Meaningful Improvements Now

Providing Excellent and Effective Services

As we wait to see what happens with our national healthcare system, individual providers and local systems of care are taking steps every day to make meaningful improvements now.

We know that you, our customers, are working across many fronts to make your services better and more effective. We, too, are doing the same thing at Telecare.

This month, we highlight one element in our new mission statement: excellent and effective behavioral health services. In this issue, our President and CEO, Anne Bakar, provides a deeper view of what this means, and, we share a few specific ways we’re working on excellence and effectiveness right now: from new program models, to new leadership, and more.
 
We would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Please feel free to reach out to us anytime.

Until next month, we wish you all the best,
Faith Richie, SVP of Development, Telecare

Telecare's Mission: Focus on Excellence and Effectiveness

Last month, we introduced Telecare's new mission statement. This month, we offer a deeper view into what it means to provide excellent and effective services.

By Anne Bakar, Telecare President & CEO

To be an excellent service organization, we have always focused on learning and growing our capabilities.

In particular, we continuously work to improve in three major areas:

• Providing excellent clinical quality,
• Delivering excellent services to our partners, and finally,
• Creating an environment that is a great place for employees to work.  

Although we measure our progress in these priority areas over time, with the additional focus on effectiveness, we see the opportunity to be more systematic and rigorous in our approach.

This means delivering care that makes a measurable difference in people’s lives, and can be demonstrated with outcomes. Internally, we also recognize that data can be used operationally to make more informed decisions and improve practice.

While this is a long-term focus that will involve new technology and tools, there are specific ways we are working on excellence and effectiveness right now: from new program models, to new leadership, and more. This issue includes several of our latest efforts, and we will continue to share more in the months ahead.

Please feel free to reach out to us and let us know your thoughts and ideas. We encourage and welcome your feedback.

Welcoming Mary Ann Tocio Back to Telecare's Board of Directors

Mary Ann Tocio, who served for 23 years as President and Chief Operating Officer of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, will be returning to Telecare Corporation’s board of directors.

"It is an honor and a privilege to announce Mary Ann's return to our board of directors," said Anne Bakar, President and CEO of Telecare. "She previously served on our board for five years, starting in 2001. Since then, we have been grateful to count on her as a trusted friend and advisor. I am delighted that she will be rejoining Telecare at such an important time in our history."

Before joining Telecare’s board, Mary Ann was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, the world's leading provider of employer-sponsored childcare, early education, and work/life solutions. Bright Horizons has over $1.4 billion in revenues and operates more than 900 centers in four countries. In total, more than 26,000 Bright Horizons staff members provide care to more than 100,000 children. Bright Horizons has been recognized 16 times as one of Fortune Magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For in America."

At Bright Horizons, Mary Ann was responsible for all domestic and global operations. She retired from her position in June 2015.

In addition to her work at Bright Horizons, Mary Ann has served on private, not-for-profit, family-owned, and publicly-traded boards including Horizons for Homeless Children, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Burlington Stores, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Civitas Solutions, and Zany Brainy. Mary Ann received her MBA from Simmons College Graduate School of Management, and was honored by Simmons with the Phyllis Rappaport Alumnae Achievement Award, which recognizes alumnae who further the school's tradition of creating broader opportunities for women.

“Mary Ann’s leadership experience building high-quality, mission-driven service organizations on a scale that is much larger than Telecare will be extremely valuable as we grow. We will also learn from her vast knowledge about how to effectively engage our diverse workforce in our future mission."  Anne continued, “She has a great appreciation for our work in behavioral health and will be a tremendous partner. We are so lucky to have her join us at this important juncture in health care.”

"I am truly pleased and excited to be back on Telecare's board of directors," said Mary Ann. "I deeply appreciate Telecare's foundational values, and even more importantly, its commitment and willingness to learn, grow, improve, evolve, and do whatever it takes to help real people change their lives for the better. I look forward to the future that lies ahead."

Telecare Partners in Wellness Open House

The Telecare Partners in Wellness program, the nation's first mental health Pay for Success program, along with the County of Santa Clara and Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc., hosted an open house for community stakeholders and members on February 8 at their new facility in San Jose, CA. 

"Telecare opens many new programs, but this has been a unique experience in terms of the level of effort invested by so many parties to launch this innovative model,” said Anne Bakar, President and CEO of Telecare. "We are thrilled to have been chosen by Santa Clara for this important work. It is in perfect alignment with the value we place on public/private partnerships as the industry shifts toward performance-based funding.” 

We are honored for the chance to participate in this innovative partnership with Santa Clara County and Third Sector, and are glad to have the opportunity to provide services in a new area.

Read more about this innovative program model and partnership.

Click here to read about Mental Health Weekly's feature on Pay for Success and learn about the program's preliminary design plan.

Garfield's Five-Star Quality Measures

Achieving stellar quality program measures takes passion, commitment, and teamwork. We catch up with Garfield Neurobehavioral program in Oakland, CA, to find out more about what it takes to maintain a five-star program.

Click here to learn more about Garfield's e the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service’s Nursing Home Compare quarterly evaluation and how the staff at Garfield has improved the program's operations. 

Leadership Announcements

We are pleased to welcome and congratulate new and promoted staff at our programs and corporate office.

February Stuff!

• Be Vocal: Speak up for Mental Health created a selection of free stock images that counteract the grim, one-dimensional portrayals of people with mental health conditions.
• Sidewalk Talk is hosting multiple listening sessions in San Francisco and Oakland in March.

Find out more about how these organizations are challenging perceptions of mental health.