety of businesses and as a consultant performing wide-ranging services.
Over the last decade, Tom has devoted his professional attention to the nonprofit sector, specializing in social service organizations, associations and educational institutions. His primary areas of expertise include financial analysis, budgeting and planning, audit compliance and improving accounting functions and controls.
Tom graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and his credentials include a CPA license and a Master’s degree in Business Administration with a Finance concentration.
The Future Uses Of Watson For Mental Health: A Town Hall Discussion With Craig Rhinehart
As a follow-up to this morning's keynote presentation, join Craig Rhinehart, Director of IBM Watson Health Innovation and Market Development, for an interactive audience discussion on IBM Watson Mental Health – and possible future applications in the care of consumers with chronic conditions and complex support needs.
Craig Rhinehart
Craig Rhinehart is the Director, IBM Watson Health Innovation and Market Development. He has more than 30 years executive experience bringing innovative solutions to market in healthcare, government and other industries.
Craig writes and speaks about corporate entrepreneurship, healthcare and innovation. He is considered an expert in Intrapreneurship, innovation models and managing unstructured data. His technology expertise includes cognitive computing, enterprise content management, records management, big data, content analytics and case/care management.
Craig founded and leads IBM’s corporate entrepreneurship efforts through the Intrapreneurship@IBM community. He came to IBM through the 2006 acquisition of FileNet, where he served as Vice President of Product Marketing.
Monica E. Oss
Monica E. Oss, M.S., Chief Executive Officer and Senior Associate, is the founder of OPEN MINDS. For the past three decades, Ms. Oss has led the OPEN MINDS team and its research on health and human service market trends and its national consulting practice. Ms. Oss is well known for her numerous books and articles focused on the strategic and marketing implications of the evolving health and human service field. She has unique expertise in payer financing models, provider rate setting, and service pricing. She has led numerous engagements with state Medicaid plans, county governments, private insurers, managed care programs, service provider organizations, technology vendors, neurotechnology and pharmaceutical organizations, and investment banking firms – with a focus on the implications of financing changes on delivery system design.
An Operational Guide To Creating A Data Driven Organization
Sponsored By Core Solutions, Inc.
For health and human service organizations, your greatest assets can be found by identifying the areas that impact your success. Now more than ever, value-based purchasing has caused assets such as clinical, finance, operations and community, to be more contingent upon each other than ever – making it important to measure and improve upon their individual metrics.
While health and human service organizations spend a lot of time with industry- and enterprise-wide data, much of the time allotted is dedicated to electronic health records (EHRs) and telehealth integration and management, rather than expending actionable data.
In this essential executive session, we will explore the importance of data to a successful organization, the operational processes you must have in place to utilize your data to its full advantage, how to turn your data into knowledge to educate your staff and how to build your company’s culture around your data.
Ravi Ganesan
Ravi Ganesan started Core Solutions nearly a decade ago. He began the venture as a developer of custom solutions for select organizations in behavioral health and human services. Since then, he has used his passion for entrepreneurship and a rich background in consulting and software development to grow the company into a premier provider for clients of all types and sizes across the country.
Prior to founding the company, Ravi was a systems architect and software developer with Management Concepts, Inc., an IT consulting firm. Before this, Ravi launched his career in the Greater Philadelphia region at New York Life, the nation’s oldest and largest mutual life insurance company. While there, he established a technical assistance program initially developed to help insurance agents integrate technology into their businesses, which evolved to include business consulting, marketing and related support activities. Ravi received his M.B.A. from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
Ken Carr
Ken Carr brings over 30 years of finance, technology, data analysis and reporting experience in the health and human service field to OPEN MINDS. He currently serves as a Senior Associate with the OPEN MINDS consulting practice. In this role, Mr. Carr serves as a subject matter expert in the OPEN MINDS consulting practice where he has led numerous engagements in strategic planning, merger and acquisition prospecting, business process improvement, managed care and value-based contracting preparedness, financial analysis of service lines, and technology selection.
Prior to joining OPEN MINDS, Mr. Carr served as the Chief Financial Officer for Elite DNA Therapy Services, a mental health provider based in Fort Myers, FL. In this position, Mr. Carr led development of the strategic plan, identified opportunities to optimize the EHR, and restructured financial reporting and analysis by service lines and key metrics.
Prior to his role at Elite DNA Therapy Services, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of The Centers, a community mental health center in Ocala, Florida. In this position, Mr. Carr led a realignment of the organization’s financial management functions. This included revenue cycle management, EHR bill implementation and reporting, cash management enhancement, and strategic financial analysis.
Prior to his role at The Centers, Mr. Carr served as Chief Financial Officer of Guild Incorporated, an organization providing residential and community based mental health services in St. Paul, Minnesota. As CFO, Mr. Carr led the financial, billing, IT, quality, informatics, compliance, and facilities activities. During his tenure at Guild Incorporated, Mr. Carr used his expertise in change management and business process improvement to lead the EHR implementation team, align service data reporting and financial performance, and lead the financial and data capture activities for new service initiatives.
Mr. Carr has also held the positions of Administrative Director and Finance Director at the St. Paul National Testing Laboratory, a biomedical testing facility of the American Red Cross. In those positions he oversaw activities to enhance inventory management, align financial results to industry standards, and improve financial and facilities performance through problem analysis and quality management initiatives. He also was involved in directing human resource functions during laboratory closing near the end of his tenure.
Mr. Carr earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of South Dakota, and a Master of Divinity Degree from Sioux Falls Seminary. He maintains an active CPA license with the State of South Dakota.
Demo Track
Askesis Development Group
Selecting & Evaluating Mobile Technologies For Community Behavioral Health Care
Community-based care. In-home services. These are the delivery models that policy and budgets are pushing in every arena of health and human services. The use of smartphone apps is an important strategy consideration for most organizations as the ability to “go mobile” in both administrative support and service delivery becomes an increasingly important competency. The question now is how to select the best technology to accomplish your organization’s strategy. Like any technology choice, sorting through the range of app options is a combination of strategy-informed functional needs, consumer market research, and tech assessment. In this session, we will discuss how to sort through the volume of app offerings, understand the evidence that underpins each of the available apps, and incorporate the app technology into service workflow.
