2022 Behavioral Health Care Symposium

Every day, hospitals across California care for individuals living with a mental illness or addiction, and they embrace the essential role they play treating people in crises. COVID-19 has exacerbated long-standing behavioral health challenges. Anxiety and depression among adults nearly quadrupled between 2019 and 2020, youth suicide risk has risen to alarming levels, and drug overdoses and other substance use disorder-related visits to hospital EDs have skyrocketed.

Fortunately, California has made historical investments in behavioral health infrastructure and workforce development to improve access to desperately needed treatment and housing supports. New grant programs, legislative changes, and the state’s plan to reform Medi-Cal (CalAIM) have combined to create a dizzying array of new opportunities to address the behavioral health issues in our local communities.  

8:00 – 9:00 a.m. | Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 – 9:15 a.m. | Opening Comments 
Matthew Chang, Director, Riverside University Health-Systems-Behavioral Health
Kirsten Barlow, Vice President, Policy, California Hospital Association 

9:15 – 10:15 a.m.  | Keynote Session | The Other Healing: Trauma and Mental Recovery After COVID-19
John Moe, Writer and Radio Personality
The disruption COVID-19 caused us (whether we got it or not) could manifest as depression, anxiety, or despair. John Moe explains how to understand our individual and collective suffering and what can be done about it. Drawing from his experiences and conversations around simple and complex trauma, Mr. Moe tries to understand what it means in the short term, the long term, and how to address it.

10:15 – 11:00 a.m. | General Session | Update on EmPATH: Expanding an Effective ED Boarding Solution
Scott Zeller, MD, Vice President, Acute Psychiatry, Vituity; Tom Orrock, MA, LMFT, Stakeholder Engagement and Grants, Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission
EmPATH units (Emergency Psychiatry Assessment, Treatment and Healing units) are evidence-based, innovative, patient-centric hospital-based behavioral health crisis units. They dramatically reduce ED boarding, while stabilizing the great majority of 5150 patients in hours, without the need for inpatient hospitalizations or coercive interventions. California’s Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission’s $20 million grant program is specifically for hospitals to build new EmPATH units. The deadline for applying for grants will be in early 2023. Along with a brief description of the EmPATH fundamentals and recent peer-reviewed published studies of their outcomes, Dr. Zeller will discuss the basics of the grant program and its goals for applying hospitals. 

11:00 – 11:15 a.m. | Break 

11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. | General Session | The Latest Data Resources and Measures for Hospitals 
Chris Krawcyzk, PhD, Chief Analytics Officer, Health Care Analytics Branch, Department of Health Care Access and Information 
Dr. Krawczyk will present an overview of new HCAI programs, and current HCAI data and analytics capacities and products. He will discuss forthcoming strategies, analytics and products that are resulting from direct engagement with hospitals and partners, including incorporating social drivers of health and cost data into future HCAI products.

12:15 – 1:15 p.m. | Hosted Lunch  

1:15 – 2:15 p.m. | General Session | Neurostimulation, Ketamine, and Other Breakthrough Treatments for Psychiatric Disorders   
Nolan Williams, MD, Assistant Professor, Director, Interventional Psychiatry Clinical Research; Director, Brain Stimulation Laboratory; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; Stanford University Medical Center; Brandon Bentzley, MD, PhD, Chief Science Officer and Co-Founder, Magnus Medical
Dr. Williams will discuss the Stanford developed, FDA cleared, personalized, accelerated neurostimulation approach known as Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy (SAINT). The SAINT approach merges advanced neuroimaging-based targeting coupled with higher-dose, temporally optimized intermittent theta-burst stimulation to treat severe, treatment-resistant unipolar depression. He will also share information on the pilot trials in bipolar depression.

2:15 – 2:45 p.m. | Break and Vendor Visits 

2:45 – 3:45 p.m. | General Session | Holding Payors Accountable: Behavior Health Delivery in California  
Michelle Baass, Director, Department of Health Care Services; Mary Watanabe, Director, Department of Managed Health Care 
Presenters will provide participants with an understanding of their respective state agency’s roles and initiatives related to oversight of behavioral health care delivery in California. Ms. Baass will focus on delivery of services by Medi-Cal managed care plans and counties, while Ms. Watanabe will focus on how the state enforces parity requirements and the process available to providers for resolving payment disputes.

