The role of being a leader is one that is of foremost importance to Paul Messier. As Senior Director of Federal Program Management, Messier, who has been with Magellan Federal since April 2014, works on programs that provide HR services to military members and their families. He is one of three Senior Directors assigned to the Human Readiness Division (HRD), where he leads six contracts that include 310 people located at 75 Army and Navy military bases around the world.

Messier shows pride in his leadership role by pointing out that everything in the Federal service delivery contracts is designed to ensure the human readiness of Service members and their families. He also points out that the same elements of human readiness that apply in delivering operational excellence to customers are relevant when engaging with Magellan’s own employees in a culture of servant leadership. “Just as military members and their families are serving our Nation; our federal employees and their families are also serving our Nation in their respective military communities. If we expect our employees to address the human readiness needs of their customers, then we as leaders have an obligation to attend to the basic human readiness needs of our work force. From that perspective, human readiness has a double meaning to me – one is operational and the other is organizational.”  Continue reading to learn more about Messier’s work with the Human Readiness Division and what being a leader means to him.

What cool, innovative projects are you currently working on?

Right now, I’m focused on developing a new leadership model for our division. This is a reality-based, relationship-driven leadership approach that emphasizes bringing our most authentic selves to the workplace and creating more welcoming environments for our employees that foster trust and transparency. It’s an intentional effort to promote the health, well-being, and overall human readiness of our employees by integrating leadership principles and practices across four key domains:

• Practicing authentic servant leadership that emphasizes emotional and cultural awareness.
• Promoting a healthy work environment that fosters unity and cohesion for world-class service delivery.
• Providing continuous professional development through mentoring and coaching of the workforce.
• Encouraging shared governance that empowers employees to inquire, innovate and make decisions to the maximum extent within their professional scope of practice, and recognize them for their achievements.

I think there is a need for a model that offers a framework and training tool for sharing these leadership principles with our mid-level and junior leaders.

Why is Magellan Federal the best place to do these kinds of innovative projects?

I believe that when we consider our overall strategy of bringing products and services to the marketplace, we should always focus on being compelling, contemporary, and competitive. So, when I think about our collective role as leaders, I think about how we can apply these same principles to leadership. In these uncertain times, employees are asking for more from their leaders and seeking a healthier work-life balance. If we want to reach the hearts and minds of our employees and retain our human capital, we’ve got to find the courage to show them our own hearts and minds…show them who we are and how much we care for them.  If we can do that, then our message will indeed be compelling, contemporary, and competitive.

What are your thoughts on Magellan’s culture? How has the culture impacted your projects?

Magellan Health and Magellan Federal leaders have enhanced our culture by opening an atmosphere of transparency. That culture will be propagated if leaders replicate positive messaging by flowing it down the chain and engaging with our employees. Leaders cope with change, and more change always demands more leadership. We have the right leaders in place and the messaging channels and mediums are fully evolved and robust.  The stars are aligned for a new leadership model that we can share with our junior leaders and employees. Our corporate vision emphasizes leading humanity to healthier, vibrant lives, so I believe our organizational culture should also emphasize leading our own employees to help them achieve healthier, vibrant lives.  That’s what gets me excited about leading my projects.

What trends are you noticing in the healthcare industry that are related to the work being done at Magellan Federal? Are there any lessons from other industries that can be applied to the work happening at Magellan Federal?

I see many positive trends, but I also see that the healthcare industry faces many of the same challenges as an industry in general. There are remarkable things happening with innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence and digital apps that show great promise to improve healthcare outcomes.  But there are also issues and trends involving burnout of physicians and caregivers, politicization of healthcare, and issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. What I try to do is learn the lessons I can from what I see happening around me and apply what I’ve learned as best I can when I engage with my own employees. To me, the common denominator when we look at these issues always seems to circle back to the need for authentic, reality-based leadership.

Learn more about the various solutions provided by Magellan Federal here.