Sharon Hicks
Sharon Hicks, OPEN MINDS Senior Associate, has more than 20 years of experience in the health and human service field. She has extensive experience and wide range of expertise in health plan management, in clinical operations management, and technology.
Prior to joining OPEN MINDS, Ms. Hicks spent two decades in a number of executive positions within the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) system and within its health plan division. Ms. Hicks served as the Chief Operating Officer for Community Care Behavioral Health, a managed behavioral health organization. She was responsible for all aspects of the organization’s operations including fiscal, information systems, the claims processing department, and the design of clinical systems. In addition Ms. Hicks managed the day-to-day operations of including human resources, facilities, purchasing, and security.
Ms. Hicks also served as the Vice President, Internet Strategy, UPMC Insurance Services Division and, since 2002, as the Chief Executive Officer of Askesis Development Group, Inc. since May of 2002. In this role, Ms. Hicks was responsible for the growth of the company, profitability of the company, and the direction of software development.
Ms. Hick started her impressive health care career as a psychiatric social worker before being promoted to Assistant Director of Social Work. Prior to her executive promotions, Ms. Hicks served as a Clinical Administrator for both Ambulatory Services and Emergency and Intake Services at the UPMC Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. In this role, Ms. Hicks managed the behavioral health division, the budgets for all departments, and implemented new software replacing paper billing for clinical services.
Ms. Hicks received both her Masters of Business Administration and Masters of Social Work degrees from the University of Pittsburg. Before pursuing her graduate education, Ms. Hicks received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology.
Bruce L. Bird, Ph.D.
Bruce L. Bird received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Houston in 1975. He then spent four years at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, initially as a postdoctoral fellow in Pediatrics, then as staff and Assistant Professor in Neurology, where his work included clinical services and several federally funded research projects in behavioral medicine.
Over his forty year career, he has served in administrative roles for a number of organizations. Since 2009 he has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Vinfen, a 39 year old non-profit community behavioral health and disability services organization, which annually serves about 7,000 individuals throughout Eastern Massachusetts and Connecticut, with an annual operating budget of about $150 million, and a staff of about 2,800.
Dr. Bird has also served on numerous statewide policymaking and provider organizations. He currently serves on the boards of the Association of Behavioral Healthcare of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Association of Mental Health, the Providers Council, the Association of Developmental Disabilities Providers of Massachusetts, and on several Massachusetts policy and planning committees, including the Implementation Council of the Massachusetts Demonstration Project for Individuals with Dual Medicare and Medicaid eligibility.
His recent research activities have included serving as principal investigator of a three year grant from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation evaluating a Community Behavioral Health Home model to integrate and improve health care for individuals with serious psychiatric conditions and leading several projects evaluating newly developed remote patient monitoring and smartphone technologies designed to help individuals with serious mental illness manage their mental and physical health.
The Future Of Behavioral Health Care: How Technology Is Enabling Community-Based Treatment
How do you develop a tech-enabled community-based service line? The short answer is, understand your tech options and how to integrate them into a sustainable service program. Of course the long answer includes strategic tech selection, consumer outreach and education, patient engagement, fully integrated systems, seamless transitions and implementations, etc. Though adopting these interventions can be daunting, tech-enabled services are quickly moving from “interesting” to “routine.” As acceptance from consumers and payers increases, clinical professionals and provider organizations will need to follow. In this session, we will explore how organizations can use technology to support consumers in the community and hear some examples of how organizations have successfully integrated technologies into marketable service lines.
Joseph P. Naughton-Travers, EdM
Joseph P. Naughton-Travers, EdM, Senior Associate, has more than 30 years of experience in the health and human service field. In this tenure as senior associate with OPEN MINDS since 1998, he has served as lead of dozens of client initiatives, served as editor of OPEN MINDS publications, and is the author of many groundbreaking articles and presentations.
Mr. Naughton-Travers brings to OPEN MINDS a broad range of experiences in private and public sector delivery of behavioral health and social services. He started his career as a behavioral health clinician, working in both child welfare and community mental health clinic settings. Subsequently, Mr. Naughton-Travers held a senior business operations management position for a psychiatric hospital system and its community mental health clinics. Later, he was vice president of a firm specializing in information systems and billing and receivables management for community-based mental health programs.
Since joining OPEN MINDS, Mr. Naughton-Travers has developed business solutions for provider and professional organizations, state and county government, technology companies, and venture capital firms. His primary areas of expertise include strategic planning and metrics-based management, electronic health record (EHR) and technology selection and implementation, operations improvement, and corporate compliance. For the past decade, over half his consulting practice has focused on aiding organizations in technology selection and implementation, including all aspects of strategic technology planning, functional specifications development, request for proposal development, vendor selection, and contracting.
He has written numerous articles, including “Winning the Human Resource Wars: Tried, True and New Strategies for Behavioral Health and Social Service Organizations,” “Five Pillars of Management Competency,” “Data Driven Decision Making: Moving to an Organizational Measurement Culture,” “Survival of the Smartest: What is Your Organization’s Information Literacy IQ?,” and “Strategic Human Resource Management: Aligning Compensation with Employee Performance and Organizational Strategy.” Mr. Naughton-Travers is also a nationally recognized speaker, having conducted hundreds of executive and professional executive training events around the nation.
Mr. Naughton-Travers received his Bachelor’s degree from Miami University of Ohio and his Masters’ of Education in Counseling Psychology from Boston University.
Robert Cuyler, Ph.D.
Robert N. Cuyler, PhD, is the Chief Clinical Officer of Palo Alto Health Sciences, which offers Freespira, an innovative intervention for the treatment of panic disorder and panic attack. Freespira is an FDA-cleared, treatment that eliminates or reduces panic attacks and panic symptoms. Published randomized controlled clinical trials showed compelling efficacy and safety. 68% of subjects remained panic attack-free one year post-treatment. Subsequent trials have replicated the efficacy and safety of the intervention.
He also serves as Clinical Advisor to Breakthrough Behavioral, an MDLIVE company. His telemedicine activities have included implementation, reimbursement policy, practitioner training, technology choice, and business development. He is an author and presenter on telemedicine and technological innovations in behavioral health.
Dr. Cuyler provides psychological services in his Houston office, with a focus on treating depression and anxiety, chronic headache, and executive/professional health.
