Behavioral Healthcare Summit: Powerful strategy, practical advice for organization leaders

After a year of planning, it’s time to dive into the 2013 Behavioral Healthcare Leadership Summit, which begins along with NCAD 2013 on Sunday morning, September 22, at the Marriott Anaheim in Anaheim, California. The two-day Summit offers a leadership- and management-focused complement to the clinical focus of NCAD and is open to  behavioral health executives, directors, managers, administrators, board members and others who lead or manage critical functions in behavioral health organizations.

As host for the Summit, Behavioral Healthcare will be on hand throughout and will provide maximum coverage, beginning early Sunday morning. We invite you to follow coverage here, at the NCAD website, or on Twitter (#NCADCon).  As always, Behavioral Healthcare will honor outstanding organizational leaders as 2013 Behavioral Healthcare Champions at a special NCAD/Summit luncheon on Sunday. Also honored at the luncheon are a distinguished group of Outstanding Clinicians selected by our sister publication, Addiction Professional.

For those seeking the strategic perspective, the 2013 Summit offers these sessions:

• If you’ve never heard the Behavioral Healthcare Summit’s leadoff speaker, Vincent Felitti, MD, you owe it to yourself to join us on Sunday morning (10:15 am, Session BH01).  Dr. Fellitti, who with Robert Anda, MD, developed a seminal study about the potentially devastating impact of traumatic childhood experiences on later behavioral and physical health, is a “can’t miss” speaker in my book. His message will challenge you to reshape your understanding of early development and the roots of addiction.  The data he uses to tie his case together will be a strategic asset to all who attend.
• After lunch on Sunday, Kathleen Reynolds, a National Council VP, and Aaron Williams of the SAMHSA/HRSA Center for Integrated Health Solutions, will address essentials of integrating primary care with the unique requirements of addiction treatment in health home settings (1:45 pm, Session BHO2). The duo will share and discuss essential lessons learned from SUD treatment providers who are attempting integration at this time. Whether you’re actively considering primary care integration for your treatment organization, or just trying to stay informed, this pair will get you up to speed.

• Monday morning’s 10:30 am presentation (Session BH04) features two attorneys—Renee Popovits and the ONC’s Scott Weinstein—who are playing vital roles in a nationwide effort to mesh federal patient confidentiality laws such as CFR 42, Part 2 with current technology and the national goal of accelerating patient information exchange to improve healthcare quality. Something’s got to give if behavioral health is to be part of the national health information infrastructure.  Find out what, and let the Office of National Coordinator know where you stand, by joining us.

• The potential impact of an organization’s board of directors is more important than ever, but what measures can executive leaders use to assess board members’ overall performance?  With data developed over years at Behavioral Pathway Systems (now a part of Netsmart), Netsmart’s Denny Morrison will offer an approach for benchmarking key factors in board members’ performance and getting more of the results that are essential to success (Monday, 2:15 pm, Session BH06).

For those leaders seeking new skills and knowledge, the Summit offers a lot of practical advice and approaches:

• For those behavioral health professionals who must master the art of driving and reporting results, David Bucciferro, a longtime New York State behavioral health administrator who now works with a major technology provider, will explain how to combine information technology and practical metrics to produce impactful reports and drive agency changes that improve efficiency, performance, compliance, and quality of care (Sunday, 1:45 pm Session BH03).  If you’re looking for just the thing to make your group, department, or agency reports more influential and powerful, this might well be it.

• If securing new insurance contracts is on your to-do list, join Stacy Blumberg of DePaul Treatment Centers, who will detail the “how tos” of a successful approach for winning insurance contracts, from introduction to contract close (Monday, 10:30 am, Session BH05). For organizations who are still making the leap from grant funding to the world of MCOs and commercial insurance, Stacy’s approach will help you fill in the blanks—she’s done it successfully!

• So-called “middle managers” typically face the stress of expectations from higher leadership and the need to demonstrate leadership over diverse organizational groups. In a Monday afternoon session titled “Leading from the Middle,” two Mississippi state officials will illustrate their formulae for success in translating state-level leadership objectives into workable action plans that move the efforts of system employees. You’re invited to benefit from their knowledge and experiences.   

The 2013 Summit will wrap up with a fascinating case study in organizational ethics by Thomas Baier, Executive Director of Addiction Treatment Services at JEVS Human Services (Monday, 4:30 pm, Session BH08). Baier will draw lessons from the fall of Enron and challenge listeners to evaluate the ethical sustainability of their own organization.  It’s a powerful presentation and a fitting conclusion to the 2013 Summit.

I’ll be on hand throughout the Summit, looking forward to meeting everyone.