Stacy Drones’, senior director of family programs at Magellan Federal, passion for helping military families comes from her real-life role as a military spouse. Since joining Magellan Federal in 2013, Drones now supervises a large array of military family programs including the Army Family Advocacy Support Services which includes the Domestic Abuse Victim Advocacy Program and New Parent Support Program, Army Exceptional Family Member Program and the Air Force Family Advocacy Program contracts. Drones is currently working on initiating various trainings for employees to better help the military families they serve in their unique situations. Continue reading to learn more about the many projects happening at Magellan Federal during Military Appreciation Month this May:

What can you tell us about Magellan Federal?

Magellan Federal has a strong history of support to the military. A lot of our employees on our contracts are military spouses, former military spouses or veterans who are passionate about the work. Many of our leaders at Magellan Federal have been in some way connected to the military, this is important and shows we have a passion for the work that we do because of our connection with service members and their families. My team has historical knowledge of our programs and we’ve been working with the government clients for a long time and know what they’re looking for and know how to execute the contracts successfully in the programs.

What cool, innovative projects are you currently working on?

The main part of my job involves managing our portfolio of programs that support military families. I personally manage the Family Advocacy Support Services contract for the Army which includes the Army Domestic Abuse Victim Advocacy Program that provides services for victims of domestic abuse. This contract also includes the New Parent Support Program that offers home visits to provide help and educational resources for new parents. This program provides licensed clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists and registered nurses to work with military families with children who are newborn up to age three. They conduct regular home visits to offer education that helps to prevent child abuse. We also have a lactation contract with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that hosts monthly lunch seminars for mothers who are nursing. In addition, we serve as a subcontractor for a family advocacy program at Food Hood where we provide information on stress management, parenting, couples communication, relationship classes and domestic abuse. I also oversee other contracts assigned to other program managers like the Army Exceptional Family Members Program, that provides help to military families who have dependents with disabilities and connects them with referrals and resources in the community. There’s also the Air Force Advocacy contract that we’re a subcontractor on that provides domestic abuse advocates for members of the Air Force.

On the Family Advocacy side, we do at least two employee professional development trainings a year. Planning those trainings and brining in speakers from all over is our big focus right now. Government employees are welcome to participate as well. We also have a requirement to have all victim advocates credentialed through the National Advocacy Credentialing Program. Although this is a new government requirement, Magellan has had this requirement in place for our Victim Advocates for nine years. We are currently helping our government client roll this training out to the government Victim Advocates.

In the New Parent Support Program, we are currently training our home visitors on how to address sensitive topics with their clients, such as mental health, abuse and race. They’re also trained on how to help parents and caregivers deal with the unexpected, such as deployments, birth plan changes or giving birth to multiples.

What are your thoughts on Magellan’s culture? How has the culture impacted your projects?

I love this company and the leadership; I think they’re very supportive of what we do. I feel that Magellan’s leadership really cares for their employees and cares about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.

What trends are you noticing in the healthcare industry that are related to the work being done at Magellan Federal? Are there any lessons from other industries that can be applied to the work happening at Magellan Federal?

A big focus of the DoD Family Advocacy Programs currently is working with families of problematic sexual behaviors in children and youth. We have been looking at ways to intervene early and provide help for those children who are presenting those behaviors. We have our home visitors involved with this because they’re the ones working with the families in the home and have built a rapport with them. We’re increasing training for our home visitors to ensure they know the best way to help provide services to those families. The military has partnered with a lot of civilian agencies to provide trainings to help figure out how to address and solve the problem.

Magellan Federal understands that military families may have unique challenges compared to civilian families. That’s why we are doing what we can to develop partnerships with civilian agencies that have the funding to do research and develop correct programs. Initially, the development of the new Federal Program Management Office has been great for developing relationships with organizations. If we continue to do that, it’ll be a great thing.

Learn more about the various solutions provided by Magellan Federal here.

Kristen Ford, vice president of product innovation and development for behavioral health, has led many new innovative products being developed at Magellan Health. In her position, Ford is responsible for the product innovation and development activities for behavioral health solutions. Ford, who is based in Oregon, has worked for Magellan Health for 12 years on various innovation strategies focused on best-in-class services that help members live healthier lives. She is a Six Sigma Black Belt and a clinician who’s passionate about driving human-centered product development that changes lives. Most recently she’s helped to launch a full continuum population health wellbeing solution to improve population engagement into evidence-based care and improve the quality and accessibility of healthcare for those that are thriving, struggling or suffering. Continue reading to learn more about Ford’s work on these innovative products:

What cool, innovative products are you currently working on?

