ROI and Business Evidence for Integrating Behavioral Health into Medical Setting

Roger Kathol, M.D.

Dr. Kathol is board-certified in internal medicine, psychiatry, and medical management with extensive clinical and administrative experience gained during 22 years as a physician/teacher/researcher at the University of Iowa, several years as a health plan Medical Director, and 13 years as an international health complexity consultant through his management consulting company, Cartesian Solutions, Inc.™. His background ideally positions him to assist in the care of patients with complicated comorbid medical and mental conditions. He also consults with hospitals and clinics, health plans, government programs, and businesses as they develop fiscally solvent integrated approaches to medical and mental health care delivery. In addition to his consulting work, Dr. Kathol works part-time caring for patients at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dr. Kathol is currently an adjunct professor of internal medicine and psychiatry at the University of Minnesota. He has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles and 25 book chapters. In his book Healing Body AND Mind: A Critical Issue for Healthcare Reform (2007) with co-author Suzanne Gatteau, he brings to life the negative impact that segregated physical and mental health care has on the lives of patients and outlines the steps that can be taken today which improve health, reduce impairment, and lower health care costs through health service integration. In collaboration with the Case Management Society of America, Dr. Kathol has introduced an industry-changing training curriculum for integrated case managers to assist primary and specialty medical practitioners as they care for their more complex patients. The Integrated Case Management Manual: Assisting Complex Patients Regain Physical and Mental Health (Springer Publishing, June 2010), by Dr. Kathol and co-authors, serves as the course text.

Steve Melek

Steve Melek, Principal & Consulting Actuary at Milliman, has immersed himself in the myriad aspects of behavioral healthcare for the past 15 years.  During the initial phases of the legislative process for MHPAEA, he was involved in performing the cost impact analysis of the parity legislation and gave testimony before Congress summarizing the results.  More recently, he has been involved in numerous discussions about MHPAEA with many stakeholders and has begun assisting health plans and employers understand what changes must be made to plan designs to comply with the law.  Aside from his involvement with mental health parity, Steve has also recently helped health plans develop, implement, and measure the performance of integrated medical/behavioral healthcare programs, including the use of creative predictive modeling approaches.