Oct 20 - 21, 2020

Dr. Edwin C. Chapman has practiced in Washington, DC for 40 over years specializing in Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine. Over the past 20 years, he has investigated the complex mix of addiction, undertreated mental illness, infectious diseases (AIDS & Hepatitis C), criminal behavior, and chronic diseases in which patients have 20-25 year shorter life expectancies. Dr. Chapman received his B.S. in 1969 and M.D. in 1973 from Howard University College of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine as well as a fellowship in cardiology from historic Freedmen’s and Howard University Hospitals. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM, 1979), the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM grandfathered to ABAM, 2009), a Fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He maintains active memberships in the National Medical Association (NMA) and Medico Chirurgical Society of Washington, DC (MED CHI of DC).

Susan serves as the interim president of Beacon Health Options. Prior to taking on this role earlier this year, Susan served as the Executive Vice President and Market President for our Northeast Region, where she was responsible for leading the development and implementation of innovative clinical programs and solutions to address behavioral health needs in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Rhode Island.

Susan is a health care executive with more than 20 years of experience in leading teams to advance business objectives and has an extensive background in managed care and health care policy involving Medicaid and commercial populations.

Prior to joining Beacon, Susan was the President of the Boston Medical Center HealthNet Plan, a long-standing Beacon client, where she oversaw strategic direction and business operations, the ongoing development of programs and services to meet the needs of new and existing markets, and the implementation of initiatives to improve members’ health and position the health plan for long-term performance. She was also responsible for the Well Sense Health Plan in New Hampshire and had extensive experience with government health programs in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

A graduate of Connecticut College, Susan earned a Juris Doctor from Northeastern University and a Master of Public Health in health services administration from Yale School of Public Health.

Brian D. Coyne was appointed vice president, federal affairs at Magellan Health in January 2017. Previous to this position, he served for over a decade as senior vice president for federal government relations at Amerigroup, a multi-state managed care plan that provided health care coverage for low-income families and children, low-income seniors and people with disabilities through the Medicaid program. Following the Anthem acquisition of Amerigroup in 2012, Dr. Coyne led the company’s Public Policy Institute during the transition until the spring of 2014.

Brian has spent his professional career in government and politics. He served as chief of staff of the U.S. Social Security Administration from 1994 to 2001 and as deputy chief of staff to Rhode Island Governor Bruce Sundlun from 1991-1994. In addition to this work, he was appointed by Virginia Governor Tim Kaine in 2006 to the Virginia Health Reform Commission where he served as co-chair of the Long Term Care Workgroup. In 2010 he was appointed to the National Academy of Social Insurance blue-ribbon study panel on health insurance exchanges. He also served on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation National Advisory Committee for the Executive Nurse Fellows Program from 2010 to 2018.

Dr. Coyne holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude in Government, from Cornell University as well as a Master in Public Administration degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He also holds a Doctor of Law and Policy degree from Northeastern University.

Kelly Crosbie is the Director for Quality and Population Health at NC Medicaid. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing all Quality Improvement and Population Health Programs that use advanced payment models and other population health interventions to improve health outcomes, promote health equity, and address medical and non-medical driver of care. From 2008-2013, Kelly worked at the NC Medicaid as Chief Operating Office (2013) and as an Assistant Director (2008-2012) overseeing the Behavioral Health (BH), Substance Use Disorder (SUD), and Intellectual/Developmental Disability (IDD) benefit.

From 2014-2016, Kelly served as the Chief Operating Office for CCNC, the state’s primary care medical home system. Prior to moving to NC in 2008, Kelly worked as a Social Work instructor at universities in Texas and in New Jersey and provided direct care as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker both in community mental health and in primary care. Kelly has also worked on research projects for the Philadelphia Department of Recreation and on the Philadelphia Mayors Report Card for the City. Ms. Crosbie is a licensed clinical social worker and has over 20 years of leadership and executive experience in Medicaid and Health and Human Service programs.

She received her Master’s Degree from Temple University and her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Pittsburgh. Kelly is an appointed member of the NC Institute of Medicine, the NCQA Public Sector Advisory Committee, the HCP-LAN 2.0 Clinical Executive Forum the National Collaborative for Innovation in Quality Measurement (NCIQM) Advisory Panel, and she serves as Co-Chair of the CMS-sponsored Medicaid & CHIP Scorecard Technical Expert Panel (TEP).

