Welcome to the OPEN MINDS Leadership & Management Certificate Program agenda page for the OPEN MINDS Operational Excellence Institute!
Below you will find all the sessions for this institute that count towards course credit hours for the certificate program.
The OPEN MINDS Leadership & Management Certificate Program was designed for current and future health and human service managers and executive leaders, providing current market trends, insights, and management best practices for navigating the changing market landscape. The program features expert content design and faculty – The OPEN MINDS team includes executives with real-world experience facing today’s challenges. To learn more about the program click here: https://openminds.com/leadership-management-certificate/.
Clinical Talent Management Best Practices – Models For Workforce Recruiting, Retention & Talent Optimization: The 2023 OPEN MINDS Seminar
With a little nudge from the global pandemic, digital health care has changed the relationship between clinical professionals and consumers. While this transformation happened before the pandemic, COVID forced it to occur more rapidly. So too, was the impact on the available workforce—COVID did not cause the shortage of health care professionals, but it did increase the gap and slowed down or even halted any efforts toward bridging it. As consumer demand and expectations continue to grow, executive teams must take a strategic approach to one of their most important resources—their talent.
During this seminar, executive attendees will take a deep dive into today’s workforce climate and peer into future outlooks. Our faculty will share strategies for recruiting and retaining a skilled workforce and ways to improve organizational performance to support today’s workforce. Compensation models, benefits packages, and recruitment efforts have changed. Executive teams need to understand today’s workforce—where they are, what they want, and what the competition is (hint, it isn’t just in health care). This can’t miss seminar is designed specifically for today’s health and human services landscape and the talent needed moving forward. Executive attendees will learn the following:
- How to determine the best strategy for recruitment and retention
- How to develop a performance-based model to use with staff
- Models for employee flexibility
- How technology can improve the employee experience
- How to become an “Employer of Choice”
Sharon Hicks, MSW, MBA
Sharon Hicks has more than 30 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 Pittsburgh. Before pursuing her graduate education, Ms. Hicks received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology.
Kim Bond, MS, LMFT
Kimberly Bond, MS, LMFT, brings over thirty years of experience providing behavioral health treatment in the public and community settings to the OPEN MINDS team. She currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Business Development. In this role, Ms. Bond focuses on growing the OPEN MINDS client portfolio across all nine verticals of OPEN MINDS business.
Prior to joining OPEN MINDS, Ms. Bond served concurrently as a Program Coordinator III and Clinical Manager of Adult Services and a Program Coordinator II and Clinical Manager of Recovery Services for the Ozark Guidance Center. In these roles, Ms. Bond was responsible for the administrative and clinical oversight of the adult outpatient and adult intensive mental health services on the Springdale Campus as well as the adult recovery/co-occurring services, including domestic violence and anger management treatment.
Prior to joining the Ozark Guidance Center, Ms. Bond served as the Executive Vice President of Center Point, Inc, a large substance abuse provider agency in California. In this role, Ms. Bond was responsible for the clinical and administrative supervision of all community-based programs as well as the women and children residential programs. In addition, Ms. Bond also managed budgets, interacted with funding agencies, and built positive relationships with all stakeholders. Ms. Bond was also in charge of proposal and grant writing, staff management, and training, facilities’ licensing and certifications renewals. Additionally, she prepared and submitted monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual reports to various funders.
Previously, Ms. Bond served as the President and CEO of Mental Health Systems, Inc. Ms. Bond was very instrumental in growing the agency from $12M in annual revenue to over $100M and becoming one of the largest providers of behavioral health services in California. In this role, Bond was responsible for the strategic, clinical, financial, and administrative health of the agency, including direct supervision of Senior Executive Staff. In addition, Bond ensured contract compliance of the agency’s 125 different contracts across federal and state agencies and eight counties.
Ms. Bond received her bachelor’s degree in psychology, with honors, and her master’s degree in counseling education from San Diego State University. She is licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in both California and Arkansas.
How To Develop A New Service Line: The 2023 OPEN MINDS Seminar On Building A Diversification Strategy & Conducting A Feasibility Analysis
In the current environment of changing consumer expectations and new financial models, two essential skills that all executives need to master is the ability to evaluate and modify existing services as well as to develop new services to meet the challenges in the changing market, including being more financially viable and relevant to consumers. In this exciting seminar, OPEN MINDS Senior Associates will review everything you need to know about developing a new service line starting with analyzing your current service lines to determine strategic options for diversification. Executive attendees will learn how to:
- Create a structured approach for selecting new services for your organization while ensuring they are financially sustainable
- Develop a costing model for launching new services
- Create a structured service line feasibility analysis and development process
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.
Deanne Cornette, MHA, GPC
Deanne Cornette, MHA, GPC, brings over 20 years of experience in the behavioral health field. Ms.Cornette currently serves as a Senior Associate for OPEN MINDS and brings to the OPEN MINDS team noted expertise in strategic planning, grant writing and revenue development.
Previously, Ms. Cornette was the Vice President of Strategic Development for Tampa Family Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Healthcare Center. In this role, she managed grants, contracts, front desk operations, training, quality assurance special assignments (risk assessments and responses to complaints), credentialing and billing functions. In a very short time period, she successfully procured funding to integrate behavioral health services, brought a system of processes to track health indicators and improve value-based care payment and service and became proficient in utilizing HRSA’s reporting portals.
As Counsel for Strategic Development at Agency for Community Treatment Services, Inc. (ACTS) and Vice President of Business Development for Gracepoint (merger), Ms. Cornette directed strategic development, contract negotiations, revenue development, marketing and grants. In this capacity, she targeted funding sources and built a lucrative cash flow that provided needed services to vulnerable populations in need of behavioral health treatment.
Some of her most successful negotiations created best practice services for veteran’s programs, women’s services, as well those involved with the criminal justice system. Her portfolio includes a wide array of awards from a multitude of agencies including, but not limited to: SAMHSA, HUD, Centers for Medicaid, and the Department of Transportation and collaborations with private, non-profit and government entities. Most recently, she worked with Gracepoint to develop Hillsborough’s Centralized Receiving Facility, one of the first funded in the State of Florida. From a system of care for jail diversion to evidence based practices for individuals who are homeless with behavioral health needs, her awards have netted over $80 million dollars to our community.
In addition, Ms. Cornette served as the Vice President for the National Contract Management Association Suncoast Chapter, Vice President of ACTS Affordable Housing Board of Directors, Vice President of ACTS Foundation Board of Directors, and was a member of Hillsborough County Health Care Advisory Board. She is the recipient of University of South Florida’s 2018 Florida Outstanding Women of the Year in Public Health. Her Centralized Receiving Facility collaborative won a 2018 WEDU PBS Be Brilliant / Innovation Award. Her concept of Housing, Engagement and Retention Tenancy (HEART) program won the 2018 Heart for Homeless award through the Housing and Education Alliance.
Ms. Cornette received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and her Masters Degree in Health Administration from the University of South Florida.
Managed Care Perspectives On Whole Person Care: Keys For Success In A Changing Health System
Every managed care organization is plotting their plan to build the integrated delivery systems necessary to deliver whole person care. But what do those integrated delivery systems look like? And how do provider organization executive teams prepare to be part of an integrated approach to service delivery? For a first hand perspective, join Briana Duffy, Market President for Carelon, in this exciting session on the state of integrated care. Ms. Duffy will share some of the integrated care initiatives at Carelon as well as her perspectives on the challenges to bringing a ‘whole person care’ experience to consumers. In addition, she will provide insights into how provider organizations can build the management team – and the roadmap – for success in integrated care.
Briana Duffy, MBA, LSW
Briana Duffy, Market President for Carelon Behavioral Health, has over 25 years of experience in behavioral health and developmental disability services. It is her mission to partner with stakeholders across the social and healthcare continuum to ensure needed care is within reach. Through strategically focused continuous quality improvement and a bias for action, she is a proven collaborator and innovator. Briana has extensive leadership experience within the provider and payer behavioral health and developmental disability service sectors. Accomplishments include designing model of care for one of the country’s first dual eligible (Medicare and Medicaid) programs, helping governments and payers diversify product and service portfolios as well as implementing Medicaid managed care reform across multiple states. She is a licensed social worker and holds a MBA from Cambridge College.
Briana is speaking during Managed Care Perspectives On Whole Person Care: Keys For Success In A Changing Health System.
Best Practice Models For Financial Management Of Performance-Based Contracts
In contracting with health plans, specialty provider organizations must take a metrics-based approach where financial management is crucial to managing performance. Executives of health and human service provider organizations involved in performance-based contracts must focus on financial data, key performance indicators (KPIs), and measurement of results (lower costs, better quality services, and improved health outcomes). Objectives for this session include:
- Develop practical tools, financial performance metrics, and management reporting systems to provide critical financial information that executive teams need for success
- Learn new approaches on creating diversified funding models
- Understand potential challenges to anticipate and how to mitigate them
Steven Bulger
Bulger has over twenty years of experience in the behavioral health field with eighteen years at ICAN, serving as CEO/Executive Director for close to a decade. Since taking the helm in 2014, ICAN has seen significant growth under Bulger, and now provides services to over 2,100 families everyday through over 22 programs across seven Upstate New York counties. He was instrumental in creating the Return Home Early Project which has received national attention by both the Building Bridges Initiative and the White House Council for Community Solutions.
Bulger has presented on the innovative ICAN model across the country with presentations at the Annual Research and Policy Conference on Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Behavioral Health, the Mental Health Association of San Francisco Annual Conference, University of Maryland’s Training Institute’s National Conference: Leading Change – Integrating Systems and Improving Outcomes in Behavioral Health for Children, Youth, Young Adults, and Their Families and the Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health.
He currently serves on the New York State Coalition for Children’s Behavioral Health where he serves as the Vice President, SUNY POLY College of Business Management Professional Advisory Board, Herkimer County HealthNet, and the Mohawk Valley Regional Planning Consortium where he is the co-chair. He has also been a member of the Westmoreland Central School District Board of Education since 2019.
Bulger received a Bachelors in Psychology and Political Science from Niagara University and an MBA in Health Services Management from SUNY Polytechnic Institute.
ICAN is a nonprofit provider of innovative home and community-based interventions in Upstate New York. It was named “The Best Place to Work” in Central New York in 2022.
Steven is speaking during Best Practice Models For Financial Management Of Performance-Based Contracts.
Matthew Buono
Buono is a highly accomplished professional with extensive experience in nonprofit management, grant procurement, organizational leadership, and business management with an extensive background in strategic planning, program evaluation, and data analysis. He has effectively managed various projects and initiatives, ensuring their successful execution and evaluation for reporting and quality assurance.
In his current role, Buono has been instrumental in driving strategic planning and procurement initiatives. His proficiency in contracting and credentialing has made him a reliable and vital liaison with managed care organizations and health plans. Additionally, he has overseen the Quality Improvement and Data Departments, effectively managing data control, planning, information technology, and coordination of electronic health records.
Buono received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the State University of New York at Albany, a Masters of Arts degree in Forensic Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and a pursuing a Ph.D. in Psychology with a focus on Organizational Leadership from the same school, having completed all requirements except for dissertation, with an estimated completion date of this year.
ICAN is a nonprofit provider of innovative home and community-based interventions in Upstate New York. It was named “The Best Place to Work” in Central New York in 2022.
Matthew is speaking during Best Practice Models For Financial Management Of Performance-Based Contracts.
Jeremy Butler
Butler has spent more than 20 years working in the behavioral health field and began working for ICAN in 2017. In his current role, he oversees the agency’s Independent Practice Association (ICAN IPA), Elevate CNY Sports Complex, Community Education and Training Department, and School Based Services. He has spent the bulk of his career building high performing teams.
He has designed, developed and delivered over 225 trainings at the local, state and national level. He holds multiple certifications in a variety of training disciplines ranging from Cornell University’s Therapeutic Crisis Intervention, Mental Health First Aid for Youth, Wyman’s Teen Outreach Program (TOP), Positive Behavior Intervention Supports, Peer Mediation, to Screening of Persons through Observational Techniques (SPOT) through Louisiana State University among many others.
Butler earned a bachelor’s in Criminal Justice from Syracuse University. He is the current Co-Chair of the NYS Children’s Behavioral Health Coalition’s School Based Mental Health Coalition, the Mohawk Valley Regional Youth Justice Team and a former past President of the Oneida County Youth Services Council.
ICAN is a nonprofit provider of innovative home and community-based interventions in Upstate New York. It was named “The Best Place to Work” in Central New York in 2022.
Jeremy is speaking during Best Practice Models For Financial Management Of Performance-Based Contracts.
Ken Carr
Ken Carr brings over 20 years of finance, technology, data analysis and reporting experience in the health and human service field to OPEN MINDS. He currently ia a Senior Associate with the OPEN MINDS consulting practice. In this role, he served 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, financial analysis of service lines, and technology selection.