Dr. Cuyler previously served as Interim Chief Executive Officer of JSA Health Telepsychiatry, opening up markets in emergency departments, university student health services, psychiatric hospitals, and cruise ship health services. Dr. Cuyler was Senior Vice President at Diamond Healthcare and co-founded Heritage Health Services, where he served as COO/Clinical Director until Heritage was acquired by Diamond.
Dr. Cuyler received his Ph.D. in Psychology from LSU and Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Menninger Foundation. Organizational activities have included President of the Association for Ambulatory Behavioral Healthcare, Texas Hospital Association’s Psychiatric Advisory Council, and member of the NIMH’s National Mental Health Leadership Council. He is a judge at Rice University’s annual Rice Business Plan Competition.
Terrence A. O’Malley, M.D., CMD
Dr. O’Malley works at the intersection of long term care, quality measurement, and electronic health information exchange. He is an internist/geriatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital where he provides clinical care, supervises trainees and conducts research on improving transitions of care and the exchange of clinical information at transitions. At the national level he co-led the Long Term and Post Acute Care (LTPAC) Transitions of Care and the Longitudinal Coordination of Care (LCC) work groups within the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology S&I Framework. Currently he is the Community Lead on the Electronic Long Term Services and Supports work group (eLTSS) which is developing standards for the exchange of an LTSS care plan. Over the past ten years he has served on many technical expert panels to advise CMS on issues such as quality measures for post acute care, readmission metrics, development and refinement of the CARE Tool, and establishing a standardized functional assessment tool for PAC. He is currently on the NQF Care Coordination Measure Endorsement Standing Committee, the federal Health Information Technology Policy Committee Work group for Advanced Care Models and Meaningful Use, and is a member of the federal Health Information Technology Standards Committee representing post acute care.
Lori Ann Rizzuto, LCSW
Lori has 30 years of experience in behavioral health, fourteen of which have been at Atlantic Health System; she is responsible for behavioral health program development and clinical integration with other service lines and departments. Within the five hospital system, Lori has administrative oversight of daily operations of inpatient behavioral health units, Crisis Intervention Services in the ED and outpatient behavioral health services. This includes over 250 staff and 30 undergraduate and graduate interns.
She is also responsible for the operations of the integrative medicine services within the system including the delivery of energy and massage interventions delivered at the bedside, as well as administrative oversight of The Chambers Center for Well Being. Services at The Chambers Center include a physician practice, the Lifestyle Change Program, acupuncture, massage, meditation and The Dr. Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease.
Before joining Atlantic Health System, Lori held leadership positions at other hospitals, overseeing clinical and business development areas. Lori holds a Master of Social Work degree from Adelphi University School of Social Work.
Treating For Outcomes Or Better Care: Understanding & Using The CCBHC Process To Managing Organizational Quality
Sponsored By The Echo Group
The Excellence in Mental Health Act (EMHA) is comprehensive legislation written specifically for the behavioral healthcare industry. The spirit of the act provides a renewed focus on the quality of delivery and person-centered care.
Professionals must understand that the quality objectives are not a directive on how to provide care, but rather benchmarks designed to support a facility's ability to provide every client a standard of care regardless of his or her circumstance.
This session will explore the opportunities within the Excellence in Mental Health Act and provide a practical framework using the CCBHC process to realize them This session will:
- Summarize an overview of the Excellence in Mental Health Act and Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics
- Identify the organizational and technological infrastructure required to leverage opportunities in Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics
- Examine opportunities within the Excellence in Mental Health Act and how to leverage them
Suki Norris
Suki is celebrating 20 years with the Echo Group and has more than 35 years of experience in healthcare including healthcare law, managed care and behavioral health. Suki has extensive experience with Medicaid waivers, meaningful use, and the Excellence in Mental Health Act. She has worked extensively in data analysis, including analysis of big data in support of clients and ongoing research. Her knowledge of behavioral health law has been sought by customers across the country as they address specific needs such as electronic health record (HIE) implementation and the challenges of HIE.
Suki received her Bachelor's Degree in economics from Mills College and her Juris Doctor degree from Golden Gate University.
Ken Carr
Ken Carr brings over 30 years of finance, technology, data analysis and reporting experience in the health and human service field to OPEN MINDS. He currently serves as a Senior Associate with the OPEN MINDS consulting practice. In this role, Mr. Carr serves as a subject matter expert in the OPEN MINDS consulting practice where he has led numerous engagements in strategic planning, merger and acquisition prospecting, business process improvement, managed care and value-based contracting preparedness, financial analysis of service lines, and technology selection.
Prior to joining OPEN MINDS, Mr. Carr served as the Chief Financial Officer for Elite DNA Therapy Services, a mental health provider based in Fort Myers, FL. In this position, Mr. Carr led development of the strategic plan, identified opportunities to optimize the EHR, and restructured financial reporting and analysis by service lines and key metrics.
Prior to his role at Elite DNA Therapy Services, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of The Centers, a community mental health center in Ocala, Florida. In this position, Mr. Carr led a realignment of the organization’s financial management functions. This included revenue cycle management, EHR bill implementation and reporting, cash management enhancement, and strategic financial analysis.
Prior to his role at The Centers, Mr. Carr served as Chief Financial Officer of Guild Incorporated, an organization providing residential and community based mental health services in St. Paul, Minnesota. As CFO, Mr. Carr led the financial, billing, IT, quality, informatics, compliance, and facilities activities. During his tenure at Guild Incorporated, Mr. Carr used his expertise in change management and business process improvement to lead the EHR implementation team, align service data reporting and financial performance, and lead the financial and data capture activities for new service initiatives.
Mr. Carr has also held the positions of Administrative Director and Finance Director at the St. Paul National Testing Laboratory, a biomedical testing facility of the American Red Cross. In those positions he oversaw activities to enhance inventory management, align financial results to industry standards, and improve financial and facilities performance through problem analysis and quality management initiatives. He also was involved in directing human resource functions during laboratory closing near the end of his tenure.
Mr. Carr earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of South Dakota, and a Master of Divinity Degree from Sioux Falls Seminary. He maintains an active CPA license with the State of South Dakota.
Demo Track
IBM Watson Health & ODH: Population Health Management & Cognitive Computing
Craig Rhinehart
Craig Rhinehart is the Director, IBM Watson Health Innovation and Market Development. He has more than 30 years executive experience bringing innovative solutions to market in healthcare, government and other industries.