My responsibilities focus on new products that drive growth, leverage Magellan Health’s thought leadership, and enhance the lives of the people we serve. One example is the development of a comprehensive autism strategy where we are creating new mechanisms for timely access to autism screening with faster diagnosis to improve early intervention. We are laying the groundwork for new clinical models that intertwine technology, diagnostics, therapeutics and facilitate better coordinated care for the whole child.

We’re also working on other complex areas of healthcare such as suicide prevention. We care deeply about the recent increase in population suicide trends and our mission is to make suicide a never event. We do that through creating solutions that empower individuals with knowledge, education and tools in an environment of uninterrupted and supportive care.

Medical integration is another area of focus with our new collaborative care product which improves medical and behavioral health integration by making it easier for primary care physicians to diagnose and treat members’ behavioral health condition in the office. We’re looking at ways to solve important challenges in the delivery of behavioral healthcare by working on solutions that enable navigation, digital engagement, transform the delivery system and offer new models of care.

Can you expand on the work you’re doing with projects like Mightier, NeuroFlow and DUOS?

Mightier is a biofeedback gaming solution that teaches children emotional regulation to help them manage big emotions and teach calming strategies. This is important because it offers a bridge to care for children and families that are struggling. It’s been shown to be highly effective in randomized control trials for children with autism, ADHD, OCD or other similar conditions. It’s improved oppositional behaviors in children and decreased caregiver stress. We’re currently working with Mightier on a study through the National Institute of Mental Health to show that using this type of intervention can improve quality and cost of care.

We’re also working with NeuroFlow to deliver a collaborative care product, which expands Magellan’s value proposition with the ability to manage total cost of care. NeuroFlow brings the technology, and Magellan provides the clinical management which has resulted in a solution that is highly appreciated by our clients. We also launched the NeuroFlow population health app which provides digital wellbeing and self-care tools, including our digital cognitive behavioral therapy modules, to help members improve overall health and wellbeing, manage stress and build resilience in a confidential manner.

DUOS is an opportunity for us to address the social determinants of health and needs of older populations. DUOS provides a personal assistant for aging – a DUO – to help older adults stay healthy and age independently in their own homes. We connect older adults with social support and resources to manage social isolation, healthcare access and behavioral health needs. In our pilot results, we found that 97% of seniors were linked to resources to meet their needs and has high satisfaction with a net promoter score of 88.

Why is Magellan Health the best place to build new innovative products?

We are fortunate to have an executive leadership team that developed a culture that supports innovation. It’s part of our DNA. We have been successful in evolving our innovation strategy that positions Magellan as a thought leader and innovator in the behavioral health and wellbeing space. Our executive leadership believes that innovation is essential in treating the whole person, achieving growth and moving our business forward.

What are your thoughts on Magellan’s culture? How has that culture impacted the products you’ve worked on?

I think it’s a highly collaborative and team-oriented culture. Everyone is willing to roll up their sleeves and help achieve the best outcomes. The Magellan culture is purpose and mission driven. Everyone you encounter is focused on the best ways to support our customers, ensure members have the best experience and they’re getting the best care possible. I think that’s the picture of Magellan and it’s a wonderful place to work and drive innovation.

Currently, we have a pipeline of over 44 different products or product enhancements that we’d like to explore. People are familiar with Magellan’s culture of dedication and innovation. As a result, they are willing to collaborate and advise us as we drive towards solutions that can improve the lives of those members we serve.

What exciting trends in the healthcare industry have you noticed? What direction do you see healthcare going? What lessons are there to learn in other industries that can be applied to healthcare?

There are new trends in the field of autism related to clinical advancement and how we work with children on the spectrum as well as exciting developments and solutions in managing the total cost of care. There are new approaches that allow us to combine technology and clinical acumen deliver new care models. The pandemic created an environment where members and providers used new technologies and tools out of necessity which now provides us opportunity to continue to build and accelerate the adoption of new care models through technology. We are also seeing new and exciting opportunities to engage and activate members while reducing stigma.