Congressman Charlie Dent currently serves as a Senior Policy Advisor to DLA Piper where he provides strategic advice and counsel to clients on the federal, state and local levels on issues ranging from appropriations, healthcare, defense and veterans, homeland security, infrastructure and energy to international investment, trade and commerce. In addition to his role with DLA Piper, Congressman Dent is a Political Analyst for CNN, a Visiting Fellow for the University of Pennsylvania (UPENN), Perry World House and a Distinguished Advisor for Pew Charitable Trusts.

Prior to those positions, Congressman Dent served 7 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the 15th Congressional District of Pennsylvania. During his time in Congress, Congressman Dent distinguished himself as a strong, independent leader who is well respected on both sides of the aisle. Congressman Dent was a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee where he chaired the Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies. Additionally, he served as the Chairman of the House Committee on Ethics from 2015 – 2017. In addition to his role as a senior Appropriator, Congressman Dent was the co-chair of the Tuesday Group, a caucus of more than 50 center-right Republicans, where he played an important role in many of the most challenging policy and political issues confronted by Congress. Congressman Dent was a member of the Speaker of the House’s weekly cross section lunch and was a member of the Majority Leader’s Chairman’s Table.

Before his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Dent served for 6 years in the Pennsylvania State Senate and 8 years in the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Congressman Dent holds a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Service and International Politics from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master’s of Public Administration from Lehigh University. In 2015, Moravian College conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws upon Congressman Dent.

Mr. Easterday currently serves as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for OptumHealth at United Health Group. His current role encompasses regulatory affairs advocacy on behalf of the OptumHealth division of UHG including Optum Behavioral Health which administers mental health and substance use disorder benefits on behalf of over 20 million Americans in commercial, Medicare and Medicaid plans. Mr. Easterday has been with United Health Group in successive roles for the past 15 years.

Prior to joining United, Mr. Easterday served as Senior Corporate Counsel for PacifiCare Behavioral Health. Mr. Easterday also has prior in-house counsel experience with ValueOptions, Inc. as Senior Vice President & Chief Legal Officer. Prior to his in-house work, Mr. Easterday engaged in private practice in Richmond, Virginia with the firm of Christian & Barton, LLP. Mr. Easterday also served as Deputy Project Director for the Center for Health Dispute Resolution, the CMS contracted external review agent for Medicare Advantage appeals and has a background of experience in hospital administration with a large academic medical center’s mental health department.

Kate Gliske, Ph.D., is a research scientist with the Butler Center for Research, part of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. Dr. Gliske holds a masters in counseling psychology and a doctorate in family social science, where she additionally trained as a prevention scientist. She has worked on a wide variety of research projects over the last 15 years, and has a particular interest in the implementation and dissemination of evidence-based interventions for addiction.

Pamela Greenberg is the President and CEO of the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness; she joined the organization in 1998 as the Executive Director for the American Managed Behavioral Healthcare Association (AMBHA). ABHW is the national voice for specialty behavioral health and wellness companies. ABHW member companies provide services to over 200 million people in both the public and private sectors to treat mental health, substance use and other behaviors that impact health and wellness.

Pamela serves on the Editorial Board of the Bloomberg BNA Health Insurance Report. She is a liaison to the National Committee for Quality Assurance Standards Committee. In 2015 Ms. Greenberg joined the Advisory Board of Landmark Health a company that provides home-based medical care to individuals with multiple chronic conditions and in 2017 she joined InnovaTel Telepsychiatry’s Strategic Advisory Board.

She also was the Chair of the Coalition for Fairness in Mental Illness Coverage, one of the leading Coalitions that helped develop, advocate for, and get the Wellstone-Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 signed in to law. Additionally, Pamela served as President of ACMHA: The College for Behavioral Health Leadership.

Prior to joining ABHW Pamela was the Deputy Director of Federal Affairs for America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). Before joining AHIP Ms. Greenberg was a Legislative Assistant at Capitol Associates, a healthcare consulting firm in Washington, D.C.

Pamela has a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and a Masters in Public Policy from Georgetown University. She is also a Board member of the Lupus Foundation of DC/MD/VA.