Craig writes and speaks about corporate entrepreneurship, healthcare and innovation. He is considered an expert in Intrapreneurship, innovation models and managing unstructured data. His technology expertise includes cognitive computing, enterprise content management, records management, big data, content analytics and case/care management.
Craig founded and leads IBM’s corporate entrepreneurship efforts through the Intrapreneurship@IBM community. He came to IBM through the 2006 acquisition of FileNet, where he served as Vice President of Product Marketing.
Where’s It Going? The Next Big Thing(s) In Behavioral Health Clinical Informatics
Invitation-Only Lunch & Learn Sponsored by Netsmart Technologies (This session is "By Invitation Only" and lunch will be provided during this session.)
Clinical processes and interventions are becoming more virtual, driven largely by the evolution to consumer-directed and value-based care. These changes are revolutionary, not evolutionary. Join us for a look at leading technology trends from a clinical perspective, including:
- Mobility and the virtualization of care delivery
- Genomics: You are your genome
- Analytics, data and the search for meaning
- Clinical Care of the Future: will clinicians be obsolete?
Dennis Morrison, Ph.D.
Dr. Morrison is Chief Clinical Officer for Netsmart, the leading provider of clinical solutions for health and human services organizations nationwide. Morrison will lead the Netsmart clinical team in transforming clinical care in behavioral health by focusing on evidence-based practice, recovery- and research-based care, coordinated care planning, and the integration of behavioral and primary care.
Dr. Morrison has worked in the behavioral health field since 1969. Academically, he holds two Masters degrees in Psychology and Exercise Physiology from Ball State University. His doctorate is in Counseling Psychology also from Ball State University. He is co-inventor on a patent for a behavioral healthcare outcomes software product.
Prior to joining Netsmart in 2012, he served as the CEO of the Center for Behavioral Health (CBH) in Bloomington, Indiana since 1995. CBH was the first behavioral health company to ever win the JCAHO Codman Award for excellence in the use of outcomes measurement to achieve health care quality improvement; the second to win the HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies Award for Excellence in the implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR); and the only organization in the world to have won both awards. In 2007, CBH was awarded the Negley Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Risk Management.
In May 2008, CBH merged with three other CMHCs creating a $120 million multistate provider organization serving 70,000 consumers per year. To integrate and manage all the Research and Information Technology services for the merged entities, a new corporation, Centerstone Research Institute, was formed and Dr Morrison was named its CEO. At CRI, Morrison was responsible for integrating four different EHRs across two states into a single, homogeneous EHR that is completely internally managed and serves 1800 employees, approximately 1400 of which are clinicians serving 70,000 patients per year across two states.
Lunch Break
Lunch On Your Own
Next Generation Care Delivery: How Telehealth Is Improving Access & Outcomes
Rapid consumer access to treatment services is a big part of consumer satisfaction and consumer engagement. Both are essential to attracting consumers to a health plan or provider organization - and to assuring great care coordination. For mental health in particular, consumer access is a challenging issue. Shortages of psychiatrists, scheduling systems, and geographic distance between consumers and health care facilities are just a few of the specific issues that make rapid access to mental health services challenging. New tech platforms and tech-related practices have emerged to improve consumer access and improve outcomes. In this session, we will review the challenges and benefits of utilizing telehealth, how organizations can utilize telehealth in their own programs, and examples of successful telehealth programs in action.
Robert Cuyler, Ph.D.
Robert N. Cuyler, PhD, is the Chief Clinical Officer of Palo Alto Health Sciences, which offers Freespira, an innovative intervention for the treatment of panic disorder and panic attack. Freespira is an FDA-cleared, treatment that eliminates or reduces panic attacks and panic symptoms. Published randomized controlled clinical trials showed compelling efficacy and safety. 68% of subjects remained panic attack-free one year post-treatment. Subsequent trials have replicated the efficacy and safety of the intervention.
He also serves as Clinical Advisor to Breakthrough Behavioral, an MDLIVE company. His telemedicine activities have included implementation, reimbursement policy, practitioner training, technology choice, and business development. He is an author and presenter on telemedicine and technological innovations in behavioral health.
Dr. Cuyler provides psychological services in his Houston office, with a focus on treating depression and anxiety, chronic headache, and executive/professional health.
Dr. Cuyler previously served as Interim Chief Executive Officer of JSA Health Telepsychiatry, opening up markets in emergency departments, university student health services, psychiatric hospitals, and cruise ship health services. Dr. Cuyler was Senior Vice President at Diamond Healthcare and co-founded Heritage Health Services, where he served as COO/Clinical Director until Heritage was acquired by Diamond.
Dr. Cuyler received his Ph.D. in Psychology from LSU and Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Menninger Foundation. Organizational activities have included President of the Association for Ambulatory Behavioral Healthcare, Texas Hospital Association’s Psychiatric Advisory Council, and member of the NIMH’s National Mental Health Leadership Council. He is a judge at Rice University’s annual Rice Business Plan Competition.
Udi Zaken, M.D.
Coming Soon!
Nathan A. Call, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Nathan Call received his doctorate in school psychology from the University of Iowa in 2003. He completed a predoctoral internship at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics: Center for Disabilities and Development, and a postdoctoral fellowship at Marcus Autism Center and Emory University. He is currently the Interim Clinical Director at the Marcus Autism Center and an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the Emory University School of Medicine, where he works with children with developmental disabilities who exhibit severe problem behavior. His research involves discovering more effective methods to assess and treat behavior problems or skill deficits.
Innovations In Consumer Technology: How To Use Tech To Increase Engagement & Improve Satisfaction
Poor patient engagement is a well-known obstacle in the pursuit of better health care outcomes – an obstacle with mounting costs in our value-based market. The consumers who are actively engaged in their health care experiences show better outcomes and lower costs. As organizations develop patient engagement strategies, many are turning to tech tools to make the value equation work, but the list of treatment technology choices is formidable, and growing more so every day – innovative drug delivery systems, mobile and web-based interventions, diagnostics, virtual reality treatment applications, neurotech treatments, robots, etc. The question is how to choose what technologies will improve your organization’s market positioning and strategic advantage. In this exciting session, we will take a look at how technology is being used to increase consumer engagement, and review several technologies that are seeing results from using tech tools to engage consumers.