Some industries can market directly and successfully engage the end user. We can learn from those industries and drive growth through that engagement.

We are fortunate that the Magellan leadership team and culture supports us in exploring those recent trends and solving for some of the most difficult challenges we see in service delivery.

Finding solutions that allow individuals to improve their overall wellbeing has been Sara Pierce’s primary focus with the recent launch of eMbrace on April 1, 2022. As senior vice president of strategy and execution, Pierce has worked closely on the collaboration between Gallup and Magellan Health and the creation of the Magellan-Gallup Wellbeing Project. With over 10 years of experience working at Magellan, Pierce is a leader on the Growth Team where she’s responsible for the team’s Go-To Market strategy (GTM) and leads individuals on the sales operations, the sales training, and customer experience teams. Pierce, who is based in Connecticut, discusses her ongoing work with Gallup on projects including eMbrace, and how Magellan’s culture has been instrumental in its success.

What sort of innovative projects are you currently working on?

I think the most innovative and fun project I’m working on right now is related to our collaboration with Gallup. We’ve created the Magellan-Gallup Wellbeing Project, joining  forces to combine Magellan’s 50 years of behavioral health experience with Gallup’s industry-leading insights and research to understand how we can better meet the needs of individuals and improve their overall wellbeing. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace Report tells us that roughly seven in 10 employees are struggling or suffering in their overall lives, with negative emotions at an all-time high. As an employer and a human this is deeply troubling to me.

eMbrace is a fully integrated, evidence-based solution for supporting members’ total wellbeing. We’re incorporating Gallup’s wellbeing assessment and then introducing different solutions or opportunities for employees to engage at all levels across the continuum depending on where they are in the six elements of wellbeing. In essence, we are breaking the silo that has until now separated employee assistance and clinical care, shifting an individual from coaching to employee assistance to clinical counseling based on what is happening in their life.

Do you have any other projects still in the planning phase?

We’re still in the thick of the recent eMbrace launch and it’s exciting that our own Magellan associates will be one of our first customers to utilize eMbrace. This provides us a valuable opportunity to “walk the walk” and to continuously learn from ourselves and our own team. At the same time, we are exploring how we can bring this important work to our health plan, public and Federals markets as well. This is only the beginning!

Why is Magellan Health the best place to do this project?

I think we are the perfect place to do this because of our over 50 years of deep clinical behavioral health experience. Our customers, whether they are employers, health plans, public or federal markets, all have one thing in common – they all have people who are struggling and suffering. The way I think about it, is if not us then who?

What are your thoughts on the culture here at Magellan Health? How has the culture at Magellan impacted your project?

I think one of the things that’s truly unique about Magellan’s culture is that everyone is singularly focused on our mission to help people. We take that very seriously. I think that’s a big part of who we are and why we do what we do and that it’s palpable. When you’re working on trying to solve big problems, it helps to bring it down to the individual level and understand that what we’re doing matters to a person, a family, and an employer. That culture informs everything we do.

What are some exciting trends you’ve noticed in the healthcare industry? What direction do you see healthcare going? What lessons are there to learn in other industries that can be applied to healthcare?

We are in unprecedented times in terms of the rise in unmet need. More and more, as an industry, we are coming up with unique ways to try and meet those needs. One example of that is by addressing people earlier on in the continuum so that we can intervene to prevent exacerbation of illness. Offering digital assessment tools and interventions is one way to try and address the unmet needs. But of course, we can’t make the mistake of letting the pendulum swing too far in any one direction. I believe that our customers want us to balance digital and in-person. The right tools to the right people at the right time.

I think one of the problems in healthcare is that the industry has not designed solutions with the user experience in mind. Meanwhile in all other aspects of our lives, our tolerance for bad experiences is getting smaller every day. Our cell phones are continuously upgraded to improve our user experience. Products and services are marketed directly to us based on knowledge of our preferences, and we have countless choices in entertainment, retail, and restaurants. User experience is king in everything other than healthcare. For too long consumers of healthcare have been trapped with few choices. The good news is that every day I see more evidence that this is changing but we have miles to go before we rest.