3:45 – 4:45 p.m. | General Session | Building Public Behavior Health Infrastructure in California 
Stephanie Welch, Deputy Director of Behavioral Health, California Health and Human Services  
This presentation will provide an overview of the behavioral health transformation priorities being led by California Health and Human Services Agency with a specific focus on investments to build needed capacity for services across the care continuum. Ms. Welch will also provide a status update about efforts underway to build facilities, create access to more community residential placements and housing, and what California is doing to address the current workforce crisis as well as plan to resolve workforce shortfalls for the future behavioral health care delivery system in California.

5:00 – 6:00 p.m. | Reception  

7:30 – 8:30 a.m. | Continental Breakfast 

8:30 – 8:45 a.m. | Opening Comments
Kirsten Barlow, Vice President, Policy, California Hospital Association 

8:45 – 9:45 a.m.  | Keynote Session | California Bridge Program: Every ER Should Have a Tommie 
Tommie Trevino, Supervisor, Substance Abuse Navigator Team, University of California, Davis; Aimee Moulin, MD, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Division Chief of Addiction Medication, University of California, Davis  
Tommie sharing how addiction snuck up on him and the journey he took with the California Bridge Program to get where he is today. Dr. Moulin will describe the impact of the California Bridge Program and the importance of substance use navigators.

9:45 – 10:45 a.m. | General Session | A Look to the Future of Californians’ Health with Dr. Ramos, California’s Surgeon General 
Diana Ramos, MD, MPH, MBA, FACOG, California Surgeon General 
In the midst of compounding public health crises — including climate change, pandemics, mental health challenges and more, state leaders have a critical role to play to serve and protect the health of all Californians. This session will highlight ongoing and new efforts to help all Californians thrive.

10:45 – 11:15 a.m. | Break and Vendor Visits 

11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. | General Session | Wrapping up the 2022 Legislative Season: New Behavioral Health Laws for Hospitals 
Kirsten Barlow, Vice President, Policy, California Hospital Association 

12:15 – 1:00 p.m. | Hosted Lunch  

1:00 – 2:15 p.m. | General Session | Hope for Treating Methamphetamine Use Disorder 
Roneet Lev, MD, FACEP, Director of Operations, Scripps Mercy Emergency Department; Shekar Shetty, CEO, Clear Scientific; Winston Henderson, General Counsel, Clear Scientific; Ivan Bhardwaj, Chief, Medi-Cal Behavioral Health Division, California Department of Health Care Services; Spike Steffenhagen, Lived Experience, Independent Writer 

2:15 – 2:45 p.m. | Break and Vendor Raffle 

2:45 – 3:45 p.m. | General Session | After the Ball Drops, Will You be Ready? Changes to California’s Mental Health Law in the New Year
Linda Garrett, Esq, Partner, Garrett Law LLP; Alicia Macklin, Esq, Partner, Hooper Lundy & Bookman, PC; Mike Phillips, Esq, Senior Director, Patient Advocacy and Housing Services, Jewish Family Service
This session will include a review of the new steps required for the protection of those on a 5150 hold under certain circumstances, including notification of the Patients’ Rights Advocate when a second 72-hour hold is written, the right to certification review hearings if additional holds are deemed necessary, as well as a review of the intersection of EMTALA and 5150 laws during the involuntary hold process.

3:45 – 4:00 p.m. | Closing Remarks 
Kirsten Barlow, Vice President, Policy, California Hospital Association 

Michelle Baass
Director
California Department of Health Care Services
Michelle Baass became the Director of the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) in 2021. The Department supports the health of over 13 million Californians. Prior to that, she served as both the Undersecretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency (Agency) and Deputy Secretary of the Office of Program and Fiscal Affairs at Agency. Ms. Baass has also worked for the California Legislature for 13 years, including in positions at the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, and Senate Office of Research.

