By Anna Rowe, ABHW Team
The Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness (ABHW), in collaboration with The Healthcare Innovation Company (thINc), hosted their annual Advancing Behavioral Health and Policy Summit from October 28-29, 2024 at the iconic Watergate Hotel. The forward-thinking program brought together leaders from health plans, health systems, employers, government and public agencies, and state, local community, and advocacy organizations to discuss major initiatives and the driving forces to advance behavioral health.
The Summit kicked off with ABHW outgoing President and CEO, Pamela Greenberg, introducing ABHW’s new President and CEO, Debbie Witchey. While both leaders provided opening remarks and Debbie’s appointment as President and CEO began earlier that month, this was a rather symbolic moment for ABHW of one leader passing the torch to the next leader.
After the opening remarks, U.S. Department of Labor Assistant Secretary Lisa Gomez participated in a Fireside Chat moderated by Epstein Becker Green’s Kevin Malone. They explored components of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act final rule and its anticipated implications. After the Fireside Chat, Rebecca Bagley from The Kennedy Forum, Melissa Bartlett from The ERISA Industry Committee, Kathryn Cohen from ABHW, and Brad Lerner from Elevance Health engaged in a panel discussion that analyzed the details of the final rule and its impact on providers, health plans, and patients.
Following this session, ABHW’s Maeghan Gilmore moderated a panel on the evolving landscape of utilization management with Adam Easterday from Optum, Kentucky Representative Rachel Roberts from National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL), and Shawn Coughlin from the National Association for Behavioral Healthcare (NABH) as panelists.
This panel evaluated the pros and cons of prior authorization in behavioral health, examined the recent state and federal legislative changes, and their impact on care delivery and administrative processes.
Other sessions on Day One included a panel on evolving strategies and policies for substance use disorder care, a series of talks on collaborative approaches to suicide prevention, a panel on the role of artificial intelligence in behavioral health care, a panel on strengthening network adequacy and provider directory accuracy, and a Fireside Chat on leveraging telehealth and digital solutions to expand access to behavioral health care.
To wrap up Day One, ABHW board members, Bernard DiCasimirro from Lucet, Jim Laughman from PerformCare, Brad Lerner from Elevance, Doug Nemecek from Evernorth Health Services, and ABHW President and CEO Debbie Witchey conversed with attendees in a town hall setting and answered attendees’ questions of the payers. For many attendees, this was a highlight of the Summit because they had the opportunity to ask leaders from health plans what the plans are doing to address the behavioral health workforce shortage, evolution of value-based care, improving overall patient outcomes and care coordination, and more.
Day Two began with an audience poll led by Debbie Witchey, followed by a panel on closing the maternal mental health care gap. ABHW Director of Communications and Programs Angela Lee moderated the conversation, bringing up important questions regarding maternal mental health awareness and underlined measures that panelists Malekeh Amini from Trayt Health; Tania Calle from Representative Lauren Underwood’s office; Deborah Fernandez-Turner from Aetna, a CVS Health Company; and Kay Matthews from Shades of Blue Project are taking to support people facing maternal mental health challenges.
After this, attendees were asked to participate in an interactive session on innovative strategies to address the children and youth mental health crisis, a panel on advancing data sharing in behavioral health, and a talk called, “Holding up the Mirror to Behavioral Health: Addressing the Performance of the System.” With Election Day the following week and on everyone’s minds, the final session explored how the election results could shift the landscape of health care policy.
At the conclusion of the conference, over 200 attendees left the summit with new insight into how health care leaders are driving positive change in the equitable access, delivery, and quality of mental health and substance use disorder services. Thank you to all who attended and spoke at the Summit. We are already looking forward to next year!
View more highlights and photos from the event on our LinkedIn page.
We would like to thank our Summit sponsors for helping make this a successful event: Trayt Health, Canopy, Epstein Becker Green, and Amazon Business.