Learn more about the dimensions of wellness here.

Sharon Butler is our leader of people strategies at Magellan Rx Management and is an integral part of our thriving culture. She inspires our teams to use their strengths to overcome challenges and deliver a pharmacy experience unlike any other. We sat down with Sharon to talk about her love of human resources, the current state of the industry, how the pandemic has affected HR professionals and how people make the difference in any organization.

What’s your background, and how did you get into Human Resources?

I love sharing this story because it’s the last place I thought I would be. I grew up in a poor neighborhood in Albany, NY in a family that didn’t value education. It wasn’t until I had the opportunity to attend college later in life that I met so many people who were resetting their path and going back to school after finding themselves in a job that didn’t fulfill them. It was then and there I realized my passion for people and believe there is so much more to illuminate a person if they are exactly where they want to be versus where they can be.

This realization led me to study organizations and leadership, dedicating my career to understanding the power of giving people an opportunity to do great things. There’s not an organization out there that’s great because of something other than people. If you think about it, organizations can’t achieve anything without people driving change.

How do you think your life experiences have shaped your work as a Human Resources professional?

I have learned through personal experience that some of the hurdles in your life are the ones you create and put in your own way. You can do anything if you have the passion and power to do it. You can’t just dream it. A dream isn’t a strategy, it’s the motivation that pushes you forward.

I’ve also learned that your career can have a huge impact on your overall wellbeing.

I have now been with Magellan for 14 years, and I’ve seen firsthand that when you tap into someone’s personal strengths, you unleash an incredible amount of potential within not only yourself, but your team as well. As a leader or manager, placing people in the right seat creates a highway for growth and development.

Our data tells us that we’ve had 455 internal promotions over the last 12 months and that we continue to focus on supporting effective career conversations and encourage every employee to start a conversation. I’ve seen a correlation between employee driven career discussions and success of achieving aspirational goals.

We can’t impact what we don’t measure. We are focused on pulsing engagement and investing in what makes our employees feel valued. Our pulse surveys provide us with data for leaders to use to ensure they are having the impact intended. This is one tool that should be used with a variety of tools to ensure we continue to understand each other regardless of role. These surveys allow us to have impactful conversations to gauge overall organizational wellbeing. Now that we are far more virtual than ever before, we must continue to create connectedness, check in with each other in a variety of ways and respond to the ever-changing climate of our work.

How has the pandemic impacted Human Resources professionals?

HR professionals have really had to stretch outside their comfort zones, beyond the predictable outcomes they are used to. What we’ve all seen happen over the last few years in our communities with regulations, politics, human behaviors and attitudes changing is also happening within organizations. We can’t build a policy to navigate it, we must lean in and care about it.

We have had to consider every perspective to make the right decisions for us as an employer, and to make the right recommendations for employees as one size does not fit all. While some organizations have used this as an opportunity to be defined by their policies, we’ve found that we’re too complex and dynamic to pick one side or another on many points related to the pandemic. The passionate people at Magellan Rx are navigating through every circumstance in the most caring way possible.

These last few years have impacted everyone. Leaders, managers and employees are recognizing the need to practice self-care first before care for others. I’ve been starting my day with MAGIC Mornings, which I’ve recoined for myself ‘Miracle Mornings,’ this practice affords me a margin of time to focus on myself and set my day through exercise, meditative prayer, affirmational writings, gratitude journaling and intention or goal setting. I’ve been doing this for four months now and have noticed a complete shift in how I approach and move throughout my day. I encourage teams and individuals to rethink how they start their days and prioritize their wellbeing to avoid burnout.

What’s your perspective on the Great Resignation?

My observation of what the data suggests is that people are reacting to what adds value to their lives. The notion of an employee leaving their job, and possibly their career, is changing attitudes and expectations. Employees have more of a voice than ever before in what they are willing to do, and not do, for a paycheck. We need to listen.

Do you think organizational culture plays a role in the Great Resignation?