Before joining the OPEN MINDS team, 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.
Managed Care Models For I/DD Services
Traditional funding of services for people with intellectual development delays, including waivers and special programs, is giving way to managed care initiatives through programs like Managed Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) and Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) federal waivers. To be successful, I/DD service provider organizations must familiarize themselves with managed care processes, billing, and performance standards. During this session, explore what it takes for organizations to truly understand payer expectations and how to thrive under these new models.
Jennifer Riha
Jennifer Riha is the VP, Programs for I Am Boundless and its affiliated companies, based in Worthington, Ohio. Jennifer is a long-time health and human services executive with experience leading clinical treatment and recovery services, intellectual and developmental disability and autism support services, technology and innovation, and business operations. As a mother of a neurodiverse son and experienced leader in the field, Jennifer is passionate about leading organizations to implement sound business practices, evidence-based care and treatment, and demonstrate the value of the services provided. Jennifer has built her career leading teams toward growth, improvement, and innovation including roles as the VP of Operations, VP of Strategic Business Development, Chief Administrative Officer, and VP of Performance Improvement and Service Delivery in organizations across Ohio.
Jennifer is a frequent speaker across the country on key issues in the health and human services sector and is a strong advocate for parity, recognition, and elevation of the importance of the work provided by the IDD and behavioral health sectors. In addition to her role with I Am Boundless, she also serves as a Technical Assistance provider and Behavioral Health Consultant for providers and peer-led organizations across the country. She serves on many state and national taskforces and workgroups as part of her advocacy, including the Alternative Payment Models workgroup led by ANCOR focused on innovation in the provision of care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Jennifer is speaking during Managed Care Models For I/DD Services.
Chris Wolf, MS
Chris Wolf is the Executive Vice President for I Am Boundless, Inc. With 30 years of experience in the health and human services field, Mr. Wolf is currently responsible for Program Development, Community Outreach, Information Technology, Human Resources, and Health/Business Analytics. He has a Master of Science degree in Allied Therapies from the University of Dayton, and is currently a Doctoral Student for HealthCare Administration, at Franklin University in Columbus, Ohio. Through different merge and acquisition opportunities, and innovative program development Mr. Wolf has been a part of the high growth, high quality strategy at Boundless that saw the agency grow from $20 million to $90 million in revenue and from serving fewer than 1,000 a year to serving 5,000 people year over the past six years. Mr. Wolf enjoys writing and arranging instrumental music in his free time, having played his first professional show at the age of 14. If you listen to “Well Being a Boundless Podcast” you will hear several of his music pieces as intro and exit music.
Chris is speaking during Managed Care Models For I/DD Services.
Sharon Hicks, MSW, MBA
Sharon Hicks has more than 30 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 Pittsburgh. Before pursuing her graduate education, Ms. Hicks received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology.
AI: The Future Of Technology In Human Services
Sponsored By: 
The term “artificial intelligence” may sound impersonal. But it’s actually the most human advancement in human services technology today. In this presentation, we’ll look at how automation is driving improvements in clinical care, operations and data management. More importantly, we’ll see how it’s improving care outcomes and changing lives. From a clinical perspective, artificial intelligence (AI) has endless possibilities as augmented clinical intelligence. In this session, we’ll discuss how emerging technologies are improving patient care, enhancing clinical workflow, and promoting quality while optimizing resources. Tricia and Chris will be joined by a Netsmart partner to discuss a real-life use case.
Tricia Zerger, MA
As Senior Director of Human Services Strategy, Tricia Zerger works closely with the clinical, development and product teams to ensure all Netsmart technology and services align with client and market needs. This allows clients across the human services community to thrive in emerging models of care, like value-based reimbursement. She also advances Netsmart thought leadership promoting addiction treatment, autism, behavioral health, child and family services, foster care, I/DD, and other human services markets. She oversees the Child and Family Advisory Council
An active participant in advancing healthcare technology since 2003, Tricia’s career at Netsmart began in 2014. Over her tenure, she has held a variety of roles in areas such as solutions consulting, CareGuidance strategist, marketing, and specialty markets. Tricia holds a master’s degree in Professional Counseling and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Kansas. She serves as one of the Netsmart Certified Mental Health First Aid Certified Trainer. Netsmart has certified 1,000 associates in various locations across the country, with a goal of 100% certification. Tricia is certified trainer of QPR (Question. Persuade. Refer) industry-leading approach to suicide prevention. She is helping Netsmart associates feel empowered to effectively intervene on behalf of suicidal and in-crisis people.
Chris Yakscoe
As director of client alignment with Netsmart, Chris works with current clients to optimize their technology platforms and ensure they are using workflows efficiently. He is most proud of Bells, the artificial intelligence (AI) documentation solution, and the difference it makes in the work of clinicians.
Prior to Netsmart, Chris served as vice president of Remarkable Health, where he worked on the team that developed Bells, the popular AI digital assistant. He partnered with clients to successfully implement Bells alongside their EHR and designed strategies to improve documentation and billing processes. Chris routinely speaks at events and as a panelist on webinars sharing the power of effectively using technology to improve the client and staff experience.
Chris is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and holds a degree in business administration. He resides in Scottsdale, AZ and enjoys networking and volunteering in the community.
Paul Duck
Paul M. Duck brings over 25 years of experience in leadership and management focusing on managed care, health information technology organizations, strategy, business development, and market expansion, and customer experience optimization to the OPEN MINDS team.
Prior to joining OPEN MINDS, Mr. Duck served as the Vice President, Strategy & Development at Beacon Health Options. In this role, Mr. Duck led the organization’s strategy and business development efforts – responsible for a 30% increase in net revenue and initiated over $1 billion in revenue generation. Mr. Duck was active in national behavioral health initiatives as an executive of Beacon Health Options, including participating as a speaker at national and state association meetings.
Before joining Beacon Health Options, Mr. Duck was the Vice President of Business Development at Netsmart Technologies. During his tenure, Mr. Duck was responsible for business planning, including, the oversight of strategic activities including acquisitions, development, and execution of strategic initiatives, and positioning, and sales of large strategic customers. He also led the rollout of the company’s benchmarking and data analytics product suite.
Prior to Netsmart, Mr. Duck served as the Chief Executive Officer for Coastal Orthopedics and Pain Management, a large group practice with five clinic locations and two ambulatory surgical centers. As the organization’s chief executive officer, Mr. Duck was responsible for significant positive changes in leadership and corporate culture, financial and operational performance, compliance, and governance. Mr. Duck improved net collections by over $1 million per month and grew the practice through negotiating better contract rates with payers. He also implemented an organizational rebranding initiative and launched a new marketing campaign.
Prior to Coastal Orthopedics and Pain Management, Mr. Duck served as the President and Chief Executive Officer for Florida Radiology Imaging, one of the largest outpatient diagnostic imaging service companies serving the greater Orlando market. During his tenure, Mr. Duck led the construction of three new, full modality, diagnostic imaging locations. Mr. Duck revolutionized the company’s culture by creating a highly attractive and functional work environment.
Mr. Duck earned his Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from Case Western Reserve University. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Electronic Engineering Technology from the Electronic Technology Institute. Mr. Duck received an award by Inc Magazine for leading Florida Radiology Imaging as one of America’s fastest-growing companies. Mr. Duck recently served as a contributing author to the book The New Health Age: The Future of Health Care in America.
Assuring Continuity Of Care & Positive Consumer Experience In Whole Person Care Models
How consumers perceive their health care experiences with provider organizations is directly related to their engagement in care, better health outcomes, and the use of unnecessary and emergency resources. Creating a positive consumer experience involves attending to the quality of and access to care, among other factors. Join our experts for an interactive discussion on enhancing the quality of care and consumer experience and strategies for:
- Designing “front door” care by utilizing hybrid, digital, and in-home models in service delivery
- Delivering whole-person care by integrating primary care, behavioral health, and social services
- Measuring consumer health care access and engagement for effectiveness
Colin LeClair
Colin LeClair joined Connections Health Solutions in 2019. Colin brings 20 years of experience implementing value-based healthcare delivery systems and improving healthcare access for our nation’s most vulnerable patients.
Prior to joining Connections Health Solution, Colin led business development, product development, and implementation for ConcertoHealth, growing revenue more than 8x over 4 years. Prior to ConcertoHealth, Colin was the P&L leader for OPTUMCare’s ACO business in California. Under his leadership, OPTUM’s ACOs led the nation in healthcare quality, medical cost savings, and patient outcomes.
Prior to Optum, Colin held a range of progressively expanding leadership roles at several of the nation’s most successful private equity-backed managed healthcare organizations, including WellCare Health Plans, Bravo Health, and HealthSpring.
Colin holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at The University of California at Berkeley.
Colin is speaking during Assuring Continuity Of Care & Positive Consumer Experience In Whole Person Care Models.
Laura Buckley, MBA
Laura Buckley is the Chief Operating Officer at Connections where she oversees national operations and supports initiatives to scale the company’s clinical model and shared services operations. Laura brings more than 15 years of operational expertise to Connections with a proven track record of building and scaling high-performing organizations.
Prior to joining Connections, Laura spent eight years building and launching new products and services for chronically ill patients at Fresenius Medical Care, the world’s leading provider of products and services for individuals with kidney diseases. She also held various market operations and product leadership roles at WellCare Health Plans, overseeing business process improvement, Medicaid expansion efforts, and Medicaid health plan operations.
Laura holds both a B.A. in Management and an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Central Florida.
Laura is speaking during Assuring Continuity Of Care & Positive Consumer Experience In Whole Person Care Models.
Melissa Lawton, LMFT
Melissa Lawton has been with Seneca Family of Agencies for over a decade, positively impacting services for youth and families and focusing on creating an inclusive, sustainable workplace. Prior to becoming a therapist, Melissa served as an officer in the US Army and as a manager in transportation and logistics in New York City and the Bay Area. She also trained as a firefighter and EMT and worked in Alameda and Mendocino counties. Melissa joined Seneca as a clinician in the Bay Area in 2012 and worked in several crisis and community-based programs as a clinician and program leader. In 2021, she moved to overseeing the full continuum of Santa Clara County programs. She is currently Seneca’s Chief Program Officer supporting community-based programs in Santa Clara, San Benito, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Orange, and Riverside Counties. She also supports placement and permanency programs and Kaiser partnerships throughout California. Melissa has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the US Military Academy and a master’s degree in counseling from San Francisco State University. She resides in Oakland, CA, and enjoys riding motorcycles, bicycles, roller skating, and listening to true crime podcasts in her free time.
Melissa is speaking during Assuring Continuity Of Care & Positive Consumer Experience In Whole Person Care Models.
Deanne Cornette, MHA, GPC
Deanne Cornette, MHA, GPC, brings over 20 years of experience in the behavioral health field. Ms.Cornette currently serves as a Senior Associate for OPEN MINDS and brings to the OPEN MINDS team noted expertise in strategic planning, grant writing and revenue development.
Previously, Ms. Cornette was the Vice President of Strategic Development for Tampa Family Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Healthcare Center. In this role, she managed grants, contracts, front desk operations, training, quality assurance special assignments (risk assessments and responses to complaints), credentialing and billing functions. In a very short time period, she successfully procured funding to integrate behavioral health services, brought a system of processes to track health indicators and improve value-based care payment and service and became proficient in utilizing HRSA’s reporting portals.
As Counsel for Strategic Development at Agency for Community Treatment Services, Inc. (ACTS) and Vice President of Business Development for Gracepoint (merger), Ms. Cornette directed strategic development, contract negotiations, revenue development, marketing and grants. In this capacity, she targeted funding sources and built a lucrative cash flow that provided needed services to vulnerable populations in need of behavioral health treatment.
Some of her most successful negotiations created best practice services for veteran’s programs, women’s services, as well those involved with the criminal justice system. Her portfolio includes a wide array of awards from a multitude of agencies including, but not limited to: SAMHSA, HUD, Centers for Medicaid, and the Department of Transportation and collaborations with private, non-profit and government entities. Most recently, she worked with Gracepoint to develop Hillsborough’s Centralized Receiving Facility, one of the first funded in the State of Florida. From a system of care for jail diversion to evidence based practices for individuals who are homeless with behavioral health needs, her awards have netted over $80 million dollars to our community.
In addition, Ms. Cornette served as the Vice President for the National Contract Management Association Suncoast Chapter, Vice President of ACTS Affordable Housing Board of Directors, Vice President of ACTS Foundation Board of Directors, and was a member of Hillsborough County Health Care Advisory Board. She is the recipient of University of South Florida’s 2018 Florida Outstanding Women of the Year in Public Health. Her Centralized Receiving Facility collaborative won a 2018 WEDU PBS Be Brilliant / Innovation Award. Her concept of Housing, Engagement and Retention Tenancy (HEART) program won the 2018 Heart for Homeless award through the Housing and Education Alliance.
