At its Fall 2018 Board Meeting, the NABH Board of Trustees established an initiative to assure that patients who require medically necessary behavioral healthcare have access to it. This Board-directed effort is intended to address the behavioral healthcare industry’s growing concern that health plans are micromanaging behavioral health services so intensely that they are restricting patient access to medically necessary care.

This is why NABH created the Managed Care Committee, which will work with the Board and the NABH management team to develop a focused strategy that addresses this issue. This comprehensive initiative will focus on both parity-related fixes and provider actions that could help change current health plan practices. External consultants who specialize in health plan activities, the parity law, and regulations will help the committee with its work.

The committee works to:

  • Identify challenges that NABH members experience with utilization management procedures from health plans
  • Discuss problems they face providing care that their patients’ need
  • Develop practical recommendations to solve this persistent problem.

The committee includes:

Chair:

  • Car Evans, Chair, Universal Health Services, Inc., FL

Members:

  • Shena Ashmore, Oceans Healthcare, TX
  • Cassi Baker, Acadia Healthcare, Inc., TN
  • Shannon Boling, L.P.C.C., L.M.F.T., Rogers Behavioral Health, WI
  • Deborah Brodine, M.H.A., M.B.A., UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital and UPMC Western Behavioral Health, PA
  • Kelly Grill-Cooper, M.S., L.C.P.C., Endeavor Health Linden Oaks Hospital, IL
  • Angela Craparotta, M.A., M.B.A., Penn Medicine Princeton House Behavioral Health, NJ
  • Karen Fauer, UltraGroup Healthcare, TN
  • Erica K. Fox, M.B.A., Perimeter Healthcare, GA
  • Mark Friedlander, M.D., M.B.A., Universal Health Services, Inc., PA
  • Andrew J. Gerber, M.D., Ph.D., Silver Hill Hospital, CT
  • Kathie Green, Psychological & Behavioral Consultants (PsychBC), OH
  • Jeff Griffin, Newport Healthcare, TN
  • Stacie Harty, Acadia Healthcare, Inc., TN
  • Emily Hunter, L.M.S.W., Compass Health, LA
  • Marina Mahoney, Blended Health, AR
  • Erica Munger, Penn Medicine Princeton House Behavioral Health, NJ
  • Lori Nason, RN, Acadia Healthcare Inc, TN
  • Carl O’Brien, Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care , NJ
  • Steve Page, SUN Behavioral Health, NJ
  • Ryan Pardo, LifeStance Health, Inc., WA
  • Creg Parks, Signature Healthcare Services, LLC, CA
  • Clay Phillips, Summit BHC, TN
  • Eric M. Plakun, M.D., D.L.F.A.P.A., FACPsych, The Austen Riggs Center, MA
  • Tom Rourke, SUN Behavioral Health, NJ
  • Lori Scharff, L.I.C.S.W., Boys Town Behavioral Health Division, NE
  • Jacob Shaheen, UltraGroup Healthcare, TN
  • Matthew Sparling, Vivant Behavioral Healthcare, AZ
  • Martina Sze, US Healthvest, NY
  • Susan Wright, BayCare Behavioral Health, FL

Staff Liaisons: 

  • Rochelle Archuleta, National Association for Behavioral Healthcare, Washington, DC
  • Shawn Coughlin, National Association for Behavioral Healthcare, Washington, DC