Absolutely. For a long time, organizations have been trying to define an attractive culture with policies and programs like education reimbursement, wellness credits and unlimited PTO. What we are seeing during this Great Resignation is a shift in focusing on employee’s wellbeing and how they are treated. Cultures are formed by how leaders behave and employees feeling truly valued. It isn’t about a program; it’s about behavior.

What we’ve noticed at Magellan is that while our turnover rate has inched up, it isn’t at the national average, and we are still able to attract talent to our positions. We believe that this is a direct reflection of our strong culture of caring people who are leveraging their strengths in their everyday work and modeling positive behaviors.

What do you think is needed to create a thriving culture? 

First and foremost, authenticity and accountability from leaders. Then, you must focus on people because people make the difference. You do this by unlocking their strengths and unleashing their potential. Mix that with a little fun, and you’ve got a solid foundation to build a thriving culture.

Our secret sauce at Magellan Rx is that we don’t have a one size fits all strategy for any person. We start by focusing on an individual’s core strengths, which allows leaders and employees to deploy very tailored career development, growth performance and learning opportunities.

How do you think teams have remained resilient these last few years while some haven’t?

I think there is a lot of masked resiliencies happening right now – pushing through versus truly evolving through the challenges – which can be very dangerous because it means we are closer to burnout than we know.

You can tell resiliency is occurring when you are faced with the next challenge, and it energizes you because you learned from the last challenge and are able to use your learnings to evolve through the next obstacle.

For those that haven’t, do you have any advice?

There is no time like the present to pause and take inventory of all the things that you have pushed through, map those things to what you have learned, and really understand the impact of your work. When you are focused solely on what’s ahead and what’s not done, you deprive yourself the opportunity to pause and learn. Look back at the path you’ve laid and the wake you’ve made.

What should organizations do to invest in their people?
Create safe spaces and support systems for employees to stretch, learn and grow in their careers.

Think about their world, their environment and what they are trying to transform. Don’t forget to ask their opinion on what great looks like and listen, because at the end of the day it’s the people who make the difference in any organization.

Haita Makanji, vice president, clinical strategy and innovation supporting the specialty division of Magellan Rx Management, has worked for MRx for nearly 10 years, where she has focused on helping to support payers as they navigate the pharmacy space. Makanji, who is based out of Massachusetts, leads a team of highly trained pharmacists and experts in development and implementation of clinical solutions for customers in various high-cost specialty conditions across both the medical and pharmacy benefits including but not limited to cancer, hemophilia, and rare diseases. Her team focuses on utilization management, dose optimization, care management and technology-based programs for commercial, Medicare and Medicaid patients across the country. Continue reading to learn more about the innovative projects Makanji and her team are working on in the pharmacy space:

What sort of projects are you currently working on?

I’m passionate about working closely with payers and supporting them as they navigate the evolving landscape of new, expensive treatments, while also helping to deliver the highest quality of care to patients. For exceedingly high-cost specialty conditions, our emphasis is always on value through delivering clinical solutions that offer the most appropriate treatment to patients while combating the rising spend payers are facing.

For example, a recent project centers on a one-of-a-kind solution for payers focused on precision medicine in the oncology space, which is the highest-spend category for specialty drugs on the medical benefit for over 10 years. This is an exciting, next-generation pharmacy initiative where we will be combining genomic testing with drug selection for providers who treat cancer patients and meeting a critical need for payers who are looking for more complete solutions on both the medical and pharmacy benefit.

In 2021, we launched a comprehensive high-cost therapy program to provide enhanced utilization management strategies and case management referral for ultra-rare diseases. Payers often struggle to identify specialized experts, either internally or within their network, so our ability to leverage our MRx Expert Clinical Network of more than 175 key opinion leaders who practice various specialties, combined with our team of experts, offers a unique opportunity to support treatment decisions that leads to better health outcomes.

Why is Magellan the best place for these projects?

I’m proud to work for an organization that has a deep understanding of medical and pharmacy trends and a history of pioneering industry-first solutions for specialty drug management. With 17 years of experience in managing specialty conditions, we are unique in the marketplace.  Our customers routinely expand their collaborations with us because we continuously elevate our suite of solutions with innovative and forward-thinking approaches. Our mission is to help patients live healthy, vibrant lives and we accomplish this by ensuring that the right patients receive the right therapies at the right time.