Ken Carr
Ken Carr brings over 30 years of finance, technology, data analysis and reporting experience in the health and human service field to OPEN MINDS. He currently serves as a Senior Associate with the OPEN MINDS consulting practice. In this role, Mr. Carr serves as a subject matter expert in the OPEN MINDS consulting practice where he has led numerous engagements in strategic planning, merger and acquisition prospecting, business process improvement, managed care and value-based contracting preparedness, financial analysis of service lines, and technology selection.
Prior to joining OPEN MINDS, Mr. Carr served as the Chief Financial Officer for Elite DNA Therapy Services, a mental health provider based in Fort Myers, FL. In this position, Mr. Carr led development of the strategic plan, identified opportunities to optimize the EHR, and restructured financial reporting and analysis by service lines and key metrics.
Prior to his role at Elite DNA Therapy Services, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of The Centers, a community mental health center in Ocala, Florida. In this position, Mr. Carr led a realignment of the organization’s financial management functions. This included revenue cycle management, EHR bill implementation and reporting, cash management enhancement, and strategic financial analysis.
Prior to his role at The Centers, Mr. Carr served as Chief Financial Officer of Guild Incorporated, an organization providing residential and community based mental health services in St. Paul, Minnesota. As CFO, Mr. Carr led the financial, billing, IT, quality, informatics, compliance, and facilities activities. During his tenure at Guild Incorporated, Mr. Carr used his expertise in change management and business process improvement to lead the EHR implementation team, align service data reporting and financial performance, and lead the financial and data capture activities for new service initiatives.
Mr. Carr has also held the positions of Administrative Director and Finance Director at the St. Paul National Testing Laboratory, a biomedical testing facility of the American Red Cross. In those positions he oversaw activities to enhance inventory management, align financial results to industry standards, and improve financial and facilities performance through problem analysis and quality management initiatives. He also was involved in directing human resource functions during laboratory closing near the end of his tenure.
Mr. Carr earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of South Dakota, and a Master of Divinity Degree from Sioux Falls Seminary. He maintains an active CPA license with the State of South Dakota.
Patricia R. Deegan, Ph.D.
Patricia E. Deegan Ph.D. is a principal with Pat Deegan & Associates, LLC. For over 30 years she has been a thought leader and disruptive innovator in the field behavioral health recovery. Pat founded a health information technology and consulting company run by and for people in recovery. Our flagship products are the CommonGround Recovery Library and the CommonGround software that help individuals, families and psychiatrists engage in shared decision making to find the best treatment for recovery. Pat is an activist in the disability rights movement and has lived her own journey of recovery after being diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager. She is an Adjunct Professor at Dartmouth College, Geisel School of Medicine and received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Duquesne University.
Ron Goldman
Davis Park
Davis Park develops and directs all of the Front Porch Center’s technology initiatives and programs. He brings more than 15 years of program development experience with a diverse set of skills in technology implementation and deployment to senior, low-income, and other underserved communities. Davis is an inaugural member of the Zero Divide ZFellows program and has served on several boards and committees dedicated to promoting technology access, adoption, and policy. He holds a master’s degree from UCLA’s Urban Planning Program and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from UC Berkeley.
Payer-Provider Collaboration: The Value Of Data Sharing For Whole Person Care
Sponsored By Care Management Technologies
The relationship between payer and providers is shifting. Payers are establishing greater expectations of providers for integrated care, including care coordination and care management activities that have typically been the functional responsibility of the payer. Provider reimbursement is being tied to performance metrics such as overall health outcomes, functional life skills improvement and quality of care. These shift are fraught with challenges and risks. Collaboration and trust between payer and provider are key. Hear from one payer/partner collaboration – The Sandhills Center, a fully capitated behavioral health organization (BHO), and Carter’s Circle of Care, a fully service Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC)/Community Mental Health (CMHC) service agency about their work to make integrated care a reality in Grennsboro, North Carolina. The audience will learn:
- How and why the Sandhills Center set expectations for network providers to institute and delivery integrate care services using data to drive performance
- The decision points for sharing full claims data with the provider to support this effort and the challenges/risks they mitigated to do so
- How Carter’s Circle of Care operationally began to more fully provide integrated care services
- The challenges of the “gift of data” experienced by Carter’s Circle of Care and how they are addressing them
- The outcomes goals for 2017 as a result of the collaboration.
Also presenting will be Courtney Cantrell, Ph.D., former NC Mental Health, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services (MH/DD/SA) Director who will offer her perspective of state agencies desires for payer/provider collaborations and her view from inside and outside DHHS. Dr. Cantrell now works for CMT, a Relias Learning Company and supports the Sandhills-Carter’s Circle of Care initiative.
Anthony (Tony) Caraway, M.D.
Dr. Carraway received his AB and MD degrees from UNC—Chapel Hill, completed his residency in psychiatry at UNC Hospitals/The North Carolina Memorial Hospital, and completed a visiting post residency fellowship in Electroconvulsive Therapy from Duke University. Additionally, he has completed post graduate training in Oriental Medicine, including acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, from the Academy of Pain Research in San Francisco. Dr. Carraway is a Diplomate of The American Board of Psychiatry and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine—London.
Dr. Carraway has held appointments at UNC—Chapel Hill as Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, and Assistant Residency Training Director. He has served as the Associate Director of Adult Psychiatry for Dorothea Dix Hospital, and he has been a psychiatric consultant with numerous community mental health centers throughout the states of North Carolina and South Carolina.
Dr. Carraway has maintained a private psychiatric practice since 1988 focusing on holistic health, forensic psychiatry, and independent peer review.
Megan Johnson
Megan Johnson has worked in the mental health field for 18 years and has spent the past 7 years in a leadership role within community based mental health service organizations. She is the adoptive parent of two children ages 10 and 14, both with special needs and a significant trauma history. In 2011, Megan was nominated and selected as a HIPO (High Potential Leadership Development Program) participant and successfully completed that year long program. In 2014, her staff nominated her for the 360 Leadership award within her national organization. She has led several teams of her staff through NC-CTP Learning Collaboratives in TF-CBT, SPARCS and will soon lead a team through CPT. At the foundation of her personal and leadership philosophy is a deeply held belief that each of us is in a constant state of evolution- holding the dual space of “being enough,” and having room to grow. As a leader, Megan strives to create and sustain an agency culture that emphasizes patient outcomes and understands how data should be used to drive decision-making and process improvement. Alongside the leadership team at Carter’s Circle of Care, Inc., Megan seeks to implement the “Triple Aim” approach, holding in balance a focus on cost, quality, and patient experience.