Ms. Cornette received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and her Masters Degree in Health Administration from the University of South Florida.
Addressing Workforce Issues In I/DD Service Delivery
The workforce shortage affecting the entire country has significantly impacted direct care positions. The need for more direct support positions (DSPs) has been particularly detrimental to people living with an I/DD who need assistance with daily activities. Currently, there is no career path for a DSP, and many DSPs still earn under $15 an hour. Providers and care management agencies compete with businesses such as Starbucks and Target, willing to pay the same or more per hour and offer benefits and management opportunities. What can providers do to restabilize the workforce? In this session, learn proven approaches that can help provider organizations combat the workforce issue and ensure their long-term growth and sustainability.
Virginia Gabby
Virginia Gabby has been a Merakey team member since 2019. She has held different roles during her tenure and is currently the Executive Director for IDD Program Development for California. Ms. Gabby leads development initiatives to improve and expand service lines offered within California for individuals with intellectual and/developmental disabilities. She is responsible for development oversight as well as project management and program support. Responsibilities in Virginia’s prior role as a Regional Director with Merakey included operational leadership and management in Northern California.
Virginia’s experience includes the implementation of statewide assessment processes and tools in California and in Michigan for adolescents and adults living with disabilities. Ms. Gabby has served as a Director of Student Services in higher education supporting under-resourced college students and has also worked as a government partner for resource and community coordination with the American Red Cross disaster relief services. Ms. Gabby’s professional focus is addressing barriers that may exist for individuals who have traditionally been underserved and may lack adequate access to support systems. Virginia has been committed to advocacy in both the professional and political arenas, dedicating her time and energy to encourage systemic change for vulnerable populations.
Virginia resides in Northern California with her fiancé and their three charming Chihuahuas. She is actively involved with her local community and enjoys weekend excursions to the redwoods, gardening and dinners with family and friends.
Michelle Mainez
Michelle Mainez is the Chief Operations Officer for Redwood Family Care Network. Michelle contributes more than 27 years of experience in the health and human services field serving in various leadership capacities. Michelle has a proven track record in development, delivery and growth of high quality supports and services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities across the lifespan. Michelle has a longstanding commitment to create pathways of opportunity and development for aspiring leaders in the health and human services field.
Michelle has a longstanding commitment to create pathways of opportunity and development for aspiring leaders in the health and human services field.Michelle originally joined People’s Care as the Executive Director of Community Engagement and Development and expanded her role with the establishment of Redwood Family Care Network in June 2021. Michelle was responsible for the agency’s legislative advocacy and community relations. She established and Co-Chaired the Retention and Culture Committee and led marketing, branding, communication, and many agency initiatives. She provided guidance to operation leaders and partnered with regulatory agencies on new development, project management, facility maintenance and focused quality improvement needs. Michelle’s “Why” is her passion to inspire others to invest their time, talents, and skills towards driving meaningful change in their communities and in the lives of others.
Michelle is speaking during Addressing Workforce Issues In I/DD Service Delivery.
Ray Wolfe, J.D.
Raymond “Ray” Wolfe, J.D. brings over 40 years of experience in the health and human services sector to the OPEN MINDS team. Mr. Wolfe currently serves as a Senior Associate, a position in which he utilizes his expertise to successfully lead varying projects for OPEN MINDS. His areas of expertise include managed care and value-based reimbursement models, financial analysis and management, mergers and acquisitions, CCBHC certification, integrated care, performance improvement, and strategic planning.
Before joining OPEN MINDS, Mr. Wolfe served in a 22-year tenure with Pittsburgh Mercy Health System in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Most recently, Mr. Wolfe served as the organization’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), where he was responsible for oversight of all system operations, strategic planning, and performance management. Under his direction Pittsburgh Mercy achieved Certified Behavioral Health Center status, earned over $850K in value-based reimbursement contract quality bonus awards, integrated three organizations through merger/acquisition, opened a primary care service that was integrated into programming for the severe and persistent mentally ill and homeless populations, and adopted a new performance management program for managers.
Before acting as Pittsburgh Mercy’s COO, Mr. Wolfe served as the organization’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and was responsible for the development of internal costing methodologies, contract rate negotiations, and financial forecasting activities. In addition, he coordinated an integrated care program with local partner hospitals to develop a series of diversion and respite programs, as well as specialized primary care, integrated care management, and high utilizer teams, while maintaining 15 straight years of profitability.
Mr. Wolfe was promoted to CFO after serving as the Director of Fiscal and Information Security/Compliance for the health system. In this role, he was responsible for managing the transition of service contracts from fee-for-service (FFS), leading all compliance activities, and implementing a next-generation electronic health record (EHR) system.
Prior to his time at Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, Mr. Wolfe served as Chief Fiscal Officer with the Summit Center for Human Development in Clarksburg, West Virginia, where he was responsible for reporting and budgeting functions and preparing Summit Center’s programs for FFS billing.
Previously, Mr. Wolfe served in billing and collections for two Pennsylvania-based hospitals. First, in his role as a manager for Healthcare Corporation of America (HCA) and as an Accounts Receivables Manager for Brownsville General Hospital in Brownsville, PA, where he managed the accounting and billing system transition systems. Later as a Patient Account Manager for St. Francis Medical Center in Pittsburgh, PA, where he improved collections to hit a 95% rate through the implementation of new billing software and department reorganization.
Prior to working in the health and human services market, Mr. Wolfe spent five years practicing as a Lawyer with at Law Offices of Arch A. Moore in Moundsville, WV. In this role, he provided general legal practice, created and established bylaws for multiple corporations, and handled West Virginia licensing of first vision insurance plan.
Mr. Wolfe earned his Juris Doctor from the West Virginia University School of Law in Morgantown, WV and his Bachelor’s degree with a focus in Political Science and Sociology from West Liberty University, Wheeling, West Virginia, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.
Business Continuity Planning – What It Is & How It Is Distinct From Disaster Recovery Planning
Brought to light by the pandemic, provider organizations are thinking about business continuity planning with more urgency. Whether it be the effects of a global pandemic, natural disaster, or cyber-attack, executives need to have a plan to keep their operations up and moving in the event of an emergency. Hear case studies from organizations that:
- Successfully navigated through a business operations crisis
- Are developing strategies for continued sustainability during and after a crisis
- Implemented best practices in crisis planning for prevention and recovery
Rene Navarro, MPA
Mr. Rene Navarro is the Chief Compliance Officer at Emergence Health Network (EHN) located in El Paso County, Texas. Professional career experience involves 23 years in health care administration, 10 years in public sector and community-based services, and 16 years as a financial and securities registered representative. He holds a master’s in public administration from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Mr. Navarro has leadership and management experience in multiple health care settings such as federally qualified health centers, privately owned rehabilitation clinics, and local mental health authorities such as EHN. His professional experience also includes academic settings with a particular focus on strategic planning, proposal and project management, and evaluation. As Chief Compliance Officer at EHN, Mr. Navarro has led strategic formation efforts since 2012 involving the cultivation and adoption of corporate compliance and risk management frameworks involving quality review and accountability, professional engagement, quality leadership and integration, performance and process improvement, population health and care transitions, health data analytics, patient safety, and regulatory and accreditation.
Rene is speaking during Business Continuity Planning – What It Is & How It Is Distinct From Disaster Recovery Planning.
Chrystal L. Davis
Mrs. Chrystal Davis is the Chief Clinical Officer at Emergence Health Network (EHN) located in El Paso County, Texas. Chrystal has worked at EHN for over 23 years in progressive leadership positions within the organization. She started as a caseworker working up to her current position as Chief Clinical Officer. In her current role she provides oversight and direction to the Diversion, Intellectual and Developmentally Disabled (IDD) and Crisis and emergency Services Divisions. Chief Clinical Officer focuses on the development and enhancement of systems of diversion such as hospitalization, homelessness and justice involved individuals and systems pertaining to services for the intellectually and developmentally disabled. Significant projects she has worked on included 1115 Waiver including the development of the Extended Observation Unit, mental health services in the El Paso County Jail as well as the development of the Crisis Intervention Team Model in conjunction with El Police Department as well as other programs and services to support the community. Chrystal is a Licensed Professional Counselor – Supervisor and holds an MBA from the University of Texas at El Paso.
Chrystal is speaking during Business Continuity Planning – What It Is & How It Is Distinct From Disaster Recovery Planning.
Carol Clayton, Ph.D.
Carol Clayton brings over 30 years of experience in the health and human service fields to the OPEN MINDS team. She has a wealth of experience both in clinical work and in executive management. Her areas of expertise include data-driven strategy development and management, performance measurement and outcomes reporting, quality improvement, and growth strategies.
Prior to joining OPEN MINDS, Dr. Clayton served as the Vice President of Behavioral Health Solutions Integration for Relias, an online training solution for health care providers. At Relias, Dr. Clayton led the development of analytics-focused market solutions. Her areas of focus were performance measurement systems, management team dashboards, and analytics for managing value-based reimbursement.
Prior to her role at Relias, Dr. Clayton served as the Chief Executive Officer for Care Management Technologies (CMT), an analytics solution organization of which she was a minority owner. With CMT, Dr. Clayton worked with state and county governments and provider collaboratives to develop shared performance management and performance improvement platforms. Her work included creating solution-specific health information exchanges promoting data sharing between multiple payer and provider organizations.
Prior to joining Care Management Technologies, Dr. Clayton served as the Executive Director for the North Carolina Council of Community Programs. In this role, she worked with both public agencies and private provider organizations during the evolution of the North Carolina MH/DD/SA service delivery system to a new managed care model. Her work involved both advocacy to public policy makers and the legislature, as well as working with member organizations on improving their delivery system.
Previously, Dr. Clayton also served as Executive Director for Magellan Behavioral Health. In this role, she was responsible for the Magellan book of business – at-risk managed care, administrative service organization (ASO) contracts, and employee assistance program (EAP) contracts for two million lives across four states.
Dr. Clayton started her career as a Staff Psychologist at John Umstead Hospital. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Special Education from Appalachian State University, and her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
A Better IDD Future Through Technology-Enabled Person-Centered Services
Sponsored By: 
In 1978 Sen. Robert F. Kennedy addressed the nation for a need to change services to persons with mental health concerns. His speech followed the national scandal and exposé of the Willowbrook training school in NYC presented across media by a young reporter named Geraldo Rivera.
What did we do after Geraldo Rivera’s Willowbrook, NY exposé? What did we get right? Where did we, as an industry, go wrong? And most importantly, what can we do to shape a better future for the people we serve while retaining and motivating our staff? We will unveil several opportunities for technology adoption focused toward invigorating innovation and renewing focus on individualized, person-centered services.
Terence Blackwell Jr., L-BCBA, SAS
School Principal (permanent NY) Board Certified Behavior Analyst (Licensed) – Executive Management Consulting
In addition to earning his M.S. in Psychological Services from the University of Pennsylvania, including attendance at the Wharton School, Terence is a Licensed School Principal, Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), and Certified Addictions Specialist. He earned his B.S. in Psychology from Saint Peter’s University.
Terry brings more than three decades of diverse leadership experience serving the needs of people with disabilities. Recently, he served as president and CEO of the not-for-profit Chimes International. Previously, he served as Chief Operating Officer of Manhattan-based Serving the Underserved, providing services to people with intellectual disabilities, behavioral health, mental health, substance abuse issues and veterans’ services in various coordinated and integrated care models. Terry has also worked as a Direct Care Counselor for a large community-based residence leading the development and operation of preschool programs for children with disabilities under the authority of the New York State Educational Department. He also launched his own consulting practice for not for profits and government-funded agencies and led program expansion and business development efforts for a large not for profit that provides job opportunities for people with barriers to independent employment.
Notably, Terry helped lead the development of the country’s only I/DD focused ACO. During the establishment of these entities, he worked with NCQA to impact national policy to accommodate the special needs of the I/DD and ASD (Autistic Spectrum) populations.
Terry is a regular presenter at the National level for Applied Behavior Analysis International and most recently was an invited speaker on “How to implement evidence-based practices to obtain enhanced rates for adult I/DD services.”
Terence is speaking during A Better IDD Future Through Technology-Enabled Person-Centered Services.
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.
Regulatory And Funding Changes Are Coming – How To Be Ready To Track Value-Based Care Outcomes For I/DD Services
With the evolving changes for I/DD service provider organizations, learn vital essential tips to ensure that your agency stays up to date on billing and regulatory compliance requirements and how your EHR can play a key role in the tracking and reporting process for I/DD organizations. During this lunch and learn, you’ll hear about:
- New and competing mandates and what they mean for your agency
- How to ensure the capture of all revenue due
- Compound licensing requirements
- How VBR will impact I/DD service providers
- Best practices for tracking outcomes
Vanessa Yalakidis
Vanessa Yalakidis works as Assistant Executive Director of EHR Services at Community Access Unlimited, a New Jersey non-profit serving over 3,000 members with disabilities and at-risk youth. Prior to joining CAU 8 years ago, Vanessa worked in the legal industry and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. Vanessa is responsible for the team that manages the agency’s EHR including daily support, revenue reporting, staff training, licensing requirements and compliance.
