Yanick (Nicky) Hazlewood, Esq.

Nicky Hazlewood is the new Vice President of Third-Party Payer Relations at LifeStance Health. In her role, she is responsible for negotiating nationwide payer contracts and establishing payer pricing and charge master fee schedules for all providers types. Prior to LifeStance Health, Nicky was the Vice President of Network & Contracting for Optum Behavioral Health.  In this role, she was responsible for the operational management of a national network of over 185k providers, a department of over 215 staff, and a budget of over $15M.  Nicky was also directly responsible for negotiating nationwide provider contracts, maintaining and supporting Network cost saving initiatives related to provider reimbursement and unit costs, and establishing provider pricing and/or fee schedules for Commercial, Medicaid and Medicare business lines.  In addition to providing oversight of all contracting functions, Nicky also served as the Network Liaison to Optum Behavioral Health Legal. Nicky has a long history of continued success in strengthening provider networks as well as supporting organizational blue chips.  Recent examples include: consistently achieving $4.1M in increased provider revenue,  $8M in annual cost savings for payers through contract negotiation efforts, establishing and managing alternative rate reimbursement methodologies, developing metrics for Pay for Performance, managing key recruitment across all products, enforcing a whole person care model through medical behavioral integration efforts, and supporting provider participation in Medicaid programs in over 28 states. With nearly 21 years of experience in managed behavioral health care, Nicky has held previous positions of Regional Director and National Director at multiple payer plans, and used her background in law early in her career as an attorney, researching and writing draft opinions in the area of health law, and supporting implementation of a national Employee Assistance Program.