NJAMHAA News Winter 2023

18 Winter 2023 CEO Joe Manger Shares how Aetna Better Health of NJ Is Helping Providers Prepare for Managed Care Joe Manger joined Aetna Better Health of NJ as CEO in October 2021 after having worked at Horizon Blue Cross/ Blue Shield of New Jersey. NJAMHAA was pleased to have the opportunity to have Joe share his vision for Aetna’s members, including the company’s partnerships with providers as the behavioral healthcare system prepares for the carve-in of additional services into Medicaid Managed Care. NJAMHAANews: How does your role at Aetna differ from what you did at Horizon? JoeManger: I was at Horizon for 19 years and loved it. I did government relations and regulatory work. In my current role, I have the opportunity to set and drive priorities of one of the largest health plans. Our priorities focus on the needs of our members and the community. It’s the most exciting point in my career and an exciting opportunity for us. NJAMHAANews: What is your vision for Aetna, especially relating to the carve-in of more behavioral health services intoMedicaid Managed Care? What changes has Aetna made, is making and/or plans tomake to ensure that Aetnamembers continue to receive all needed services when the carve-ins take place? JoeManger: Like all of us, I learned a lot personally and professionally during COVID. My response to this question would have been very different three years ago. During the pandemic, I learned that behavioral health is interwoven into every aspect of our daily lives. We already started to implement behavioral health in our plan in response to what we were seeing. For example, we launched a new app for members to educate them about isolation and how to address its impacts. During COVID, I took care of my mother-in-lawwho has Alzheimer’s. I learned that even though the house is full of people, some individuals can still feel isolated. There is not one silver bullet. We must address the issues of how people access the system and how they communicate in day-to-day life. The most important thing for me is to have behavioral health be part of every interaction with every individual without using the words “behavioral health”. So, we’re building into our program the positive role of behavioral health. We have a robust process preparing for managed care for behavioral health services, including the addition of behavioral health in our assessment process with five initial screening questions. And, we’re already geared up to help people with identified behavioral healthcare needs and address them. Aetna has been providing behavioral health care in-house for a very long period of time. We do not use a third- party vendor. We are fully staffed, including a recently hired full-time behavioral health medical director. I want to see a tremendous amount of utilization in the behavioral health space and making behavioral health part of primary care physician visits. What we’ve been dealing with is years of unmet needs. Members, friends and colleagues don’t knowwhere to go or what to do. I also want to increase use of telehealth, including tele-behavioral health when Aetna members see primary care physicians. I want to have those tools available in primary care physicians and specialists’ offices, as well as behavioral healthcare providers’ offices. “ There is not one silver bullet. We must address the issues of how people access the system and how they communicate in day-to-day life. The most important thing for me is to have behavioral health be part of every interaction with every individual without using the words ‘behavioral health’.” JoeManger Chief Executive Officer Aetna Better Health of NJ “ “