Julia McConnell, MPA
Julia is a Senior Solutions Consultant at Qualifacts, advising agencies on technology adoption to support growth strategies and improve consumer experience in complex care environments. Before joining Qualifacts in 2015, Julia worked for over 35 years as a clinician, administrator and executive in IDD and behavioral health agencies, building and managing residential and day service programs. She has a Master of Public Administration in Healthcare from Rutgers University, and prior to that attended Juilliard for piano.
Julia is speaking during Regulatory & Funding Changes are Coming – How to be Ready to Track Value-based Care Outcomes for IDD Services.
Ray Wolfe, J.D.
Raymond “Ray” Wolfe, J.D. brings over 40 years of experience in the health and human services sector to the OPEN MINDS team. Mr. Wolfe currently serves as a Senior Associate, a position in which he utilizes his expertise to successfully lead varying projects for OPEN MINDS. His areas of expertise include managed care and value-based reimbursement models, financial analysis and management, mergers and acquisitions, CCBHC certification, integrated care, performance improvement, and strategic planning.
Before joining OPEN MINDS, Mr. Wolfe served in a 22-year tenure with Pittsburgh Mercy Health System in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Most recently, Mr. Wolfe served as the organization’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), where he was responsible for oversight of all system operations, strategic planning, and performance management. Under his direction Pittsburgh Mercy achieved Certified Behavioral Health Center status, earned over $850K in value-based reimbursement contract quality bonus awards, integrated three organizations through merger/acquisition, opened a primary care service that was integrated into programming for the severe and persistent mentally ill and homeless populations, and adopted a new performance management program for managers.
Before acting as Pittsburgh Mercy’s COO, Mr. Wolfe served as the organization’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and was responsible for the development of internal costing methodologies, contract rate negotiations, and financial forecasting activities. In addition, he coordinated an integrated care program with local partner hospitals to develop a series of diversion and respite programs, as well as specialized primary care, integrated care management, and high utilizer teams, while maintaining 15 straight years of profitability.
Mr. Wolfe was promoted to CFO after serving as the Director of Fiscal and Information Security/Compliance for the health system. In this role, he was responsible for managing the transition of service contracts from fee-for-service (FFS), leading all compliance activities, and implementing a next-generation electronic health record (EHR) system.
Prior to his time at Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, Mr. Wolfe served as Chief Fiscal Officer with the Summit Center for Human Development in Clarksburg, West Virginia, where he was responsible for reporting and budgeting functions and preparing Summit Center’s programs for FFS billing.
Previously, Mr. Wolfe served in billing and collections for two Pennsylvania-based hospitals. First, in his role as a manager for Healthcare Corporation of America (HCA) and as an Accounts Receivables Manager for Brownsville General Hospital in Brownsville, PA, where he managed the accounting and billing system transition systems. Later as a Patient Account Manager for St. Francis Medical Center in Pittsburgh, PA, where he improved collections to hit a 95% rate through the implementation of new billing software and department reorganization.
Prior to working in the health and human services market, Mr. Wolfe spent five years practicing as a Lawyer with at Law Offices of Arch A. Moore in Moundsville, WV. In this role, he provided general legal practice, created and established bylaws for multiple corporations, and handled West Virginia licensing of first vision insurance plan.
Mr. Wolfe earned his Juris Doctor from the West Virginia University School of Law in Morgantown, WV and his Bachelor’s degree with a focus in Political Science and Sociology from West Liberty University, Wheeling, West Virginia, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.
Sharon Hicks, MSW, MBA
Sharon Hicks has more than 30 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 Pittsburgh. Before pursuing her graduate education, Ms. Hicks received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology.
Making Strategy Work – Best Practices For Implementing Your Strategic Plan
You’ve developed your strategic plan – now what? How do you ensure the successful implementation of that strategic plan once it’s complete? In this session, attendees will hear tips used by executive leaders on doing just that, including goal setting, achieving early wins, continually measuring results, and adjusting the plan as necessary. Join industry experts as they discuss the following:
- Overcoming the barriers and challenges of implementing your strategic plan
- Measuring progress and keeping focused on the big strategic picture
- Developing your workforce for successful implementation of the plan
Debra Manners, LCSW
Debra Manners, President & CEO, has dedicated her career to serving children and families. Her innovative leadership and visionary work to lead the child welfare and behavioral health fields has resulted in positive changes for thousands of children in the foster care system throughout California. Ms. Manners’ advocacy and reform efforts, most notably as a member of the Katie A settlement team, have included ensuring that foster youth have access to mental health care, that programs focus on reunification with family and that foster youth spend less time in out-of-home care. Starting at Sycamores in 1987, she served in a variety of roles, culminating in her current role as President and CEO. During that time, the organization expanded from a single site with a $2.5 million operating budget to 10 service locations throughout Los Angeles County and Palm Springs, and an operating budget of $68 million. She has led the agency in developing new programs that have been adopted as the standard-of-care throughout California. In this critical time, Ms. Manners continues to be an influential advocate and leader focused on improving outcomes for the most vulnerable at the State and County level. Ms. Manners is the President of the California Council for Community Behavioral Health and served on the board of the California Alliance for Children and Families. She was previously on the CEO Council for the National Council for Strong Families and Communities.
Ms. Manners received a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Washington.
Debra Manners will be speaking in Making Strategy Work – Best Practices For Implementing Your Strategic Plan.
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.
Leveraging Technology In The Delivery Of I/DD Services
From wearable smart monitoring devices to digital medication dispensers, health care service delivery is embracing the digital revolution. New technological solutions are opening doors for providers to enhance staffing capabilities, empower service recipients, extend the opportunities for safety monitoring into the community, and more. Many even see technology development as a means to address the growing direct support position (DSP) shortage. In this session, attendees will hear from organizations that have utilized new technologies to improve their service delivery and learn best practices for evaluating and implementing technology in the I/DD space.
Amy Jacobs-Schroeder, BCABA
Amy Jacobs-Schroeder is the CEO and Co-Founder of Happy Ladders, a SaaS-based, parent-led, early intervention therapy platform. Amy has worked directly with parents of autistic children and the wider developmental disability population to develop a truly innovative approach to helping parents help their own children, decreasing dependence on professionals.
Amy is also the author of the Parent-Led Revolution ( parent-led.com ). Parent-Led Revolution seeks to empower parents while navigating their child’s journey through specialized needs and services, while living the life they want to live.
A mother of five and a runner, Amy has been providing autism therapy services for 20 years. She is a board member of the non-profit, Walk with Austin, and a pioneer in the parent-led autism therapy movement.
Amy is speaking during Leveraging Technology In The Delivery Of I/DD Services.
Jamie Garrett, MA
Responsible for directing the Project Management Office and M&A integrations for Community Based Care. Jamie has a wide range of experience in the Healthcare industry, with a more recent focus on efficiently capitalizing on growth opportunities, data analytics, process improvement and project management. Jamie holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology and a Six Sigma Black Belt Certificationmie is responsible for directing the Project Management Office and M&A integrations for Community Based Care. Jamie has a wide range of experience in the Healthcare industry, with a more recent focus on efficiently capitalizing on growth opportunities, data analytics, process improvement and project management.
Jamie holds a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology and a Six Sigma Black Belt Certification.
Jamie is speaking during Leveraging Technology In The Delivery Of I/DD Services.
Michael Vallejo, MS
Michael is responsible for developing and implementing the technology strategy for CBC which enables our caregivers to most efficiently achieve our mission to support the best health and fullest lives for the people we serve.
Michael has more than 20 years of experience in the Information Technology industry, focusing on innovation and process improvement. His experience has included several sectors such as manufacturing, state, and federal government, but more than half of his career has been in healthcare. Prior to Community Based Care he was the CIO at Care Hospice, one of the fastest growing hospice providers in the country.
Michael is speaking during Leveraging Technology In The Delivery Of I/DD Services.
Sarah Chestnut, MSW
Sarah has a passion for developing creative solutions to solve complex problems and increasing access to whole-person care for historically marginalized populations. In spring 2021, Sarah joined Benchmark Human Services as Director of Development Strategies, where she leads the company’s growth initiatives, service line development, and strategic partnerships.
Previously, she spent six years at INARF (Indiana’s principal membership organization representing I/DD provider organizations), serving most recently as the Director of Public Policy and Technical Assistance. She has also worked for Stone Belt Arc, Inc., a non-profit I/DD service provider in southern Indiana.
Sarah holds a master’s degree in social work with a concentration on Leadership from Indiana University.
Sarah is speaking during Leveraging Technology In The Delivery Of I/DD Services.
Robert Taylor
Robert is a Regional Director responsible for managing residential services in Missouri. He has been a part of Benchmark since 2007 and has over 25 years of experience working with people with disabilities. Robert started his career as a direct support professional and has held multiple roles within the organization, including 22 years in leadership positions.
Having worked in this field for more than 25 years, I have realized that the people we serve should be treated with the same dignity and respect that we would expect for ourselves. They deserve to have fulfilling lives, receive honest and professional care, and be recognized as valuable individuals, just like the DSPs helping them with their services.
Robert is speaking during Leveraging Technology In The Delivery Of I/DD Services.
Sharon Hicks, MSW, MBA
Sharon Hicks has more than 30 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 Pittsburgh. Before pursuing her graduate education, Ms. Hicks received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology.
Developing & Contracting For Community Support Services For High-Risk, High-Needs Consumers
Successful treatment requires focusing on the needs of the consumer. In developing services for consumers with multiple behavioral, medical, and social support needs, provider organizations are turning to new delivery models such as in-home care, telehealth, and remote monitoring. In addition, value-based treatment incentivizes higher service quality, keeps consumers out of the more costly hospital and emergency services, and facilitates innovation to meet the needs of consumers with high demands. This session will cover:
- Serving consumers where they are and opening up access points
- Integrating robust data and reporting capabilities into service delivery
- Developing a mindset of innovation to meet consumer needs and take on risk
Ontson Placide, MA, LMFT
Ontson Placide has an extensive career spanning over 35 years’ experience in both the Mental Health and Social Services field including; program development, clinical, and administrative operations, and quality assurance development and implementation. Currently he is the Chief Program Officer at Stanford Sierra Youth & Families in Sacramento, CA. In this role, he has oversite of all of Stanford Sierra’s comprehensive array of therapeutic programs ranging from foster care and adoptions to outpatient mental health services to contracts with schools and managed care providers. He is active in a number of community and county advisory councils regarding advocacy for children and families well-being. Mr. Placide received his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a Master’s Degree in Clinical Counseling Psychology from Pepperdine University. He has been licensed in the State of California as a Marriage and Family Therapist since 1992.
Ontson is speaking during Developing & Contracting For Community Support Services For High-Risk, High-Needs Consumers.
Lisa Christian
Lisa is speaking during Developing & Contracting For Community Support Services For High-Risk, High-Needs Consumers.
Richard Louis, III
Richard Louis, III, brings extensive experience in public and for-profit behavioral healthcare administration and business development to the OPEN MINDS team. Mr. Louis was formerly the Executive Director of Strategic Development and Planning, Pacific Region, for Providence Service Corporation.
Prior to OPEN MINDS, Mr. Louis served as the Assistant Director of the San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health, the 4th largest county behavioral health system in California, where he was responsible for day-to-day operations of a system serving over 50,000 unduplicated consumers annually through 31 county-operated facilities and 60 contract provider organizations.
Prior to his work with San Bernardino County, Mr. Louis was the Vice President of Government Operations for College Health Enterprises. In this role, he pioneered the development of public sector partnerships, contracts, and community mental health system joint ventures in California by creating some of the first inpatient psychiatric hospital-based, outpatient, day treatment, and institutional specialty treatment programs for county, state, and federal government agencies including L.A. County Department of Mental Health, L.A. County Probation Department, California Youth Authority, California Department of Developmental Disabilities, California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation, and U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement/Homeland Security.
Mr. Louis has served in a number of leadership roles with several organizations in the community including: the California Hospital Association – Center for Behavioral Health, Advisory Board, and SCAN Health Plan – Advisory Board; the Board of Directors of the Forensic Mental Health Association of California, College Hospitals, and the Intercommunity Child Guidance Center of Whittier; and testified on behalf of the National Association of Psychiatric Healthcare Systems before President Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Mr. Louis is currently a volunteer police officer with the City of Monterey Park Police Department in East Los Angeles serving since 1987 and currently holds the rank of Captain. Mr. Louis was recently appointed to the City of Claremont Police Commission in Los Angeles County.