Shannon Harty
Shannon Harty has spent 15 years in the mental health field, specifically providing individual and family counseling, as well as clinical supervision and administrative oversight. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in NC; a nationally certified Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapist (TF-CBT); a certified SPARCS (Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress) facilitator; a Quality-Rated Provider of Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT); and, a certified Seven Challenges facilitator and leader. As a result of her interest in integrated behavioral and physical health services, she was a 2014 participant in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Project LIFT program, focused on behavioral-health leadership development and health policy initiatives. As a behavioral-health, client-focused leader, Shannon seeks to increase access to evidence-based services and treatments, to actively engage individuals, and to evaluate outcomes across the continuum of care.
Carol Duncan Clayton, Ph.D.
Dr. Clayton is a licensed, practicing psychologist with 25 years of healthcare experience in the public and private sector, including non-profit and private practice work. Before joining CMT, Dr. Clayton was the Executive Director for the North Carolina Council of Community MH/DD/SA Programs. She began her career at a local NC state psychiatric facility followed by leading regional public child and family services under a capitated Medicaid waiver in NC from 1991 - 1994. Dr. Clayton also served as the Executive Director for Magellan Health Services for the South Atlantic states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia from 1994 - 1999. In that capacity, Dr. Clayton oversaw risk and non-risk based behavioral healthcare service for over two million lives. She received her PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.
Demo Track
The Echo Group
The Excellence in Mental Health Act and CCBHCs will revolutionize behavioral healthcare and The Echo Group is uniquely qualified to be your partner as you work to redefine your organization.
Echo has customers in 17 of 24 states that were rewarded planning grants. Echo is providing the product and leadership necessary to partner with our customers to be the selected CCBHC's in the 17 states.
Leverage Echo’s experience and expertise to stay on top of the evolving CCBHC initiative and adapting the new standards and requirements to your organization.
Suki Norris
Suki is celebrating 20 years with the Echo Group and has more than 35 years of experience in healthcare including healthcare law, managed care and behavioral health. Suki has extensive experience with Medicaid waivers, meaningful use, and the Excellence in Mental Health Act. She has worked extensively in data analysis, including analysis of big data in support of clients and ongoing research. Her knowledge of behavioral health law has been sought by customers across the country as they address specific needs such as electronic health record (HIE) implementation and the challenges of HIE.
Suki received her Bachelor's Degree in economics from Mills College and her Juris Doctor degree from Golden Gate University.
Refresh & Recharge Ice Cream Break In The Institute Exhibit Hall
Sponsored By Genoa, a QoL Healthcare Company
Take a break from the day’s sessions during this networking break, sponsored by Genoa, a QoL Healthcare Company. Spend this time in the Exhibit Hall networking with speakers, faculty, and colleagues while enjoying a “create your own” ice cream sundae bar with all the toppings! Fresh chocolate chip cookies and assorted drinks will also be available for attendees.
What Are The Impediments To Adopting New Technologies For Consumer Care? A Town Hall Discussion On Tech Innovation
The health and human service industry doesn't have a great track record for adopting innovation. But if you are a manager, how do you get your consumers and your own staff to embrace new technologies for consumer care? Ultimately, implementing new technologies is really not about the technologies themselves – it’s about the strategy. The ability not only to innovate – but to take innovation to successful scale – is one of the hallmark competencies of organizations that will thrive in an environment that rewards adoption of the new and requires organizational risk. In this town hall discussion session, we will hear the payer, provider, and tech perspectives on the challenges to adopting new technologies for consumer care, and the key elements to making adoption and successful implementation possible in your organization and in your market.
Sharon Hicks
Sharon Hicks, OPEN MINDS Senior Associate, has more than 20 years of experience in the health and human service field. She has extensive experience and wide range of expertise in health plan management, in clinical operations management, and technology.
Prior to joining OPEN MINDS, Ms. Hicks spent two decades in a number of executive positions within the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) system and within its health plan division. Ms. Hicks served as the Chief Operating Officer for Community Care Behavioral Health, a managed behavioral health organization. She was responsible for all aspects of the organization’s operations including fiscal, information systems, the claims processing department, and the design of clinical systems. In addition Ms. Hicks managed the day-to-day operations of including human resources, facilities, purchasing, and security.
Ms. Hicks also served as the Vice President, Internet Strategy, UPMC Insurance Services Division and, since 2002, as the Chief Executive Officer of Askesis Development Group, Inc. since May of 2002. In this role, Ms. Hicks was responsible for the growth of the company, profitability of the company, and the direction of software development.
Ms. Hick started her impressive health care career as a psychiatric social worker before being promoted to Assistant Director of Social Work. Prior to her executive promotions, Ms. Hicks served as a Clinical Administrator for both Ambulatory Services and Emergency and Intake Services at the UPMC Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. In this role, Ms. Hicks managed the behavioral health division, the budgets for all departments, and implemented new software replacing paper billing for clinical services.
Ms. Hicks received both her Masters of Business Administration and Masters of Social Work degrees from the University of Pittsburg. Before pursuing her graduate education, Ms. Hicks received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology.
Bruce L. Bird, Ph.D.
Bruce L. Bird received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Houston in 1975. He then spent four years at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, initially as a postdoctoral fellow in Pediatrics, then as staff and Assistant Professor in Neurology, where his work included clinical services and several federally funded research projects in behavioral medicine.
Over his forty year career, he has served in administrative roles for a number of organizations. Since 2009 he has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Vinfen, a 39 year old non-profit community behavioral health and disability services organization, which annually serves about 7,000 individuals throughout Eastern Massachusetts and Connecticut, with an annual operating budget of about $150 million, and a staff of about 2,800.
Dr. Bird has also served on numerous statewide policymaking and provider organizations. He currently serves on the boards of the Association of Behavioral Healthcare of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Association of Mental Health, the Providers Council, the Association of Developmental Disabilities Providers of Massachusetts, and on several Massachusetts policy and planning committees, including the Implementation Council of the Massachusetts Demonstration Project for Individuals with Dual Medicare and Medicaid eligibility.