Kirsten Barlow
Vice President, Policy
California Hospital Association
Kirsten Barlow joined the California Hospital Association as Vice President, Policy in December 2021, where she manages behavioral health policy issues. Prior to that, she established an independent consulting practice providing policy, finance, and strategic expertise to clients, including: Aurrera Health Group; the National Alliance of Mental Illness – California; California Public Administrators, Public Guardians, and Public Conservators Association; California Hospital Association; Hospital Association of Southern California; and Hospital Council of Northern and Central California.

Brandon Bentzley, MD, PhD
Chief Science Officer and Co-Founder
Magnus Medical
Dr. Bentzley started his career investigating plasma physics then transitioned his investigations to neuroscience after developing a deep fascination with the complexity of the brain and the direct human impact of emerging treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders. In parallel, he trained in the use of brain stimulation to treat neuropsychiatric disorders, and at the intersection of these two fields was the potential for engineered, personalized neuromodulation treatments. Dr. Bentzley collaborated with Dr. Nolan Williams to develop an engineered treatment for depression, SAINT. After three clinical trials, the unprecedented and rapid efficacy of SAINT was realized, and broadly published.

Ivan Bhardwaj
Acting Chief
Medi-Cal Behavioral Health Division
California Department of Health Care Services Mr. Bhardwaj’s team oversees program and policy, compliance, and network adequacy of California’s Drug Medi-Cal and Specialty Mental Health Services programs. Prior to that, he served as Chief of the Federal Grants Branch in DHCS, where his team administered most of the Department’s federal behavioral health grants, including the State Opioid Response grants, Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant, and Community Mental Health Services Block Grant.

Linda Garrett, Esq.
Partner
Garrett Law LLP
Linda Garrett has worked with health care providers for over thirty-five years. She is experienced both as a medical malpractice defense attorney and as a risk management and loss prevention consultant. Among other things, she helps providers with credentialing, medical consent, medical confidentiality, defensive documentation, and incident response.

Winston Henderson, JD
General Counsel
Clear Scientific
Mr. Henderson has over 25 years of experience in intellectual property/corporate law and working in technology startups. He is an active member of Board of Trustees at Boston Children’s Hospital. Prior to Clear Scientific, he was at Kenyon & Kenyon, Anderson Consulting, and Surface Logix.

Chris Krawcyzk, PhD
Chief Analytics Officer, Information Services Division
Department of Health Care Access and Information
Dr. Krawczyk oversees strategic direction for analyses of healthcare quality, outcomes, utilization, and cost. He also oversees data services and facilitates stakeholder engagement to increase the usefulness and impact of HCAI data products. 

Roneet Lev, MD, FACEP
Director of Operations
Scripps Mercy Emergency Department
As the Director of Operations for Scripps Mercy Emergency Department, Dr. Lev chairs the Emergency Medicine Oversight Commission. She was the first Chief Medical Officer of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy from 2018-2020. She is the founder and President of Independent Emergency Physicians Consortium, an organization providing collaboration to independent emergency departments in California.

Alicia Macklin, Esq.
Partner
Hooper, Lundy & Bookman, PC
Alicia Macklin is a Partner at Hooper Lundy & Bookman PC where she advises hospitals and health systems on a broad range of compliance, reimbursement, and operational issues, including those involving behavioral health treatment. She specializes in EMTALA compliance, and her work with hospitals in this space involves reviewing and revising EMTALA policies, providing in-service education, managing investigations and surveys, and advising on EMTALA’s intersection with state laws, including state involuntary civil commitment laws. Alicia also serves as the co-chair of the firm’s Health Equity Task Force.

John Moe
Writer and Radio Personality
John Moe is a writer and radio personality who asks a lot of questions, writes about things that fascinate him, and speaks into microphones.

He is the host and creator of the podcast Depresh Mode and of the award-winning hit podcast, The Hilarious World of Depression and the author of the book of the same name. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, McSweeney’s, The Seattle Times. He’s written plays that have been performed on three continents.