He is a graduate of Whittier College and of the Police Academy of Rio Hondo College.
Developing Home Care Programs For Consumers With Behavioral Health Needs: A Case Study Presentation
With rising demand for home-based care and more types of provider organizations entering this space, health and human service executives are considering adding home-based services to their portfolios. With new consumer and payer needs, telehealth, remote monitoring, and other digital technologies, it’s hard to know where to start. Join OPEN MINDS for a case study discussion on home-based care models to serve consumers with behavioral health needs, where panelists will discuss the following:
- How home-based services fit into your overall organizational strategy
- Designing home-based services for different consumer groups and needs
- Integrating technology into the service delivery model
April Rhodes, MBA, LAMFT
April Rhodes, MBA, LAMFT is President and Chief Executive Officer for Spectrum Healthcare Group. Through statewide community solutions, and focused care, April and her team are meeting the whole health needs of Arizona’s populations.
April has served at the forefront of healthcare and human services management for nearly two decades. Her unique brand of leadership has successfully launched whole healthcare delivery into new heights of innovation, defragmentation, integration, and cohesion.
April has a Master of Advanced Study in Marriage and Family Therapy from Arizona State University and a Master of Business Administration from University of Arizona. April is a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist.
April Rhodes currently serves on the Board of Directors for Arizona Council of Human Service Providers, Yavapai County Board of Health, and Yavapai College Foundation Board. Additionally, she serves on the Contexture Board, the health information exchange for Arizona and Colorado. April is considered a subject matter expert on topics relating to leadership, whole-person healthcare, value-based purchasing, access to care, and criminal justice and mental health related community-based services.
April is speaking during Developing Home Care Programs For Consumers With Behavioral Health Needs: A Case Study Presentation and Leveraging Technology To Improve Productivity & Consumer Engagement In Home-Based Programs.
Frank Gutierrez
Frank has worked in healthcare IT departments since 2002 where he got his start at Siemen’s International, supporting branches of the Tenet Healthcare hospitals in Southern California. He studied programming in college from machine code to C++, where he discovered that he actually liked working and interacting with people instead of computer screens. With a base understanding of computer science, Frank has primarily been self-taught in modern programming languages, servers, systems, networks and business solutions for healthcare IT. For over eight years, he managed and supported the Northern Arizona region of LabCorp sites. He designed and wrote several custom programs for LabCorp, some of which are still in use today. He has also provided IT consulting services for various physicians and group practices in Arizona. He currently works as the VP of Information Technology at Spectrum Healthcare, where he can regularly be found providing services to patients or filling in wherever the need is greatest at the agency.
Frank is speaking during Developing Home Care Programs For Consumers With Behavioral Health Needs: A Case Study Presentation and Leveraging Technology To Improve Productivity & Consumer Engagement In Home-Based Programs.
Dawn Vo-Jutabha, Ph.D.
Dawn Vo-Jutabha joined Wayfinder in 2023 as executive vice president and chief operating officer. In this role she also serves as Wayfinder’s chief clinical officer and oversees all operations. Vo-Jutabha has over 17 years of experience in clinical services and training, program development and quality improvement and most recently served as the chief clinical officer for The Guidance Center in Long Beach, California. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and has worked at several prominent community mental health agencies in Southern California.
Vo-Jutabha earned her doctorate in clinical psychology with an emphasis in children and families from Clark University in Massachusetts and her bachelor’s in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. She was awarded a four-year national grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to support her graduate research and clinical work.
She has held leadership roles at statewide and national associations, including the Southern California Association of Psychology Training Programs, Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Programs and the American Psychological Association (APA) Commission on Accreditation. She is currently a cohort member of APA’s flagship leadership training, the Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology. More recently, she was elected as a Director-at-Large of the California Psychological Association Board of Directors.
Dawn is speaking during Developing Home Care Programs For Consumers With Behavioral Health Needs: A Case Study Presentation.
Tony Weaver, LCSW
With over 15 years of experience in social services, Tony has served populations with acute needs, including those connected to the fields of child welfare, homelessness, housing, and behavioral health. Tony is currently Vice President of Clinical and Housing Services for Wayfinder Family Services with a particular focus on a temporary shelter program for children involved in child welfare, community behavioral health throughout the state of California, and a program through the Office of Refugee Resettlement serving unaccompanied children, victims of human trafficking and asylum seekers. He oversees over 140 staff members throughout the state of California. Tony has served in previous leadership positions at St. Anne’s Family Services and Skid Row Housing Trust in Los Angeles and BronxWorks in Bronx, New York. Additionally, he serves on the board of directors for LA Room and Board, a program serving homeless college students, and Heading Home, a homeless service organization in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Tony earned his master’s degree in social work from Hunter College in New York City and a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Alabama. He is a licensed clinical social worker. Prior to his career in social services, Weaver spent several years in Tanzania as a Peace Corps volunteer, engaging in community health education.
Tony is speaking during Developing Home Care Programs For Consumers With Behavioral Health Needs: A Case Study Presentation.
Dee DeWitt
Dee DeWitt has extensive experience as a consultant and corporate leader in the healthcare field. Mr. DeWitt brings over 28 years of experience in healthcare finance and operations, M&A, use of technology, strategic planning, and change management in healthcare organizations to OPEN MINDS as a Senior Associate.
Previously, Mr. DeWitt was the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Momentum for Health, a CARF-accredited non-profit behavioral health organization providing services to individuals with a diagnosed serious mental illness (SMI) and/or substance abuse disorder, in San Jose, California. During his tenure, Mr. DeWitt increased outpatient productivity by 25% and contributed to growing revenues from $55 million to a projected $71+ million for the fiscal year of 2023. Mr. DeWitt also oversaw Momentum ‘s pilot with Santa Clara County’s transition to Netsmart Provider Connect and led a successful grant award and implementation of a multi-year paid intern program in partnership with Santa Clara University, San Jose University, and Palo Alto University.
Mr. DeWitt was also the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Veridian Financial Group, a strategic consulting firm specializing in performing long-term, on-site C-level and Director roles, evaluating and implementing financial strategies, strategic operational planning, and development strategies for companies that are poised for significant growth, change, or require turnaround attention, in San Jose, California. During his time at Veridian Financial Group, Mr. DeWitt focused primarily on healthcare, finance, technology, and private equity and coordinated licensing, compliance, and external audits for 42 state licenses, including managed care organizations, managed care plans, Medicare, Medicaid, and service provider organizations.
In addition, Mr. DeWitt served as Chief Financial Officer and a Consultant in Strategic Planning and Finance for Home Recovery – Home Aid, Inc., a private equity-backed, for-profit company that provides personal care and skilled care in 35 locations and in-home care throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. During his time there, Mr. DeWitt was a member of the company’s executive management team, audit team, and License & Compliance team. Mr. DeWitt also served as Chief Financial Officer of Professional Healthcare Resources, Inc., a for-profit holding company comprised of 5 home health companies, 4 hospice companies, and 2 private duty/personal care companies. Mr. DeWitt has also been the Chief Financial and Technology Officer for The Filson, a nationally renowned non-profit archive and research institute, and Director of Strategic Development for Signature Healthcare, LLC, a national private equity-backed for-profit, long-term care company operating over 180 facilities, with 18,000 employees, and over $1 billion in revenues.
Mr. DeWitt also held the positions of Deputy Director of Behavioral Health at the County of Ventura, CA Behavioral Health Services Department, and Director of Finance and Management Services of the Southeastern Arizona Behavioral Health Services (SEABHS), a joint commissioned accredited non-profit.
Mr. DeWitt graduated from the University of Louisville, Kentucky with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and a Master’s in Political Science with a concentration in Economics and Public Policy.
Models Of Reimbursement and Payment For I/DD Service Delivery
While managed care and value-based payment arrangements are growing in the traditional mental health and substance use markets, the I/DD landscape is just beginning to see these processes becoming more commonplace. In this session, attendees will hear from executive leaders to learn about best practices and pain points for I/DD provider organizations in adapting to these newer payment models, as well as aligning incentives to provide the most service value to people with developmental disabilities and their families.
Marco Damiani, MA, BS, ABD
Marco Damiani has spent his entire career in disability rights, fighting for full inclusion of people with intellectual/developmental disabilities into their communities. Starting as a Direct Support Professional, working for a non-profit at the Willowbrook State School as it began closing, he quickly realized the power of collective advocacy on behalf of people who are perceived as different. As Marco’s career progressed, he devoted much of his energy in working to achieve health equity for people with disabilities, playing a major role in developing integrated care models for people frequently underserved by the conventional healthcare system.
As CEO of AHRC NYC, a Forbes Best American mid-size company, he leads a staff of 5,000, supporting 15,000 individuals with IDD and their families.
Marco is an appointee to the NYU College of Dentistry Dean’s Strategic Advisory Council and is a recipient of the Kriser Medal, the College’s highest honor, a recipient of Pace University’s Opportunitas-in-Action Medal, The Arc of the United States National Convention of Executives Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award, a Certificate of Special U.S. Congressional Recognition for outstanding and invaluable service to the community, Crain’s Business and Empire BCBS Whole-Healthcare Hero and The Excellence in Autism Award from Mental Health News Education. He has also received Citations from The NYS Assembly and the Bronx Borough President for Meritorious Advocacy and Community Service.
He is a Mayoral Appointee of the NYC Community Services Board, a member of NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ Transition Team, Board Member of the Inter-Agency Council of IDD Agencies, NY Disability Advocates, Care Design NY, Metro Community Health Centers, and Cafe Joyeux U.S., an international network of cafes staffed primarily by neurodiverse people. He has published articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities and the Journal of Social Work in Disability and Rehabilitation, among others. Marco has a BS in psychology from Manhattan College, a Masters in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University, and is ABD in Educational Psychology from New York University.
Marco is speaking during Models Of Reimbursement & Payment For I/DD Service Delivery.
Scott Doolan, RN BSN, MBA
Scott Doolan is the Assistant Vice President of Health Care Management at Partnerships Solutions working on behalf of Partners Health Plan (PHP) and Care Design New York (CDNY) he joined PHP in September of 2018 and has worked in several capacities since then, including as the Care Coordination Supervisor for the New York City Region, the Director of Healthcare Programs and now as the AVP of Health Care Management. Prior to joining PHP Scott worked as the Director of Nursing for several DD agencies in Residential, Day Habilitation, Recreation, Respite and Camping.
In his current role Scott works with the Care Coordination, Quality and Clinical teams at PHP & CDNY to oversee various healthcare programs and initiatives aimed at supporting our members to achieve the best health outcomes and improve the overall quality of life.
Scott received his Bachelor of Nursing Science from St. Angela’s College an affiliate of the National University of Ireland. In addition, Scott holds a Master of Business Administration with a healthcare focus from Grand Canyon University, AZ. Scott holds professional licensure as a Registered Nurse in New York State, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Scott has dedicated his career to working on healthcare innovations and improving the quality of services for vulnerable populations through the creation of high-quality reliable systems of care that are person centered and support a holistic approach to healthcare.
Scott is speaking during Models Of Reimbursement & Payment For I/DD Service Delivery.
Ray Wolfe, J.D.
Raymond “Ray” Wolfe, J.D. brings over 40 years of experience in the health and human services sector to the OPEN MINDS team. Mr. Wolfe currently serves as a Senior Associate, a position in which he utilizes his expertise to successfully lead varying projects for OPEN MINDS. His areas of expertise include managed care and value-based reimbursement models, financial analysis and management, mergers and acquisitions, CCBHC certification, integrated care, performance improvement, and strategic planning.
Before joining OPEN MINDS, Mr. Wolfe served in a 22-year tenure with Pittsburgh Mercy Health System in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Most recently, Mr. Wolfe served as the organization’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), where he was responsible for oversight of all system operations, strategic planning, and performance management. Under his direction Pittsburgh Mercy achieved Certified Behavioral Health Center status, earned over $850K in value-based reimbursement contract quality bonus awards, integrated three organizations through merger/acquisition, opened a primary care service that was integrated into programming for the severe and persistent mentally ill and homeless populations, and adopted a new performance management program for managers.
Before acting as Pittsburgh Mercy’s COO, Mr. Wolfe served as the organization’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and was responsible for the development of internal costing methodologies, contract rate negotiations, and financial forecasting activities. In addition, he coordinated an integrated care program with local partner hospitals to develop a series of diversion and respite programs, as well as specialized primary care, integrated care management, and high utilizer teams, while maintaining 15 straight years of profitability.
Mr. Wolfe was promoted to CFO after serving as the Director of Fiscal and Information Security/Compliance for the health system. In this role, he was responsible for managing the transition of service contracts from fee-for-service (FFS), leading all compliance activities, and implementing a next-generation electronic health record (EHR) system.