What are your thoughts on the culture here at Magellan? How has that culture impacted your work?

We have a family-oriented culture where we collaborate and have a true understanding and trust of each other. Magellan fosters an environment that encourages open, honest feedback in all teams. Magellan also provides employees with the opportunity to challenge themselves and embrace new opportunities. This is imperative as we innovate and bring new programs to the market.

What exciting trends are you noticing in the healthcare industry? In what direction do you see healthcare going and what lessons are there to learn from other industries that can be applied to healthcare?

I’m energized by how quickly our industry is adapting to new technologies and advancements in the delivery of healthcare. Particularly in digital health solutions with the shift towards value-based care strategies and the pivot to personalized medicine.

The market will need to be laser-focused on providing clinically appropriate, personalized care at the lowest cost for both payers and patients.

One lesson we can take from other industries is the ability to be nimble and flexible. Disruptors in every sector of healthcare are bringing new offerings directly to consumers in the hopes that simplicity and transparency will cultivate consumer loyalty. We can take advantage of the availability of data and deployment of new technologies to respond quickly to changing market dynamics and the needs of our customers and their unique patient populations. While we have a proven track record and hundreds of successful case studies across our suite of solutions, it’s important that we never stop innovating!

For Greg Dicharry, his work at Magellan Healthcare is not just a job, it’s a passion. Filming and directing documentaries highlighting suicide awareness has been a welcome side gig of Dicharry’s job as national youth empowerment director at Magellan. For the past 14 years, Dicharry has been connecting with people affected in some way by suicide, substance use and other mental health concerns. From those experiences, he launched the MY LIFE (Magellan Youth Leaders Inspiring Future Empowerment) program. MY LIFE provides various activities and workshops for youths ages 13 to 23-year-olds nationally who have experience with mental health, substance use, juvenile justice or foster care-related issues or have a friend or family member coping with these issues. Dicharry’s latest documentary project, “My Ascension,” shows the crippling effects suicide can have on families while telling the captivating personal story of a suicide survivor. Continue reading to learn more about the MY LIFE program and Dicharry’s upcoming documentary.

What sort of projects are you currently working on?

My main responsibility at Magellan is overseeing our MY LIFE program, which we created in 2008 as part of our Maricopa County, Arizona contract. Since 2008, MY LIFE has been leading the way nationally for youth involved in behavioral health and foster care systems. Through regular meetings, special events, performances, social media, and local and national presentations, youth share their stories and support each other in their recovery goals. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Magellan launched the Stay Home for MY LIFE virtual youth fest series in 2020. I also do a lot around suicide prevention for the Company and am a part of the new Suicide Center of Excellence. In my spare time, I create documentaries. Over the last three years I’ve been working on a documentary called “My Ascension.” Prior to that I had done another documentary called “Suicide: The Ripple Effect” but this new one is on teen suicide. I made it with a young lady who is a suicide attempt survivor. She attempted to take her life by gunshot and the result was that she is now paralyzed. She had this rebirth through that and now uses her experience to help others via speaking and advocacy, so the story is largely her story but also of other young people in the community who were successful in their suicide attempts and the aftermath of how that has affected their families.

“My Ascension” will premiere nationally on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) in September. The primary distribution method has been virtual community screening around the country. We’ve done screenings with a couple of universities and several advocacy and mental health groups.

What inspires you to create these documentaries?

I dabbled in film and media throughout high school and college. When I moved to Los Angeles I started working on projects like movies, award shows, commercials and music videos and learning that way.

With the MY LIFE program, I had gotten a camera through Magellan and was able to start producing videos with the youth group so that got me back into filming and then I met a man through work, who’s a suicide attempt survivor, we became friends and he approached me wanting to make a documentary and I helped him with producing and directing. I didn’t plan on doing another documentary, but the opportunity came to tell this very compelling story for “My Ascension” that could reach a lot of young people and empower them in helping them to share their stories.