His recent research activities have included serving as principal investigator of a three year grant from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation evaluating a Community Behavioral Health Home model to integrate and improve health care for individuals with serious psychiatric conditions and leading several projects evaluating newly developed remote patient monitoring and smartphone technologies designed to help individuals with serious mental illness manage their mental and physical health.
Davis Park
Davis Park develops and directs all of the Front Porch Center’s technology initiatives and programs. He brings more than 15 years of program development experience with a diverse set of skills in technology implementation and deployment to senior, low-income, and other underserved communities. Davis is an inaugural member of the Zero Divide ZFellows program and has served on several boards and committees dedicated to promoting technology access, adoption, and policy. He holds a master’s degree from UCLA’s Urban Planning Program and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from UC Berkeley.
Chris Slocum, LCSW, MBA
Chris Slocum is a licensed clinical social worker with an executive MBA. He started in health care in the early 90s in community mental health services in Dallas, Texas. He’s served in progressive leadership roles from a clinical supervisor to the VP of clinical services over the past 20 years. Throughout his career he’s also worked in a variety of settings delivering mental health services (juvenile justice, schools, community centers, private practice) and in behavioral health managed care. He’s currently working for Aetna Behavioral Health under the chief medical officer, Mark Friedlander, MD, MBA.
Networking Reception In The Institute Exhibit Hall
Wrap up the first day of the institute with an exclusive networking reception in the Institute Exhibit Hall. During this time, you will be able to continue your discussions from the day’s sessions with our faculty and network with your fellow attendees.
Executive Networking Breakfast In The Institute Exhibit Hall
Take a few minutes before the institute ends to engage with new friends and colleagues while grabbing breakfast and cup of coffee in the exhibit hall. Don't forget to stop by the registration table to sign up for upcoming OPEN MINDS institutes.
From Technology To Policy Innovation: How Technology Will Affect Health System Redesign
For a lot of executives, focusing on organizational management issues feels hopeless unless the overarching policy issues are addressed. For one executive, it was enough motivation to swap his career as a tech innovator for a policy position dedicated to improving health care in the U.S. by innovating large-scale, sustainable ways to deliver quality health care to vulnerable populations. In this exciting session, Dr. Andrey Ostrovsky, recently appointed Chief Medical Officer for The U.S. Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS), will discuss how he is using his experience in hospital readmissions reduction, health system redesign, collaborative care, and his knowledge of the challenges of population health management to develop innovative policy initiatives to help states better serve Medicaid beneficiaries.
Andrey Ostrovsky, M.D.
Dr. Andrey Ostrovsky is a social entrepreneur and practicing physician. Since September 2016, he has served as the Chief Medical Officer for the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS). Prior to working for Medicaid, he co-founded and sold his software company, Care at Hand, an award-winning predictive analytics platform that used insights of non-medical staff to prevent aging people from being hospitalized. Under his leadership, Care at Hand published several peer-reviewed studies, enabled home and community based service providers to sustain their care transition programs, and saved Medicare and Medicaid millions of dollars by preventing hospitalizations. Dr. Ostrovsky has served on several boards and committees dedicated to interoperability standards, quality improvement and measurement, and innovation including the National Quality Forum, Office of the National Coordinator, and the Commonwealth Fund. Prior to Care at Hand, he led teams at the World Health Organization, United States Senate, and San Francisco Health Department toward health system strengthening through technology.
Andrey holds a Medical Doctorate and undergraduate degrees in Chemistry and Psychology Magna cum Laude from Boston University and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Andrey completed his pediatrics residency training in the Boston Combined Residency Program at Boston Medical Center and Boston Children's Hospital where he was a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School. He is currently teaching faculty and attending physician at Children's National Medical Center.
An Unclear Diagnosis: Will Changing Your EHR Fix Your Problem?
If you are looking for a new electronic health record (EHR), you aren’t alone. Whatever the reason for your switch, all provider organizations have the same goal – an EHR that brings more benefits than liabilities. However, before you make an investment of that size, you need to be sure you have identified the true problem – is it an EHR problem, an implementation problem, or is the technology fine, and your problem is with workflows? EHRs may affect how your organization manages messages, schedules patients, checks patients in, conducts exams, renews medications, and much more. Adopting a new EHR may change the entire flow of patients through your organization and could call for a complete workflow redesign – a process that should be completed before EHR implementation. In this session, we will discuss how to identify the real problem in your organization, and how to move forward whether your problem is your EHR or your organization’s workflows.
Joseph P. Naughton-Travers, EdM
Joseph P. Naughton-Travers, EdM, Senior Associate, has more than 30 years of experience in the health and human service field. In this tenure as senior associate with OPEN MINDS since 1998, he has served as lead of dozens of client initiatives, served as editor of OPEN MINDS publications, and is the author of many groundbreaking articles and presentations.
Mr. Naughton-Travers brings to OPEN MINDS a broad range of experiences in private and public sector delivery of behavioral health and social services. He started his career as a behavioral health clinician, working in both child welfare and community mental health clinic settings. Subsequently, Mr. Naughton-Travers held a senior business operations management position for a psychiatric hospital system and its community mental health clinics. Later, he was vice president of a firm specializing in information systems and billing and receivables management for community-based mental health programs.
Since joining OPEN MINDS, Mr. Naughton-Travers has developed business solutions for provider and professional organizations, state and county government, technology companies, and venture capital firms. His primary areas of expertise include strategic planning and metrics-based management, electronic health record (EHR) and technology selection and implementation, operations improvement, and corporate compliance. For the past decade, over half his consulting practice has focused on aiding organizations in technology selection and implementation, including all aspects of strategic technology planning, functional specifications development, request for proposal development, vendor selection, and contracting.
He has written numerous articles, including “Winning the Human Resource Wars: Tried, True and New Strategies for Behavioral Health and Social Service Organizations,” “Five Pillars of Management Competency,” “Data Driven Decision Making: Moving to an Organizational Measurement Culture,” “Survival of the Smartest: What is Your Organization’s Information Literacy IQ?,” and “Strategic Human Resource Management: Aligning Compensation with Employee Performance and Organizational Strategy.” Mr. Naughton-Travers is also a nationally recognized speaker, having conducted hundreds of executive and professional executive training events around the nation.
Mr. Naughton-Travers received his Bachelor’s degree from Miami University of Ohio and his Masters’ of Education in Counseling Psychology from Boston University.