Prior to his time at Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, Mr. Wolfe served as Chief Fiscal Officer with the Summit Center for Human Development in Clarksburg, West Virginia, where he was responsible for reporting and budgeting functions and preparing Summit Center’s programs for FFS billing.
Previously, Mr. Wolfe served in billing and collections for two Pennsylvania-based hospitals. First, in his role as a manager for Healthcare Corporation of America (HCA) and as an Accounts Receivables Manager for Brownsville General Hospital in Brownsville, PA, where he managed the accounting and billing system transition systems. Later as a Patient Account Manager for St. Francis Medical Center in Pittsburgh, PA, where he improved collections to hit a 95% rate through the implementation of new billing software and department reorganization.
Prior to working in the health and human services market, Mr. Wolfe spent five years practicing as a Lawyer with at Law Offices of Arch A. Moore in Moundsville, WV. In this role, he provided general legal practice, created and established bylaws for multiple corporations, and handled West Virginia licensing of first vision insurance plan.
Mr. Wolfe earned his Juris Doctor from the West Virginia University School of Law in Morgantown, WV and his Bachelor’s degree with a focus in Political Science and Sociology from West Liberty University, Wheeling, West Virginia, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.
Serving Members With Complex Needs: The SCAN Perspective
In a changing health and human services landscape, how can health systems provide complex care for people with high needs? Join Deepa Sheth, Chief Corporate Development Officer at SCAN Group, and Monica E. Oss, Chief Executive Officer at OPEN MINDS, for a fireside chat focused on that question.
SCAN Group is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization. At its heart is SCAN Health Plan, a not-for-profit, Medicare Advantage plan based in Long Beach, California. Founded in 1977, SCAN Health Plan provides award-winning Medicare Advantage coverage to more than 285,000 members in California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas.
Once a Medicare Advantage plan known for its outstanding customer service, SCAN is now a diversified healthcare organization that supports seniors through the full range of inflection points in the aging process.
In 2022 SCAN announced its intent to combine with CareOregon, which would create the HealthRight Group, a $7 billion non-profit organization serving 800,000 Medicare and Medicaid members across five states. The transaction is currently pending regulatory approval. (See SCAN Group & CareOregon To Combine As HealthRight Group.)
In this lively session, Ms. Sheth will provide context on SCAN’s innovative programs, how it partners with provider organizations to deliver services and how HealthRight Group will serve vulnerable communities.
Deepa Sheth, MBA
Deepa Sheth is the Chief Corporate Development Officer for the SCAN Group. In this position she oversees SCAN’s innovation and diversification efforts in three areas: building organizations alongside entrepreneurs-in-residence; investing in innovative organizations that align with SCAN’s mission and with whom we develop commercial partnerships; and, acquiring or partnering with mission-aligned organizations.
Previously, Deepa was a leader at Oak Street Health, helping grow the value based primary care company through its IPO and acquisition by CVS Health. Most recently she served as Senior Vice President, Partnerships and Business Development, leading the company’s M&A, strategic partnerships, new lines of business, and joint ventures. She also served in general manager / market leader roles.
Prior to Oak Street Health, Deepa held various roles at Shire (now Takeda), Baxter Healthcare, OCA Ventures, and SRA (now General Dynamics). She mentors founders of several early-stage health tech companies and has served on the Leadership Board of Directors for Big Brothers / Big Sisters of Chicago. Additionally, she is a champion for people and culture, leading several women and minority people resource groups and programs in the organizations she has worked for.
She holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BA from George Washington University. She lives in Los Angeles, CA with her family.
Deepa is speaking during The Future Of Health Plans In A VBR World: A Fireside Chat.
Innovative Program Approaches To Home-Based Services For Children
Early childhood home-based services are a service delivery strategy for families to achieve positive parenting and healthy child development outcomes. Educational, family, and referral services are critical components of home-based programs. Based on decades of research, these service designs aim to support the healthy functioning of families, parenting, and child development. Communities use various home-based models, each targeting a different group of families and focusing on achieving different outcomes. Can home-based services improve outcomes more efficiently? Can the overall effects be strengthened for vulnerable families who enroll but fail to benefit from current models? These are questions that will be addressed as attendees learn:
- What works and for whom
- Examples of innovative program approaches
- Ways to improve target outcomes through home-based services
Anna Fernandez, LMFT
Anna Fernandez is the Director of Mental Health for Hope Services. Since 1952, Hope Services has delivered a range of services to thousands of people with developmental disabilities. In this capacity, she oversees the clinical programs in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz plus neighboring counties, through Hope’s Mental Health Services. Having nearly 25 years of experience in mental health, Anna Fernandez has served in various clinical roles with progressive levels of responsibility, including Director, Clinical manager, Coordinator and Clinician. Anna Fernandez is also serving as the vice-president of the Behavioral Health Contract Association of Santa Clara County. Anna Fernandez is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and received his master’s in marriage and family therapy from Santa Clara University.
Anna is speaking during Innovative Program Approaches To Home-Based Services For Children.
Tara Beckman, LCSW
Tara Beckman, LCSW is the Chief Program Officer (CPO) at Hope Services. In this role, she has oversight of all programs and is responsible for driving the exploration of new programmatic opportunities. With more than 20 years of experience in human services, Tara has dedicated her career to advocacy, directing programs that provide a wide range of services to diverse populations, increasing access to supportive services, and improving service delivery.
Previously, Tara held various administrative roles including Regional Executive Director at Caminar in San Mateo County, Director of Services at Caminar in Solano County and Deputy Director at Alameda County Court Appointed Special Advocates Program (ACCASA). Tara is a graduate of the University of Memphis and earned her Master of Social Work, with an emphasis in Community Mental Health, from California State University, East Bay. She also holds a Mediation certification from Steven Rosenberg Mediation Center.
Tara is speaking during Innovative Program Approaches To Home-Based Services For Children.
Dee DeWitt
Dee DeWitt has extensive experience as a consultant and corporate leader in the healthcare field. Mr. DeWitt brings over 28 years of experience in healthcare finance and operations, M&A, use of technology, strategic planning, and change management in healthcare organizations to OPEN MINDS as a Senior Associate.
Previously, Mr. DeWitt was the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Momentum for Health, a CARF-accredited non-profit behavioral health organization providing services to individuals with a diagnosed serious mental illness (SMI) and/or substance abuse disorder, in San Jose, California. During his tenure, Mr. DeWitt increased outpatient productivity by 25% and contributed to growing revenues from $55 million to a projected $71+ million for the fiscal year of 2023. Mr. DeWitt also oversaw Momentum ‘s pilot with Santa Clara County’s transition to Netsmart Provider Connect and led a successful grant award and implementation of a multi-year paid intern program in partnership with Santa Clara University, San Jose University, and Palo Alto University.
Mr. DeWitt was also the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Veridian Financial Group, a strategic consulting firm specializing in performing long-term, on-site C-level and Director roles, evaluating and implementing financial strategies, strategic operational planning, and development strategies for companies that are poised for significant growth, change, or require turnaround attention, in San Jose, California. During his time at Veridian Financial Group, Mr. DeWitt focused primarily on healthcare, finance, technology, and private equity and coordinated licensing, compliance, and external audits for 42 state licenses, including managed care organizations, managed care plans, Medicare, Medicaid, and service provider organizations.
In addition, Mr. DeWitt served as Chief Financial Officer and a Consultant in Strategic Planning and Finance for Home Recovery – Home Aid, Inc., a private equity-backed, for-profit company that provides personal care and skilled care in 35 locations and in-home care throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. During his time there, Mr. DeWitt was a member of the company’s executive management team, audit team, and License & Compliance team. Mr. DeWitt also served as Chief Financial Officer of Professional Healthcare Resources, Inc., a for-profit holding company comprised of 5 home health companies, 4 hospice companies, and 2 private duty/personal care companies. Mr. DeWitt has also been the Chief Financial and Technology Officer for The Filson, a nationally renowned non-profit archive and research institute, and Director of Strategic Development for Signature Healthcare, LLC, a national private equity-backed for-profit, long-term care company operating over 180 facilities, with 18,000 employees, and over $1 billion in revenues.
Mr. DeWitt also held the positions of Deputy Director of Behavioral Health at the County of Ventura, CA Behavioral Health Services Department, and Director of Finance and Management Services of the Southeastern Arizona Behavioral Health Services (SEABHS), a joint commissioned accredited non-profit.
Mr. DeWitt graduated from the University of Louisville, Kentucky with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and a Master’s in Political Science with a concentration in Economics and Public Policy.
New Approaches For Community Reentry Services For Corrections-Involved Consumers
In providing services for justice-involved consumers, policymakers, payers, and provider organizations focus on services related to the transition of justice-involved consumers from incarceration to community. The needs for services involve medical, behavioral health, housing, employment, and family support. The goal is to innovate and improve access to and quality of care for incarcerated and post-release populations to assist with reentry into the community. Hear from a panel of experts on the following:
- Overcoming barriers to successful reentry and achieving optimal outcomes
- Attaining the right service line portfolio for stable jobs, housing, family support, etc.
- Best practices and guidelines for reducing recidivism and managing costs
Ronnie Cansler
The visionary behind Ella’s Foundation with over 30 years experience as a business owner, Mr. Cansler brings a natural ability to follow his vision. Ella’s Foundation was named after Mr. Cansler’s mother, “Ella”. Those who knew “Ms. Ella” knew she was quick to fix a plate for anyone that was hungry and as the word spread through the neighborhoods, her house became a safe haven for people to have a place to lay their head or receive just a little help to get them back on their feet. It was in this spirit that Ella’s Foundation was established.
Mr. Cansler is skilled in persuasive presentation and known for his contagious passion for excellence. He has also forged partnerships with the community and government agencies such as Los Angeles County Probation and Los Angeles Department of Mental Health and organized community fairs to bring awareness to social issues in Los Angeles. As a result of Mr. Cansler’s collaboration with some of LA’s most prominent agencies and his tenacity to service the Los Angeles communities, this has made Ella’s Foundation one of the most respected housing providers in the greater Los Angeles surrounding area. Mr. Cansler’s works further the confidence of his clients and colleagues that he will bring all the elements necessary to ensure a successful business.
Ronnie is speaking during New Approaches For Community Reentry Services For Corrections-Involved Consumers.
Fernando Cruz, LCSW
Fernando Cruz is the Institutional Mental Health Pre-Release Coordinator for the California Institution for Men (CIM) in Chino, CA. Mr. Cruz has experience as a clinician in the mental health crisis bed (MHCB), medication court administrator, and as a mental health liaison for 58 counties. Mr. Cruz has a master’s in social work with an emphasis in Community Capacity Building (CCB) from the California State University, Dominguez Hills, and a Bachelor’s in social work from California State University, Los Angeles. Mr. Cruz leads the Prison to Community meeting where various county mental health, probation, parole, and community base organizations get together to problem solve. The group effort is to work together in helping client’s successfully transition back to the community.
Before CDCR, Mr. Cruz was a school-to-career transition specialist (at-risk) with the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE). His worksites were Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, Central Juvenile Hall, Community Day Schools (CDS), and charter schools. Mr. Cruz was able to provide positive outcomes for students in need of support and guidance.
Fernando is speaking during New Approaches For Community Reentry Services For Corrections-Involved Consumers.
Richard Louis, III
Richard Louis, III, brings extensive experience in public and for-profit behavioral healthcare administration and business development to the OPEN MINDS team. Mr. Louis was formerly the Executive Director of Strategic Development and Planning, Pacific Region, for Providence Service Corporation.
Prior to OPEN MINDS, Mr. Louis served as the Assistant Director of the San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health, the 4th largest county behavioral health system in California, where he was responsible for day-to-day operations of a system serving over 50,000 unduplicated consumers annually through 31 county-operated facilities and 60 contract provider organizations.
Prior to his work with San Bernardino County, Mr. Louis was the Vice President of Government Operations for College Health Enterprises. In this role, he pioneered the development of public sector partnerships, contracts, and community mental health system joint ventures in California by creating some of the first inpatient psychiatric hospital-based, outpatient, day treatment, and institutional specialty treatment programs for county, state, and federal government agencies including L.A. County Department of Mental Health, L.A. County Probation Department, California Youth Authority, California Department of Developmental Disabilities, California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation, and U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement/Homeland Security.
Mr. Louis has served in a number of leadership roles with several organizations in the community including: the California Hospital Association – Center for Behavioral Health, Advisory Board, and SCAN Health Plan – Advisory Board; the Board of Directors of the Forensic Mental Health Association of California, College Hospitals, and the Intercommunity Child Guidance Center of Whittier; and testified on behalf of the National Association of Psychiatric Healthcare Systems before President Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Mr. Louis is currently a volunteer police officer with the City of Monterey Park Police Department in East Los Angeles serving since 1987 and currently holds the rank of Captain. Mr. Louis was recently appointed to the City of Claremont Police Commission in Los Angeles County.