I also have a personal connection to this where I’ve found myself struggling with suicidal thoughts, and my cousin who was bipolar with a substance abuse issue and died by suicide about 20 years ago. I saw the impact that had on his family and that inspired me to be interested in the topic.

Why is Magellan the best place to do this project?

Magellan is open to innovation, even though it’s a big company everyone is open to new ideas to help better serve our members and customers. For example, with MY LIFE I came up with the idea to do this, it wasn’t something that was a part of my job description or something Magellan had ever done. But they let me run with it and it was successful. People saw the value of it and saw that the opportunity to serve our members and provide them with something in a different way.

With the documentaries, my job had allowed me to be able to do that kind of stuff on the side and it ended up being another way to connect with people differently way and blend the work I’m doing here.

What are your thoughts on the culture here at Magellan? How has the culture at Magellan impacted your project?

It’s a culture that’s open to innovation and that’s open for doing unique things that are engaging for our customers. It’s very supportive, encouraging, and positive work happening here.

• Learn more about MY LIFE here.

Finding the best strategies to achieve good outcomes is one of the many goals of Tim Daley. As vice president of network development Tim’s two main responsibilities include network optimization and value-based contracting strategies. By working closely with providers to define a high-quality experience for members, Daley aims to create a more efficient member journey that creates excellent outcomes. According to Tim, leveraging Magellan Healthcare’s experience and expertise in behavioral health will help strengthen provider partnerships. Read more below on how Daley manages network optimization and value-based programming:

What are some projects you’re currently working on?

I’m very excited about our work on network optimization. We have a large national network, with members also spread out across the country, which has been developed over decades. It was time to assess our networks in terms of access, availability, quality, and outcomes relative to the varying needs of our members. We currently share actionable insights with providers via our new provider partnerships team. Ultimately, a high performing network that meets the unique needs of individuals will lead to better outcomes and lower overall costs for everyone.

On the value-based programs side, my role is to ensure Magellan designs and implements programs that achieve better results under alternative payment models compared to fee-for-service. Magellan has a long history of partnering with facilities on value-based contracts, and now we’re doing the same with out-patient providers.  For example, a provider may see a patient for 45-minutes, and they want to be paid a certain amount for that session, which could lead to a “the more sessions I do, the more I’ll get paid” mindset. Is that driven by the payment model or is that driven by the best experience for the member? There are several “disruptors” emerging in the behavioral health space, and I’m proud to say I am leading the charge on network inclusion while contracting in ways that ensure provider incentives are aligned with improved outcomes.

Why is Magellan Health the best place to do these projects?

I don’t think there’s anybody out there with more full-spectrum behavioral health experience than Magellan. We’re focused every day on patients having a good outcome, a good experience, and how the care delivery model may require a little more care coordination or engagement at the time of transition.

Implementing true partnerships with our provider community is not just the network team’s role, but a cohesive approach that spans across all departments within Magellan. Therefore, our people, their experiences and commitments to making a difference in people’s lives, are the strongest asset we have as an organization.

What are your thoughts on how the culture is here at Magellan Health?

We’ve gone through a change over the past year with offices closing and a lot of people having to work from home, but I’ve seen almost everyone embrace that change. There’s a real commitment here to what we do. I’ve talked with many other employees who have had their own connection to someone dealing with a behavioral health issue, many of which were exacerbated by the pandemic. So many of us have dealt with a behavioral health experience so we know what a good outcome feels like because we’ve lived through it personally. We need to continue to translate that into what we do day-to-day here.

How does the culture at Magellan Health impact the projects you’re working on?

The personal experience and culture that everyone here brings and the dedication to this work despite challenges help everyone to be driven to do the right thing. We need to continue to move in that direction, tackling the larger issues and prioritizing energy on what makes a difference. If we can do that, then not only will Magellan succeed but patients will truly be the winner.

What direction do you see the healthcare industry going in?

I think behavioral healthcare needs have become more of a focus during and coming out of the pandemic; over the past year it’s become much more of a focus. It really is all about people. Everybody’s got something going on and we must look at the mind and the body one. When you put that together with the physical health side of things, I think we can do well by people.