During his time in Congress, Patrick J. Kennedy was the lead author of the landmark Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Federal Parity Law), which requires insurers to cover treatment for mental health and substance use disorders no more restrictively than treatment for illnesses of the body, such as diabetes and cancer. In 2013, he founded The Kennedy Forum, a nonprofit that unites advocates, business leaders, and government agencies to advance evidence-based practices, policies, and programming in mental health and addiction. In 2015, Kennedy co-authored the New York Times Bestseller, “A Common Struggle: A Personal Journey Through the Past and Future of Mental Illness and Addiction,” which details a bold plan for the future of mental health care in America. In 2017, he was appointed to the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis.

Kennedy is also the founder of DontDenyMe.org, an educational campaign that empowers consumers and providers to understand parity rights and connects them to essential appeals guidance and resources; co-founder of One Mind, an organization that pushes for greater global investment in brain research; co-chair of Mental Health for US, a nonpartisan initiative designed to elevate mental health and addiction in policy conversations during the 2020 election cycle; and co-chair of the Action Alliance’s Mental Health & Suicide Prevention National Response to COVID-19.

Aryana Khalid manages GPG’s health-related work in the Government Affairs Division. She works with a variety of clients providing strategic political and legislative counsel on a broad range of health and wellness issues. Prior to joining GPG, she was an Executive Vice President at America’s Health Insurance Plans. In this role, she was responsible for the internal operations of the association, as well as providing counsel and strategic advice to the President & CEO. Prior to this role, she was Chief of Staff at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). She was at CMS from 2010 – 2015. In her various roles at CMS, she focused on the day to day operations of CMS, project management for the Affordable Care Act, and working with the Secretary’s Office and the White House on CMS policy and operational decisions. Previously, Aryana served as Senator Mark Warner’s Health and Education Legislative Assistant. In this role, she was responsible for legislation development and analysis involving health and education. She also served as Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Resources(HHR) for the Commonwealth of Virginia. As Deputy Secretary, her primary responsibility was to assist the Secretary in directing the HHR agencies.Prior to her appointment in State Government, Aryana worked for the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). She was in the Chief Operating Officer Development Program at HCA and spent the majority of her time working in hospital operations, outpatient services, and strategic planning.

Aryana received her BS in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia and her Master of Health Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University. Aryana is an alumnus of the Virginia Executive Institute and the Sorenson Political Leaders Program.

James A. Laughman, M.S.W., L.S.W., is President of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Solutions for AmeriHealth Caritas. Additionally, he is President of PerformCare, the organization’s full-service behavioral health managed care organization. Prior to his current appointment, he served as Executive Director of PerformCare in Pennsylvania. As President of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Solutions, Mr. Laughman will lead the team that coordinates care and social services for members with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Mr. Laughman joined AmeriHealth Caritas in 2014. He has devoted the majority of his career to improving the quality of life for people with behavioral, intellectual, or developmental challenges. His experience includes serving as Administrator of Behavioral Health and Developmental Service in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, for nearly 10 years. Other notable achievements include his leadership with the Lancaster County Public Health Partnership and his state appointment as Trustee on the Board for Norristown State Hospital. He has also dedicated many years of service to breaking the cycle of homelessness. As Lead Administrator for the Coalition to End Homelessness in Lancaster County, Mr. Laughman oversaw the successful application for $2.2 million in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding, and the implementation of that award to provide permanent housing for families most in need.

Through Mr. Laughman’s leadership as County Human Services Administrator, Lancaster County implemented an efficiency program featuring innovative software for human services programs administration that reduced service duplications and increased access to information that helped the county save more than $600,000 and improve response time. Mr. Laughman continues to work to lower costs and improve care. He encourages state and federal lawmakers to fund efforts to help revitalize neighborhoods and improve social determinants that impact health and wellness, such as housing, neighborhood safety, and health care. He is also a passionate advocate in helping to combat the opioid epidemic.

Deepti A. Loharikar is the Director of Regulatory Affairs for the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness (ABHW). She joined the organization in January 2020. ABHW is the national voice for specialty behavioral health and wellness companies. ABHW member companies provide services to over 200 million people in both the public and private sectors to treat mental health, substance use and other behaviors that impact health and wellness.

Deepti brings over 12 years of legal and policy experience in the healthcare industry. Prior to joining ABHW, Deepti was the Director of Federal and State Public Policy at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and also previously worked on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act at HHS. Before shifting her focus to health policy, Deepti practiced law, focused on civil litigation, insurance defense, and health law.