He is a graduate of Whittier College and of the Police Academy of Rio Hondo College.
Replication Of Successful Service Lines – Strategies For Market Expansion
Successful service lines align with consumer preferences and payer needs and generate a positive margin. Strategies that take them to scale, like geographic expansion and remote technologies, maximize the organization’s mission impact and financial sustainability. This session will focus on case studies of organizations that have successfully expanded the market for their services. Join to hear best practices on:
- Identifying markets for service expansion
- Financial modeling for market expansion
- Using technology to facilitate service line replication
Robert Poznanovich
Bob Poznanovich is the Chief Business Growth Officer and a member of the Executive Leadership Team at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. He manages the organization’s strategic relations with health systems, employers, insurance and managed care organizations, professional referents and other national accounts, along with the patient access and placement team. Bob is also responsible for bridging the gap between product development, marketing and sales to help the nonprofit reach more people with its lifesaving substance use and mental health care and resources
Bob joined Hazelden Betty Ford in 2009 after many wide-ranging and successful business ventures elsewhere. Prior to joining the organization, he co-founded and served as the CEO of AiR Health a behavioral health company. Before that, he spent over 20 years as a senior business development executive in the technology industry. He also co-authored the Hazelden Publishing title, It Is Not Okay to be a Cannibal: How to Stop Addiction from Eating Your Family Alive. On top of that, he also gives public speeches and media appearances to share his expertise on a variety of addiction-related topics, including the impact of addiction in the workplace.
Robert is speaking during Replication Of Successful Service Lines – Strategies For Market Expansion.
Sonia Garcia
Sonia Garcia is the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Amae Health a specialty integrated care provider for individuals with severe mental illness. Sonia’s journey into the mental illness space began after tragically losing father to suicide at age 16, and subsequently struggling for years to support her brother’s battle with schizoaffective disorder. This led her to launch a non-profit for young adults living with mental health issues in partnership with NAMI in Texas. She then went on to obtain an M.S. in Engineering from Stanford University’s d.school as a Knight-Hennessy Scholar with a thesis on human-centered mental health innovation. Prior to co-founding Amae, Sonia helped to build the nation’s first digital pediatric behavioral health company, Brightline. Sonia was recently recognized in Business Insider’s 30 under 40 in Healthcare, which highlights the most influential young leaders shaping the future of the industry.
Sonia is speaking during Replication Of Successful Service Lines – Strategies For Market Expansion.
Stas Sokolin
Stas Sokolin is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Amae Health, a specialty integrated care provider for individuals with severe mental illness. Stas’ motivation to build Amae stems from his challenging family experience of having a father and sister with Type 1 Bipolar disorder, who for decades received inadequate care. Prior to launching Amae Health, Stas worked at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative leading impact healthcare venture investing. Stas also previously worked at Google X, and Health2047, where he was on the founding team of Zing Health. Stas was recognized in Business Insider’s 30 under 40 in Healthcare in 2022, which highlights the most influential young leaders shaping the future of the industry.
Stas is speaking during Replication Of Successful Service Lines – Strategies For Market Expansion.
Ken Carr
Ken Carr brings over 20 years of finance, technology, data analysis and reporting experience in the health and human service field to OPEN MINDS. He currently ia a Senior Associate with the OPEN MINDS consulting practice. In this role, he served 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, financial analysis of service lines, and technology selection.
Before joining the OPEN MINDS team, 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.
Leveraging Technology To Improve Productivity & Consumer Engagement In Home-Based Programs
Impacted by the recent pandemic, individuals, families, employment, child-care, and supports for these groups and activities spiraled. As a result, challenges such as stress, lack of caregiving options, and lack of treatment access increased. A great need existed for home-based services, while traditional service delivery could have been improved. The shift to virtual services was introduced by funding flexibility in service reimbursement and evaluation requirements. This presented an opportunity to utilize technology to engage care in home-based settings. Home-based service programs quickly swiveled during this time, strengthening access to high-quality services through technology to support gaps in care for families and individuals. Effective strategies included providing access to the internet, technology tutorials, and increased access to care. Virtual services were already seen as promising to access, engage, improve the quality of care, and engage homebound individuals before the pandemic.
So, how can an organization work to improve productivity while engaging patients in home-based programs? In this session, attendees will learn:
- Examples of technology used to improve staff productivity
- Models of consumer engagement
- How to maintain a high rate of service provision (e.g., maintenance of services, home visitor caseloads, program completion rates)
April Rhodes, MBA, LAMFT
April Rhodes, MBA, LAMFT is President and Chief Executive Officer for Spectrum Healthcare Group. Through statewide community solutions, and focused care, April and her team are meeting the whole health needs of Arizona’s populations.
April has served at the forefront of healthcare and human services management for nearly two decades. Her unique brand of leadership has successfully launched whole healthcare delivery into new heights of innovation, defragmentation, integration, and cohesion.
April has a Master of Advanced Study in Marriage and Family Therapy from Arizona State University and a Master of Business Administration from University of Arizona. April is a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist.
April Rhodes currently serves on the Board of Directors for Arizona Council of Human Service Providers, Yavapai County Board of Health, and Yavapai College Foundation Board. Additionally, she serves on the Contexture Board, the health information exchange for Arizona and Colorado. April is considered a subject matter expert on topics relating to leadership, whole-person healthcare, value-based purchasing, access to care, and criminal justice and mental health related community-based services.
April is speaking during Developing Home Care Programs For Consumers With Behavioral Health Needs: A Case Study Presentation and Leveraging Technology To Improve Productivity & Consumer Engagement In Home-Based Programs.
Frank Gutierrez
Frank has worked in healthcare IT departments since 2002 where he got his start at Siemen’s International, supporting branches of the Tenet Healthcare hospitals in Southern California. He studied programming in college from machine code to C++, where he discovered that he actually liked working and interacting with people instead of computer screens. With a base understanding of computer science, Frank has primarily been self-taught in modern programming languages, servers, systems, networks and business solutions for healthcare IT. For over eight years, he managed and supported the Northern Arizona region of LabCorp sites. He designed and wrote several custom programs for LabCorp, some of which are still in use today. He has also provided IT consulting services for various physicians and group practices in Arizona. He currently works as the VP of Information Technology at Spectrum Healthcare, where he can regularly be found providing services to patients or filling in wherever the need is greatest at the agency.
Frank is speaking during Developing Home Care Programs For Consumers With Behavioral Health Needs: A Case Study Presentation and Leveraging Technology To Improve Productivity & Consumer Engagement In Home-Based Programs.
Dee DeWitt
Dee DeWitt has extensive experience as a consultant and corporate leader in the healthcare field. Mr. DeWitt brings over 28 years of experience in healthcare finance and operations, M&A, use of technology, strategic planning, and change management in healthcare organizations to OPEN MINDS as a Senior Associate.
Previously, Mr. DeWitt was the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Momentum for Health, a CARF-accredited non-profit behavioral health organization providing services to individuals with a diagnosed serious mental illness (SMI) and/or substance abuse disorder, in San Jose, California. During his tenure, Mr. DeWitt increased outpatient productivity by 25% and contributed to growing revenues from $55 million to a projected $71+ million for the fiscal year of 2023. Mr. DeWitt also oversaw Momentum ‘s pilot with Santa Clara County’s transition to Netsmart Provider Connect and led a successful grant award and implementation of a multi-year paid intern program in partnership with Santa Clara University, San Jose University, and Palo Alto University.
Mr. DeWitt was also the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Veridian Financial Group, a strategic consulting firm specializing in performing long-term, on-site C-level and Director roles, evaluating and implementing financial strategies, strategic operational planning, and development strategies for companies that are poised for significant growth, change, or require turnaround attention, in San Jose, California. During his time at Veridian Financial Group, Mr. DeWitt focused primarily on healthcare, finance, technology, and private equity and coordinated licensing, compliance, and external audits for 42 state licenses, including managed care organizations, managed care plans, Medicare, Medicaid, and service provider organizations.
In addition, Mr. DeWitt served as Chief Financial Officer and a Consultant in Strategic Planning and Finance for Home Recovery – Home Aid, Inc., a private equity-backed, for-profit company that provides personal care and skilled care in 35 locations and in-home care throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. During his time there, Mr. DeWitt was a member of the company’s executive management team, audit team, and License & Compliance team. Mr. DeWitt also served as Chief Financial Officer of Professional Healthcare Resources, Inc., a for-profit holding company comprised of 5 home health companies, 4 hospice companies, and 2 private duty/personal care companies. Mr. DeWitt has also been the Chief Financial and Technology Officer for The Filson, a nationally renowned non-profit archive and research institute, and Director of Strategic Development for Signature Healthcare, LLC, a national private equity-backed for-profit, long-term care company operating over 180 facilities, with 18,000 employees, and over $1 billion in revenues.
Mr. DeWitt also held the positions of Deputy Director of Behavioral Health at the County of Ventura, CA Behavioral Health Services Department, and Director of Finance and Management Services of the Southeastern Arizona Behavioral Health Services (SEABHS), a joint commissioned accredited non-profit.
Mr. DeWitt graduated from the University of Louisville, Kentucky with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and a Master’s in Political Science with a concentration in Economics and Public Policy.
Home-Based Service Models For Consumers With Cognitive & Physical Health Challenges
Behavioral health and health care is moving from the office to the home. Home health care aims to promote, maintain, restore, or maximize the level of independence of care for recipients while minimizing the effects of disabilities and illnesses. Home health care includes various medical and therapeutic services, including applied behavior analysis (ABA), 24-hour residential support, Enhanced Case Management, Severe Behavior Services, and Crisis Intervention. A growing number of health care services are provided in the care recipient’s home due to the urgency of continuing care plans, specialty needs, and as an extension or adjunct to primary care. Home health care offers the advantages of cost efficiencies, support in place, and independence. Understanding the needs of providers and care recipients is vital to optimizing whole-person health.
Attendees will learn the following:
- What is a “home” setting (group home, individual home)
- How to define the difference between home vs. community care
- Model programs, case study examples and supports that are effective in the home-based models versus the community-based model to provide effective treatment, quality of life, and comfort of care
Paula Pompa-Craven, Psy-D
Dr. Paula Pompa-Craven brings over 25 years of experience in non-profit leadership positions to OPEN MINDS as an Advisory Board Member.
In addition to her work with OPEN MINDS, Dr. Pompa-Craven is the Chief Clinical Officer and a Licensed Psychologist at Easterseals Southern California. In this role, Dr. Pompa-Craven leads the autism service line throughout an eight-county region in Southern California, including operations, clinical, project, and program management. She is responsible for the clinical and operational oversight including service provision to 12,000 individuals with autism and their families and 1400 staff throughout Southern California. Dr. Pompa- Craven also oversees the clinical case consultation for multi-diagnoses and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) clinical teams in this role. Dr. Pompa-Craven oversees a research lab focused on client outcomes, satisfaction, advocacy and staff retention. Dr. Pompa-Craven has several recent publications in peer reviewed journals.
In her long tenure at Easterseals Southern California, Dr. Pompa-Craven has held multiple positions. Prior to becoming Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Pompa-Craven was Regional Vice President of Easterseals Southern California. In this position, she led the start-up and development of a Residential Service line resulting in the development of 15 homes in the community for a number of people who had previously spent most of their lives in instinctual settings. Dr. Pompa-Craven also supervised The Directors of Residential Services and Support Living Services in this role. Dr. Pompa-Craven was also the Director of Foundations and Grants at Easterseals Southern California. In this position, she led and collaborated with the foundation’s team to develop appropriate funding targets and maintain grants and the foundation database. She researched, wrote, and provided consultation to Easterseals programs for federal, state, and community grants and foundation requests. Additionally, Dr. Pompa-Craven held the position of Northern and Western Los Angeles County Regional Director for Easterseals Southern California, where she led the operations of infant, child, and adult social service programs in the San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita, Lancaster, and West Los Angeles areas.
After receiving her doctorate, Dr. Pompa-Craven was a Registered Psychology Assistant for Rene Folse, Inc., J.D., Ph.D. In this role, Dr. Pompa-Craven conducted psychological assessments on children and adults for regional center eligibility, social security benefits, requests for conservatorship, and individual educational planning. She also provided behavioral planning for individuals residing in a group home and provided training and monitoring of written behavioral plans.
Dr. Pompa-Craven was also a Consultant for the Kern Regional Center in California, where she provided and managed the person-center assessment, evaluation, and planning with individuals moving from State Development Center and provided technical assistance and training to the Inyo and Mono County Self-Determination Initiative. Dr. Pompa-Craven also participated in state-wide committees and conference presentations for both projects.
