The Recovery Executive Podcast

How do you get industry leading performance out of your business development team? The answer, not surprisingly, is different than what most providers focus on with their business development and community outreach teams. In this episode, I speak with Amy Kelley, VP of Business Development for Promises Behavioral Health, We go through the tactics, strategies, and philosophy that has enabled her to...

Families really want to help their loved one, but often feel at a loss. In some instances, they even feel actively discouraged from supporting their loved one for fear of being labeled an enabler or co-dependent. In this episode, I speak with Carrie Wilkens, founder of The Center for Motivation and Change, where we explore a heavily evidence-based, but little used strategy, called CRAFT (Community...

It's been 2 years since our last podcast on mergers and acquisitions. A lot has changed in that time. Kevin Taggart, Managing Partner at Mertz & Taggart, shares insights into the M&A landscape in behavioral health this year. Have valuations changed? Are residentials and traditional PHP/IOPs even on the radar anymore? Where is MAT trending? What's with all the talk around Autism? Kevin answers all...

Maintaining consistent clinical quality at 80+ facilities is no small task. How can you create standardization across the organization while also allowing for your own clinician's talents to shine through? We also dive into the importance of skills-based therapies as a very necessary component of effective clinical (as opposed to simply psychoeducation). Lori Ryland, Chief Clinical Officer for Pin...

Most facilities are moving in-network, but contracted rates offered by insurance providers vary wildly from almost criminal to very well-compensated. What's the process for going in-network and what can providers do to get the best contracted rates possible? In this episode, we talk with Lee Peterson, who facilitated negotiations for all of Hazelden Betty Ford's in-network contracts, to learn tips...

We know how important peer recovery support for improving the chances of long-term recovery, but how do you make it part of a sustainable business model? As an aspect of treatment that isn't much reimbursed yet, and that also has low margins, how can providers offer this valuable service in a way that doesn't compromise their ability to stay afloat. Trey Laird, CEO of The Lighthouse CT, shares som...

The largest, longest enduring companies in the world have brand. Think Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Nike. WeWork, on the other hand, had hype. In addiction treatment, there was a lot of hype, but little brand, which ended up being the downfall of many a treatment center. Many owners & operators don't understand brand. It's viewed as fluff or a byproduct of marketing. However, brand is actually one of the...

Joe Pritchard, CEO of Pinnacle Treatment Centers, joins us to talk about their continuing success driven by quality clinical care, focus on mission, regionalization, and, most important of all, patience. With decades of experience in the field, and starting out as a behavioral tech himself, Joe offers us insights into what it takes to grow into the role of CEO, and turning 4 centers into 80 across...

Put simply, addiction is extremely complicated. It's not genetics, it's not choice, it's not neurochemical imbalances. Instead, it's a complex interaction of all of these. On this episode, I have one of the world's leading neuroscientists on addiction, Dr. Marc Lewis, walk us through the neurobiology of addiction in laymen's terms. My hope is that we're able to bridge some of the gap between the n...

What does the future hold for insurance reimbursement in addiction treatment? Is it bundled payments or value-based care? What does it take to build relationships with payors and get higher reimbursements? Is it really true that payors paid high amounts for urine screens just to offset excess profit? Doug Nemecek, Chief Medical Officer for Cigna, answers these questions and more in this episode of...

A large percentage of callers into any treatment centers are moms looking for help for a son or daughter. Yet, it turns out that many rehabs are doing a poor job of meeting these mothers' needs. Ally Aabram, a mom who has a son that has been through 20 rehabs, talks about her experiences, where rehabs could better support mothers, and why so many moms are losing faith in rehabs as a viable option...

Unlike the rest of healthcare, it's not uncommon in addiction treatment to hear of programs not collecting patient responsibility - co-pays, deductibles, and other out-of-pocket expenses. Some programs fear that, because "everyone else does it," they have to as well or won't be able to compete. This is not the case, and TJ Ferris, CEO of The Revenue Solution, walks us through how that's done the r...

Moving from clinician to the CEO of Addiction Campus's Treehouse center, Ted Bender has helped turn around struggling centers and accelerate the growth of successful ones. He shares his experience as a clinician and an executive leader in terms of what to do first and where to focus in order to achieve success when coming into a new program.

Methadone has often gotten a bad rap within the addiction treatment space, and sometimes for good reason. Perhaps this is why so many treatment providers are unfamiliar with how it works both clinically and as a business model. CEO of Community Medical Services, Nicholas Stavros, walks us through the numbers of how many people their centers help (sometimes 1,000s a day!) and how the business model...

Hazelden Betty Ford is one of the most successful programs in the country. Their name is known across the US and they're succeeding even while other programs struggle to keep the lights on. Bob Poznanovich shares some of the strategies and tactics that contribute to their success from a business development and sales perspective. It's an episode you don't want to miss.

Value-based care is coming. The payers want it. Lots of people are talking about it, but none of us really know what it means. Jacob Levenson, CEO of MAP Health Management, enlightens us on the ins and outs, as well as how to prepare for this shift.

Clinical excellence is certainly the core of any program, but this isn't just about the quality of the work. Organizational, Administrative, and Development aspects of clinical programming are just as important to a program's success. Andrew Sidoli, an experienced Executive Clinical and Operations Director, gives us insights into what these systems should look like. We also examine the critical el...

Aftercare is an essential part of addiction treatment, but often overlooked in the field. In addition to therapeutic work, there is a strong need for life support and skills, which is exactly what Coalition Recovery's Renaissance program focused on educational attainment is all about. CEO Alexander Ronzino gives us the scoop on one way to add on this much needed continuation of care.

CEO of American Addiction Centers, Michael Cartwright, talks about the ups and downs of both AAC and the industry over his long-standing career building several companies and non-profits in behavioral health. He answers the questions of where the field has been, where it's going, and how his particular approach to business aligns with those developments for AAC.

Jonathan Wolf, CEO of Pyramid Healthcare, is arguably one of the industry leaders when it comes to intentional, sustained growth through both de novo expansion and M&As. He shares his 40 years of insight into the behavioral health space and what he looks for when determining where and when to expand Pyramid Healthcare.

Clinical research and data is a sorely underused resource in our field. Deni Carise, Chief Scientific Officer for Recovery Centers of America, goes into all the ways you can use it to improve your program. Even beyond ensuring you have evidence-based programming that delivers real outcomes, there is huge value in knowing the data from a marketing, business development, and knowledge of coming tren...

Out of network insurance is like the Wild Wild West. You never seem to know what, or even if, you'll get paid, and the insurance payors have a lot of power. Anne Bahr, VP of Collect Rx, shares some tips and tricks to beat them at their own game using insider knowledge on this episode of The Recovery Executive Podcast.

Business Development referrals have dropped from 10 or more a month down to 3 or less per rep. Why is this happening? Some of it has to do with a shift in the field, but much has to do with the way BD reps are trained, managed, and go about their jobs. With decades of experience working for centers large and small, Tony Faulkner shares with us the strategies crucial to maintaining good referral ch...

Peer Recovery Support Coaches/Specialists are just starting to gain traction in the recovery space. Benefits, payment models, and role responsibilities are all still being worked out. In this episode, I speak with Brandon George, Executive Director at Indiana Addiction Issues Coalition, who is spearheading the expansion of these positions in Indiana.

Something as simple as the process you use to verify VOBs can make or break your admissions process. Jon Wagner, CEO of Verify Tx, and I talk about what a good admissions process looks once you've actually got people on the phone.