Deepti received a B.A. in Genetics and Philosophy from Rutgers College in New Jersey and a J.D. from University of Maryland with a concentration in Healthcare Law and Policy.

Cara McNulty, DPA is President of Aetna Behavioral Health, a leading provider of mental health and employee assistance program (EAP) solutions to members around the globe. She oversees a national team that spearheads the development of programs, products and capabilities designed to offer individuals easy access to quality, innovative treatments and meet people along their health care journey, while driving engagement and improving health outcomes through an easy and meaningful experience.

Cara is a highly regarded executive leader and population health scientist whose success in driving population well-being outcomes spans the employer, government, payer/provider, start-up and education sectors. She is known for her ability to integrate confirmed health science into practical business models that drive measurable outcomes.

Cara previously served as the North American leader of Integrated Wellbeing for Willis Towers Watson. Her responsibilities included advising clients on strategies focusing on employee engagement, clinical outcomes and productivity. She sat on the company’s Health and Benefits Specialty Practice Leadership team and focused on integrated wellbeing, intellectual capital and service development across physical, emotional, financial and social dimensions.

As the former head of Population Health, Team Member Wellbeing and Guest Wellness for Target Corporation, she led efforts to implement the company’s health agenda. She developed strategies that improved all team members’ health, driving value and business growth while decreasing health care expenditures. Through the advancement of Guest Wellness, she successfully led strategy and advanced products and services to meet the demands and desires of the consumer and local communities.

Cara is nationally recognized for her strategic design and implementation of Minnesota’s transformational population health care legislation, which to date is one of the largest financial allocations in the country for initiatives known to be reducing health disparities and chronic diseases.

She holds a doctorate in public administration from Hamline University, a Master of Science in applied health science from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Science in community health education from the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Robert I.L. Morrison – Executive Director and Director Legislative Affairs – National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD)

Robert Morrison first came to the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) in 1998 as Public Policy Associate. Robert then served as Associate Director of Government Relations at Smith, Bucklin and Associates from 1999 to 2001. Robert returned to NASADAD in 2001 as Director of Public Policy and went on to become Executive Director in 2009. Robert first came to Washington in 1993 to work for the late U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (NJ). Robert graduated from Drew University in New Jersey with a B.A. in Political Science and completed graduate work in American Government at the Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Doug Nemecek is the chief medical liaison for behavioral health integration, quality and clinical operations. He helps ensure network access and availability, patient safety, compliance with clinical guidelines, customer and provider satisfaction, and utilization management. Additionally, he works directly with customers and clients to mold operations and provides clinical expertise in new and existing behavioral health and integrated program development. Dr. Nemecek also helps to coordinate Cigna’s national medical cost trend analysis and initiatives to address affordability and major medical cost drivers for our clients.

Since joining Cigna, Dr. Nemecek has helped establish workflows, protocols, and collaborative procedures to create a unified medical management team across the company. He leads Cigna's initiatives and provides thought leadership to key issues such as the national opioid epidemic, and loneliness. Additionally, he continues to develop unique relationships with our network providers to ensure our customers and providers achieve optimal total health outcomes.

Prior to joining Cigna, Dr. Nemecek served as Executive Medical Director for Allina Behavioral Health Services in Minneapolis, overseeing five outpatient clinics and four inpatient mental health units with over 80 mental health providers. He also has 10 years of clinical experience with an inpatient and outpatient psychiatric practice in Minneapolis.

Dr. Nemecek received his M.D. and completed his psychiatric residency at Washington University in St. Louis. He is recognized as a Distinguished Fellow with the American Psychiatric Association, is board certified by the America Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians and holds an M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. Dr. Nemecek currently serves as the Chair for the Board of the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness. He also serves on the Scientific Board for Shatterproof, a national non-profit organization dedicated to ending the devastation that addiction causes families.

Dr. Indira Paharia is a licensed clinical psychologist and the Chief Operating Officer for Centene Advanced Behavioral Health. Centene Advanced Behavioral Health serves over 16 million members in 34 states across Medicare, Medicaid, and Marketplace products as part of the Centene Corporation, a Fortune 50 company.