Dr. Pompa-Craven graduated with a Doctorate in Psychology from Pepperdine University in 2000. Dr. Pompa-Craven also holds a Master’s in Psychology from Pepperdine University in 1995. In 991, Dr. Pompa-Craven graduated from the University of California Los Angeles. Dr. Pompa-Craven is also a member of numerous boards and committees including the American Psychological Association, the Association for Behavior Analysis, the California Psychological Association, the Conejo Valley Parent Teacher Student Association, the Kaiser Permanent Autism Service Steering Committee, the Autism Society of America, California Associate for Behavior Analysis, Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce, Easterseals Autism Spokesperson Network, and National Charity League Vista Robles Chapter.
Paula is speaking during Home-Based Service Models For Consumers With Cognitive & Physical Health Challenges.
Angela Yen, MA, BCBA
Angela Yen is a dedicated behavior analyst with over 15 years of experience working with complex, underserved populations. After receiving her master’s degree in Special Education with an emphasis in autism spectrum disorders, she pursued her certification as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). Since then, she has worked in a variety of settings, including schools, residential facilities, and community organizations, helping individuals with developmental disabilities, mental health disorders and other unique needs.
Angela has demonstrated a commitment to delivering innovative and effective individualized interventions for her clients. She has also provided training and consultation to other professionals and organizations, helping to expand the use of evidence-based practices in the field.
At Easterseals Southern California, Angela oversees both the Consultation Services and the Crisis Support Services Departments. She believes in collaborative approach that emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships with individuals and their systems of support to create linkages and build capacity.
Angela is interested in research topics related to trauma informed care and organizational behavior management. She is passionate about what she does and looks forward to continuing to make a difference in the lives of those she serves.
Angela is speaking during Home-Based Service Models For Consumers With Cognitive & Physical Health Challenges.
Rick Gutierrez, Ph.D., BCBA
Rick Gutierrez is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Licensed Psychologist in California. He has a Doctorate in Industrial/Organizational Psychology as well as a Masters in Psychology with an emphasis in Applied Behavior Analysis. He has over 25 years of applied experience working in the clinical, community, and school settings. He has provided numerous workshops on Applied Behavior Analysis across Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America. Further, he has provided international consultation to clinics serving individuals diagnosed with a developmental disability around the globe.
Currently, Dr. Gutierrez is the Vice President of Operations and Clinical Strategy for Easterseals Southern California Autism Services. He is responsible for the oversight of the intake, contracting, new development, and network provider services provided by Easterseals Southern California. Dr. Gutierrez has extensive experience in staff training, employee retention, employee engagement, as well as the treatment of individuals diagnosed with autism and other developmental disabilities. He is an emotional intelligence trainer. He has published research in The Analysis of Verbal Behavior. His research interests are in social skills, verbal behavior, problem behavior, and organizational behavior management.
Lupe Trevizo-Reinoso, MS
Guadalupe Trevizo-Reinoso is an accomplished professional with three decades of experience as the Vice President of Living Options at Easterseals, Southern California. Throughout her tenure, she has demonstrated exceptional expertise in developing, implementing, and managing Living Options programs for adults with disabilities in the Southern California region.
Ms. Trevizo-Reinoso joined Easterseals, in 1993 as a Program Director and assumed her current leadership role in 1995. Her career commenced with Easterseals when the organization was awarded the prestigious CSLA project (Community Supported Living Arrangement). She played a vital role in facilitating the transition of individuals from Camarillo State Hospital into Supported Living, following the Coeffelt Settlement.
In her capacity as Vice President, Ms. Trevizo-Reinoso oversees a diverse range of Easterseals, programs, including 23 Licensed Residential homes and approximately 100 individuals living independently with varying levels of support. Additionally, she provides leadership in supervising Coordinated Life Services and Community Family Supports, ensuring a smooth transition for individuals relocating from State Developmental Centers, IMD, or those at risk of entering more restrictive living environments, such as incarceration.
Ms. Trevizo-Reinoso holds both a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in rehabilitation counseling from California State University, Los Angeles, underlining her strong academic foundation. She currently resides in South Pasadena with her husband and two sons.
Lupe is speaking during Home-Based Service Models For Consumers With Cognitive & Physical Health Challenges.
Deanne Cornette, MHA, GPC
Deanne Cornette, MHA, GPC, brings over 20 years of experience in the behavioral health field. Ms.Cornette currently serves as a Senior Associate for OPEN MINDS and brings to the OPEN MINDS team noted expertise in strategic planning, grant writing and revenue development.
Previously, Ms. Cornette was the Vice President of Strategic Development for Tampa Family Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Healthcare Center. In this role, she managed grants, contracts, front desk operations, training, quality assurance special assignments (risk assessments and responses to complaints), credentialing and billing functions. In a very short time period, she successfully procured funding to integrate behavioral health services, brought a system of processes to track health indicators and improve value-based care payment and service and became proficient in utilizing HRSA’s reporting portals.
As Counsel for Strategic Development at Agency for Community Treatment Services, Inc. (ACTS) and Vice President of Business Development for Gracepoint (merger), Ms. Cornette directed strategic development, contract negotiations, revenue development, marketing and grants. In this capacity, she targeted funding sources and built a lucrative cash flow that provided needed services to vulnerable populations in need of behavioral health treatment.
Some of her most successful negotiations created best practice services for veteran’s programs, women’s services, as well those involved with the criminal justice system. Her portfolio includes a wide array of awards from a multitude of agencies including, but not limited to: SAMHSA, HUD, Centers for Medicaid, and the Department of Transportation and collaborations with private, non-profit and government entities. Most recently, she worked with Gracepoint to develop Hillsborough’s Centralized Receiving Facility, one of the first funded in the State of Florida. From a system of care for jail diversion to evidence based practices for individuals who are homeless with behavioral health needs, her awards have netted over $80 million dollars to our community.
In addition, Ms. Cornette served as the Vice President for the National Contract Management Association Suncoast Chapter, Vice President of ACTS Affordable Housing Board of Directors, Vice President of ACTS Foundation Board of Directors, and was a member of Hillsborough County Health Care Advisory Board. She is the recipient of University of South Florida’s 2018 Florida Outstanding Women of the Year in Public Health. Her Centralized Receiving Facility collaborative won a 2018 WEDU PBS Be Brilliant / Innovation Award. Her concept of Housing, Engagement and Retention Tenancy (HEART) program won the 2018 Heart for Homeless award through the Housing and Education Alliance.
Ms. Cornette received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and her Masters Degree in Health Administration from the University of South Florida.
Re-energizing Your Team After Post Pandemic Burnout
Even before the pandemic, long-term stress and burnout was a significant issue facing the health and human service industry. Symptoms may include increased fatigue or irritability, lack of focus and concentration, physical or mental illness, diminished productivity, and apathy. However, by providing a culture where middle managers feel supported, provider organizations can reduce burnout and improve retention and productivity. Hear organizational case studies on how health and human service providers are approaching stress and burnout among middle managers, including:
- Developing a middle management wellness and support plan
- Creating a positive work culture
- Recruiting and retaining the right staff
Joe Avelino, RN, BSN, MHSA, CPHQ
Joe Avelino is currently the Chief Executive Officer at College Medical Center located at Long Beach, CA. He serves as present Past-Chair Elect of the Executive Board for the Hospital Association of Southern California; Board of Director, Vice-President for the United Hospital Association; former Board of Director for the American College of Healthcare Executive (ACHE) of Southern CA, and former Board of Director of the Southern California Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA).
Joe has an extensive background in specializing in hospital operations, business development, revenue cycle, and regulatory compliance. He began his career in healthcare as an ER and Neurosurgery Critical Care Nurse. Joe has also served over 25 plus years with the U.S. Army, where he was a Lieutenant Colonel, coordinating the medical care of the injured soldiers returning home from the Middle East. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, and the California Commendation Medal.
Joe has also been appointed to the Board of Examiners for the Governor’s Quality Award, published in Who’s Who Among American Nurses, and received his Certification for Professional Healthcare Quality. He received his Bachelor of Science in Nursing from American University, and his master’s in health services administration from George Washington University.
Joe is speaking during Re-energizing Your Team After Post Pandemic Burnout.
Ray Wolfe, J.D.
Raymond “Ray” Wolfe, J.D. brings over 40 years of experience in the health and human services sector to the OPEN MINDS team. Mr. Wolfe currently serves as a Senior Associate, a position in which he utilizes his expertise to successfully lead varying projects for OPEN MINDS. His areas of expertise include managed care and value-based reimbursement models, financial analysis and management, mergers and acquisitions, CCBHC certification, integrated care, performance improvement, and strategic planning.
Before joining OPEN MINDS, Mr. Wolfe served in a 22-year tenure with Pittsburgh Mercy Health System in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Most recently, Mr. Wolfe served as the organization’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), where he was responsible for oversight of all system operations, strategic planning, and performance management. Under his direction Pittsburgh Mercy achieved Certified Behavioral Health Center status, earned over $850K in value-based reimbursement contract quality bonus awards, integrated three organizations through merger/acquisition, opened a primary care service that was integrated into programming for the severe and persistent mentally ill and homeless populations, and adopted a new performance management program for managers.
Before acting as Pittsburgh Mercy’s COO, Mr. Wolfe served as the organization’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and was responsible for the development of internal costing methodologies, contract rate negotiations, and financial forecasting activities. In addition, he coordinated an integrated care program with local partner hospitals to develop a series of diversion and respite programs, as well as specialized primary care, integrated care management, and high utilizer teams, while maintaining 15 straight years of profitability.
Mr. Wolfe was promoted to CFO after serving as the Director of Fiscal and Information Security/Compliance for the health system. In this role, he was responsible for managing the transition of service contracts from fee-for-service (FFS), leading all compliance activities, and implementing a next-generation electronic health record (EHR) system.
Prior to his time at Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, Mr. Wolfe served as Chief Fiscal Officer with the Summit Center for Human Development in Clarksburg, West Virginia, where he was responsible for reporting and budgeting functions and preparing Summit Center’s programs for FFS billing.
Previously, Mr. Wolfe served in billing and collections for two Pennsylvania-based hospitals. First, in his role as a manager for Healthcare Corporation of America (HCA) and as an Accounts Receivables Manager for Brownsville General Hospital in Brownsville, PA, where he managed the accounting and billing system transition systems. Later as a Patient Account Manager for St. Francis Medical Center in Pittsburgh, PA, where he improved collections to hit a 95% rate through the implementation of new billing software and department reorganization.
Prior to working in the health and human services market, Mr. Wolfe spent five years practicing as a Lawyer with at Law Offices of Arch A. Moore in Moundsville, WV. In this role, he provided general legal practice, created and established bylaws for multiple corporations, and handled West Virginia licensing of first vision insurance plan.
Mr. Wolfe earned his Juris Doctor from the West Virginia University School of Law in Morgantown, WV and his Bachelor’s degree with a focus in Political Science and Sociology from West Liberty University, Wheeling, West Virginia, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.
Sustainability, Growth, & Strategy: The Management Practices That Drive Success
Navigating through market turbulence in the health and human services industry rests on building a strong foundation. To keep systems and processes on track, while making strategic adjustments when markets shift, requires excellence in management and implementation of best practices throughout the organization. In getting the best out of serving consumers with complex needs, today’s leaders need to stay focused on talent management, service line optimization, maintaining peak performance, making wise technology investments, and more. Join us for our closing keynote with OPEN MINDS Chief Executive Officer, Monica E. Oss, as she discusses the organizational and management skills that executive leaders need to be successful and go the distance.
Monica E. Oss
Monica E. Oss, M.S. is the founder of OPEN MINDS and serves as its chief executive officer, executive editor of its publications and websites, and executive lead of its consulting engagements. 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. She is well known for her numerous books and articles focused on the strategic and marketing implications of the evolving health and human service field – and its focus on the verticals of the field serving consumers with chronic conditions and complex support needs.
Ms. Oss has extensive experience in developing and implementing growth strategies for a wide array of organizations in the field. She has expertise in industry trend analysis, reimbursement, rate setting, and creating actionable plans for market success. In her role, she has led numerous engagements with state Medicaid plans, county governments, private insurers, and health plans, 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.
Prior to founding OPEN MINDS, Ms. Oss served as an executive with a nationally managed behavioral health organization, responsible for market development, actuarial analysis, and capitation-based rate setting. She also held a position as vice president of the U.S. risk management and underwriting division of an international insurance company.
Ms. Oss has been the keynote speaker at the conferences of dozens of national associations and has been published in a wide range of professional journals and trade publications. She has provided Congressional and state legislative testimony on issues as diverse as the financial impact of parity and payer medication access policies.
Ms. Oss has led a range of industry research and consultation initiatives, serving as principal investigator on research projects that include the examination of national managed care enrollment and service patterns, development of provider rate structures for government entities, creation of return-on-investment models for technology investments; design of performance-based compensation models within public and private health plans; and analysis of the economic impact of changes in benefit design, adoption of evidence-based practices, and new technologies.