Taking Decision Support From Concept To Practice: How To Implement Just-In-Time Clinical Decisionmaking
Cost pressure on health plan premiums. The push for better performance. The emergence of rating and ranking systems. The move to value-based payment. Many market factors make it essential for managers of organizations (both payer and provider organizations) to incorporate better, faster decision support tools into their operational processes. Yet going from “big data” through predictive analytics to “decision support” is not a small task. Many health and human service organizations have access to a wealth of data in their EHR to drive clinical decisionmaking, but the challenge is getting the right information to the right people through the right channels in the right formats at the right points in workflow. In this session, we will discuss the range of clinical decision support tools (i.e., information retrieval, automated alerts and reminders, diagnostic assistance, therapy planning, etc.), how to use technology to get the best data for decision support, and how organizations can leverage clinical decision support in strategic planning and day-to-day operations.
Sharon Hicks
Sharon Hicks, OPEN MINDS Senior Associate, has more than 20 years of experience in the health and human service field. She has extensive experience and wide range of expertise in health plan management, in clinical operations management, and technology.
Prior to joining OPEN MINDS, Ms. Hicks spent two decades in a number of executive positions within the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) system and within its health plan division. Ms. Hicks served as the Chief Operating Officer for Community Care Behavioral Health, a managed behavioral health organization. She was responsible for all aspects of the organization’s operations including fiscal, information systems, the claims processing department, and the design of clinical systems. In addition Ms. Hicks managed the day-to-day operations of including human resources, facilities, purchasing, and security.
Ms. Hicks also served as the Vice President, Internet Strategy, UPMC Insurance Services Division and, since 2002, as the Chief Executive Officer of Askesis Development Group, Inc. since May of 2002. In this role, Ms. Hicks was responsible for the growth of the company, profitability of the company, and the direction of software development.
Ms. Hick started her impressive health care career as a psychiatric social worker before being promoted to Assistant Director of Social Work. Prior to her executive promotions, Ms. Hicks served as a Clinical Administrator for both Ambulatory Services and Emergency and Intake Services at the UPMC Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. In this role, Ms. Hicks managed the behavioral health division, the budgets for all departments, and implemented new software replacing paper billing for clinical services.
Ms. Hicks received both her Masters of Business Administration and Masters of Social Work degrees from the University of Pittsburg. Before pursuing her graduate education, Ms. Hicks received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology.
Socorro Gertmenian, Ph.D.
Socorro Gertmenian, Ph.D. is a psychologist who specializes in quality assurance, quality improvement, and program evaluation. Her clinical background is in child and family therapy, early intervention and treatment, clinical assessment, and working with individuals with developmental disabilities. Dr. Gertmenian currently serves as the Director of Quality Management, Evaluation, & Training at Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic. She provides clinical trainings to Clinic staff and is an Early Intervention Training Institute Staff Faculty member at Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic. Through her trainings to community mental health providers, Dr. Gertmenian aims to protect the integrity of mental health services offered to low-income and high-risk children and families. Her clinical background and her desire to ensure quality services for clients are the driving force behind the evaluation component of her division. Collecting data from clients and provider performance is a great way to inform treatment and programs. Reliable data and fast turn-around of key information is critical. Dr. Gertmenian believes that analyzing data goes far beyond contractual agreements, but can aid health care organizations do more of what they love to do, support the families they are here to help.
Dr. Gertmenian received her BA and MA in psychology from Pepperdine University and her PhD from the California School of Psychology at Alliant. She has spoken at the William Syndrome National Convention and the Society for Research on Adolescence Annual Conference. Dr. Gertmenian has over 7 years of college-level teaching experience and has been an active trainer for over 10 years covering various topics within the field of psychology.
Minky Kernacs
Minky Kernacs is currently consulting for the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbilities Services in Philadelphia as the Enterprise Architect. With over 20 years’ experience across many industries, she leverages her experience and passion for designing, developing, and implementing enterprise level data management systems, business intelligence, and software solutions that meet and exceed the strategic business objectives of her clients. She is focusing on creating a 360 view of Service Recipients, Services, and Providers for the department with the implementation of an integrated data warehouse and MDM solution. This will allow DBHIDS to holistically target the needs of service recipients, develop more robust service offerings, and partner more effectively with service providers and thereby directly impacting population health.
Prior to DBHIDS, she was an MDM consultant at Performance Food Group, Director of Enterprise Solution Architecture at JDA Software, and Technical & Business Intelligence Consultant at Lumension Security. Ms. Kernacs attended University of Akron’s Global Institute and Kent State University’s Management and Information Systems.
Demo Track
PLEXIS Healthcare Systems
Forecasting The Future: What’s Next For Health Care Technology?
Every day a new tech development is announced…the chip on your arm that dispenses medicine, cognitive rehab for Alzheimer’s disease, robots for autism that teach social cues. But with all the sizzle (and great promise) surrounding these new developments, how do executive teams decide what is a fad and what is a worthwhile investment for a sustainable business model? These days in health and human services, the sustainable organization is the one that has created a competitive advantage by improving the value equation for the consumers they serve, which is often the result of well-leveraged technology. In this essential session, Monica E. Oss, Chief Executive Officer of OPEN MINDS, will provide an update on the treatment technologies and decision support tools organizations are using to enhance their competitive advantage – and a forecast of what will be coming next.
Monica E. Oss
Monica E. Oss, M.S., Chief Executive Officer and Senior Associate, is the founder of OPEN MINDS. For the past three decades, Ms. Oss has led the OPEN MINDS team and its research on health and human service market trends and its national consulting practice. Ms. Oss is well known for her numerous books and articles focused on the strategic and marketing implications of the evolving health and human service field. She has unique expertise in payer financing models, provider rate setting, and service pricing. She has led numerous engagements with state Medicaid plans, county governments, private insurers, managed care programs, service provider organizations, technology vendors, neurotechnology and pharmaceutical organizations, and investment banking firms – with a focus on the implications of financing changes on delivery system design.
Closing Remarks & Raffle Prize Drawings
After OPEN MINDS Chief Executive Officer Monica E. Oss closes the Institute, head over to the Exhibit Hall for the raffle prize drawing. We have lots of great prizes provided by our institute sponsors – but you must be present to win. Don't miss the fun!