Dr. Paharia has specialized experience in behavioral health managed care, behavioral and physical health integration, and evidence-based programming for vulnerable populations. She has held senior executive and board positions with provider organizations and Fortune 500 companies. Most recently she served as Chief Practice and Performance Officer for a large multistate child-serving provider organization. Previously, she was the National Vice President of Clinical Programs for a Fortune 500 Medicaid Managed Care company, where she led integrated care management for all Medicaid and Medicare members. Prior to this, she was responsible for behavioral health and worksite wellness operations at a multistate BlueCross BlueShield plan for all commercial, Medicare and Medicaid members.

Dr. Paharia currently serves on the board of the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness. She has served as a delegate at the World Health Assembly, the annual meeting of the World Health Organization and the United Nations, and served as a federally appointed national advisor to SAMHSA for six years. She received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Denver, as well as an MBA in Healthcare Administration and an MS in Healthcare Finance from Temple University with distinction.

She is passionate about ensuring access to high quality behavioral healthcare for our most vulnerable populations.

Rebecca is the CEO for Optum Behavioral Health, a unit dedicated to being the trusted behavioral benefit provider, driving better health outcomes at lower total cost of care, connecting people to providers and innovative tools that improve access to care and inspire them to be more engaged in their own wellness. Rebecca joined Optum in 2018 in a leadership role, driving a range of strategic initiatives. Prior to Optum, Rebecca served as executive vice president, Commercial Insurance and president of Liberty Mutual Benefits where she led a multi-billion dollar division focused on voluntary benefits, which was successfully sold at market-leading valuation. Before joining Liberty Mutual, Rebecca worked for State Street Corporation as senior vice president, Asset Servicing for corporations, nonprofits and mid-market employers. She also held leadership roles in Enterprise Risk Management and Electronic Trading.

She has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, with a track record of profitably growing businesses across group benefits, retirement and financial technology. She has held leadership roles at large regulated institutions, Thomson Financial as well as a consulting role at McKinsey.

Rebecca has lived and worked across Europe and North America. Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University, a Masters of Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Rebecca currently resides in the Boston area with her husband and two children. Rebecca serves on several nonprofit boards, including Jumpstart and the McGill University Desautels Investment Management Expert Panel.

NAMI is the largest national consumer and family organization representing people with serious brain disorders such as schizophrenia, major depression and bipolar disorder. With over 210,000 members and 1,200 affiliates, NAMI is engaged in advocacy, research and public education aimed at improving the lives of people with severe mental illnesses through access to treatment, employment and decent, safe and affordable housing. Mr. Sperling directs NAMI’s legislative advocacy program in Congress and before federal agencies. Since 1994, he has also served as a Co-Chair of the Consortium for Citizens With Disabilities (CCD) Housing Task Force – a coalition of national disability advocacy and provider organizations dedicated to promoting policies and funding to increase access to affordable housing opportunities for non-elderly adults with severe disabilities.

June 1994 -- September 1996
Deputy Director of Government Relations, National Community Mental
Healthcare Council

June 1990 – June 1994
Legislative Assistant U.S. Representative Dick Swett (D-NH)

J.D. Franklin Pierce Law Center, 1992
M.A. George Washington University, 1987
B.A. Tulane University, 1983

Peter Yellowlees is a British-born American physician, researcher, academic and administrator. He is Chief Wellness Officer at UC Davis Health and Professor of General Psychiatry at University of California, Davis. He is also the Vice Chair for Faculty Development in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UC Davis. He holds the Alan Stoudemire Endowed Chair in Psychiatry and is the Director of Physician Health Program at UC Davis Psychiatry. He chairs the UCDH Wellbeing Committee.[1]

Yellowlees has conducted research in the areas of psychiatry, telemedicine, health informatics and physician health. Most of his research has been focused on the doctor-patient interface and how technologies can be used to promote high quality care and improve physician well-being. He has written over 250 academic papers and book chapters and 7 books.[2] Yellowlees was the author and presenter of The Medscape Psychiatry Minute, video editorials that were published every month on WebMD/Medscape from 2009–2019.[3]

Yellowlees was President of the American Telemedicine Association in 2017, and was elected as a fellow of the Australasian College of Health Informatics in 1999, and as a member of the American College of Psychiatrists in 2015. He is a Fellow of the American Telemedicine Association, a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

Emily Yoder is an analyst in the Division of Practitioner Services in the CMS Center for Medicare. She has worked on Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rate setting and policy development since 2015, on topics such as primary care, evaluation and management visits, communication technology based services, and Medicare telehealth.