John has hosted nationally distributed public radio programs such as Wits, Weekend America, and Marketplace Tech and his radio work has been featured on numerous national radio programs.

Aimee Moulin, MD
Professor of Emergency Medicine
UC Davis
Dr. Moulin is a Professor of Emergency Medicine and Division Chief of Addiction Medicine at UC Davis. She is co-Founder of the CA Bridge program a effort dedicated to expanding access to addiction treatment in California hospitals.

Tom Orrock, MA, LMFT
Stakeholder Engagement and Grants
Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission
Mr. Orrock and his team manage the implementation of the Commission’s Mental Health Wellness Act grants, the Mental Health Student Services Act, the Early Psychosis Intervention Plus program, the allcove Youth Drop-In Center grants, and the mental health statewide advocacy contracts. Tom began his mental health profession working with youth in the foster care and juvenile justice systems.

Mike Phillips, Esq.
Senior Director of Patient Advocacy and Housing Services
Jewish Family Service of San Diego
Mr. Phillips provides instruction and training for the behavioral health community, including providing information on due process rights for individuals receiving behavioral health treatment throughout the County of San Diego. He is currently consulting at the state level on behavioral health reform, including participation in the statewide Behavioral Health Action Coalition, and provides both local and statewide law enforcement training on behavioral health issues.

Diana Ramos, MD, MPH, MBA, FACOG
California Surgeon General
Dr. Ramos is a well-recognized public health leader dedicated to improving health care quality and equity. Her areas of expertise include health disparities, social determinants of health, preconception/interconception health, preterm birth, contraception and quality improvement in health. She has written and contributed numerous articles to the obstetrics and gynecology and public health literature and has lectured in Spanish and English, locally, nationally and internationally.

Shekar Shetty
CEO
Clear Scientific
Mr. Shetty has over 30 years of experience in research and development, marketing and commercializing technology in health care, water, environment, energy, and high-tech. Previously, he held senior management positions at Air Liquide and Nalco.

Spike Steffenhagen
Lived Experience
Independent Writer
Mr. Steffenhagen  is a published writer for the San Diego Reader and various comic book companies. He brings 36 years in recovery to the Symposium. Mr. Steffenhagen will share his experiences through his recovery with attendees.

Mary Watanabe
Director
California Department of Managed Health Care
Mary Watanabe is the Director of the California Department of Managed Health Care, the state entity that oversees health plans that provide health care services to more than 28 million Californians. She responsible for protecting consumers’ health care rights and ensuring a stable health care delivery system in accordance with federal and state rules.

Stephanie Welch
Deputy Secretary of Behavioral Health
California Health and Human Services Agency
As the Deputy Secretary, Ms. Welch acts as a senior advisor to the Secretary of CalHHS and other state departments on behavioral health policy. Ms. Welch has over two decades of experience in mental health policy, program administration, evaluation and advocacy at both the state and county level, working at organizations such as the California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA), the County Behavioral Health Directors Association (CBHDA) and the California Council of Community Behavioral Health Agencies (CBHA).

Scott Zeller, MD
Vice President for Acute Psychiatry
Vituity
While Dr. Zeller is the Vice President for Acute Psychiatry at Vituity, he is known as the co-inventor of On-Demand Emergency Telepsychiatry and the creator of the EmPATH Unit (Emergency Psychiatry Assessment, Treatment and Healing Unit) model for behavioral health emergency care. He led Project BETA (Best Practices in the Evaluation and Treatment of Agitation), which produced guidelines that have revolutionized the care approach to agitated individuals around the world.

Tuition

Register by November 11 and save

*Members: $550
Associate Members and Government Entities: $550
**Nonmembers: $750
Registrations received after November 11, add $100.

*Members are CHA member hospitals. **Nonmembers are limited to non-hospital health care providers, clinics, post-acute facilities, and consultants, insurance companies, law firms and other entities that serve hospitals. Education programs and publications are a membership benefit and are not available to eligible non-member California hospitals.

