How does a first-time entrepreneur bootstrap a treatment program starting with outpatient and then gradually building a full continuum of care?

In Arizona, many treatment programs were started, and almost as many failed within short order, Tyler Tisdale, CEO of Pinnacle Peak Recovery, shares his story of success and what it took to get there, how he succeeded where so many others did not. He takes us through the pivots, systems, processes, and strategies that have made Pinnacle Peak one of the leading providers in the Greater Phoenix area.

AI, call flows, tech stack, and intelligent routing, all to improve call center conversions, decrease staff burnout, and reduce patient frustration on admissions calls. We'll talk about all that and more with Karl Fischer, Managing Director of DecisivEdge.

Everyone wants to know, "How do we get the best reimbursement rates possible?" Stu Segal, Principal at FlormanTannen, and I discuss this question in depth. Obtaining better reimbursement rates requires far more than asking for them or "hard-nosed negotiation." Instead, it requires planning, patience, outcomes data, and relationships, all integral pieces of successful negotiation with payers.

Through focused training and ongoing feedback, therapists can significantly improve their intervention skills in order to achieve stronger patient outcomes. With the payers focused on outcomes more than ever, the time is now to hone in on ways to strengthen clinical delivery.

Zac Imel, Chief Science Officer of Lyssn and Professor in Psychology. speaks with me on the research regarding therapeutic skills and fidelity in clinical delivery. We talk about specific skills and actions therapists can take that help them become better therapists and help patients obtain better outcomes through the therapy received.

Payer expectations continue to change every year and so provider RCM benchmarks and best practices need to change as well. We're seeing more payers deny contracts or opt to not renew contracts based on a variety of trends in SUD.

In this episode, I speak with Erin Burke, CEO of Hansei Solutions. With over 1 million processed claims from providers across the country, they have a ton of data to inform strategies for sustainable operations and strong payer relations.

Building the backend data infrastructure to track both business metrics and clinical outcomes is costly and time-intensive. Even for a medium-sized organization, this can cost upwards of $500,000 per year, so the last thing anyone wants to do is build it wrong or get off on the wrong foot.

Dr. Nick Hayes, Chief Science Officer at Cumberland Heights, walks us through their best-in-class data science department. He and his team built out what I consider to be the best setup in the field.

Nick shares how they built it, what that setup looks like, the outcomes they've gotten, and how it's helped Cumberland improve as an organization overall and deliver even better outcomes for patients.

As more programs implement patient outcomes tracking, it's become clear that care delivery becomes more effective when tailored. Some programs may be excellent with veterans while another may do better with something as specific as women using heroin over 40.

Efficacy in delivery changes by demographic, geographic location, and even individual clinician delivering programming. In this episode, I speak with Eric Gremminger, CEO of ERP Health. We take a look at how providers are starting to implement outcomes tracking and the changes they're able to make as a result to improve results for patients.

The delivery of group therapy hasn't received an update or serious attention since Irvin Yalom's work back in the 50's. Because most therapy delivered in addiction treatment is group therapy and, as a field, we're finally talking about trackable outcomes, it has become clear that improved techniques are needed.

Andrew Bordt, Executive Director for The Institute for the Advancement of Group Therapy, and I walk through the neurobiology of learning and how effective group facilitation can significantly improve outcomes not just in the group, but beyond as patients reintegrate into their daily lives.

There are many opportunities for payers and providers to work together in order to improve care and reduce barriers to treatment.

In this episode, Debra Nussbaum, Senior Director of Behavioral Health at Optum, provides insights into what she looks for when partnering with a provider. She also explains what not to do and gives us a look at Optum's new provider portal to expedite UR.

If your program has in-network contracts, you won't want to miss this episode.

Through the integration of digital and peer recovery supports, JourneyPure was able to double improvement of recovery outcomes compared to treatment as usual.

In this interview, Dr. Brian Wind, Chief Clinical Officer of Regard Recovery and JourneyPure, shares how the integration of these supports came about, what results they've seen, and the success they've had in getting reimbursed for those efforts as well.