Cancellation Policy

A $75 non-refundable processing fee will be retained for each cancellation. Cancellations must be made in writing 7 or more days prior to the scheduled event and emailed to education@calhospital.org. No refunds will be made after these dates. Substitutions are encouraged. In the unlikely event that the program is cancelled, refunds will be issued to paid registrants within 30 days.

Quality Assurance/Grievance

The CHA education quality assurance/grievance policy is available upon request by emailing rthomason@calhospital.org. If you have any concerns or dissatisfaction with the quality of a CHA education program, please contact Robyn Thomason, Vice President, Education at (916) 552-7514, or email rthomason@calhospital.org.

Questions?

Contact the Education Department at education@calhospital.org.

Full participation in the program is a prerequisite for receiving professional continuing education (CE) credit. Registrant must complete post-event survey, attest to participation and, when required, provide a professional license number. CE certificates will be emailed approximately three weeks after the program. (Amount of CE offered subject to change.)

Behavioral/Social Work — Behavioral Health Care Symposium course meets the qualifications for up to 10.0 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs and LCSWs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. CHA is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs and LCSWs. Provider approval number 128427. CHA maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content.

At the conclusion of each day, participants will be able to:

Behavioral Health Care Symposium, Day 1:

• Provide overview and update on Medi-Cal initiatives related to behavioral health.
• Discuss ways the Department of Managed Health Care oversees access to behavioral health services including new initiatives. She will also discuss the Provider Complaint Process for resolving payment disputes. 
• Describe FDA approved the Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy approach to treat severe treatment resistant unipolar depression and share information on pilot trials in bipolar depression.
• Provide a status update about efforts underway to build facilities and create access to more community residential placements and housing.
• Address California’s plan on the current workforce crisis as well as plan to resolve workforce shortfalls for the future behavioral health care delivery system.

Behavioral Health Care Symposium, Day 2:

• Review California’s initiatives to support youth and adult mental health.
• Discuss the impact that Adverse Childhood Experiences and toxic stress can have on individuals and communities’ health.
• Describe the impact of the California Bridge Program and the importance of substance use navigators.
• Explain new steps required to protect those on a 5150 hold under certain circumstances.
• Review the intersection of EMTALA and 5150 laws during the involuntary hold process.

Compliance — The Compliance Certification Board (CCB)® has approved this event for up to 12.0 live CCB CEUs based on a 50-minute hour. Continuing Education Units are awarded based on individual attendance records. Granting of prior approval in no way constitutes endorsement by CCB of this event content or of the event sponsor.

Health Care Executives — CHA is authorized to award 10.0 hour of pre-approved ACHE Qualified Education credit for this program toward advancement, or recertification, in the American College of Healthcare Executives. Participants in this program who wish to have the continuing education hours applied toward ACHE Qualified Education credit must self-report their participation. To self-report, participants must log into their MyACHE account and select ACHE Qualified Education Credit.

Nursing — Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider CEP #11924, for up to 10.0 conference contact hours.

Host Hotel

Mission Inn Hotel & Spa
3649 Mission Inn Avenue
Riverside, CA 92501

The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa no longer has rooms available.

Overflow Hotel Room Block

Hyatt Place Riverside Downtown
3500 Market Street
Riverside, CA 92501

We currently have a small block of rooms at the Hyatt Place Riverside Downtown which is just across the street from the Riverside Convention Center.

The discounted rate at the Hyatt is starting at $169. For reservations, call 1-888-492-8847 and mention the “Behavioral Health Care Symposium” and Group Code: G-BVHA to receive the discounted rate. The deadline for discounted sleeping rooms is November 30.

Location

Riverside Convention Center
3637 5th Street
Riverside, CA 92501
All educational sessions will be held at the Riverside Convention Center, just a short walk away from the Mission Inn.

For sponsorship opportunities at the Behavioral Health Care Symposium, call 916-552-7502 or email Lisa Hartzell at lhartzell@calhospital.org.

We would like to thank our corporate sponsors for their support of the 2022 Behavioral Health Care Symposium.

Platinum Sponsors:

Gold Sponsors:

Silver Sponsors:

Bronze Sponsor: