Michael Allen brings over 30 years of experience in the non-profit behavioral healthcare industry to the OPEN MINDS team. He currently serves as an Executive Vice President in our consulting practice, where he provides executive oversight and leadership to provider and payer client engagements for OPEN MINDS.

Mr. Allen was most recently the Chief Executive Officer of SummitStone Health Partners, the largest non-profit behavioral health service provider in Larimer County, CO. In this role Mr. Allen was responsible for the planning deployment, communication and accomplishment of SummitStone Health Partners’ overarching corporate strategy. He managed a budget of $80Million and was responsible for more than 750 full time employees and over 12,000 clients annually.

Prior to SummitStone Health Partners, Mr. Allen served as the Vice President of Managed Care & Operations at AspenPointe (now Diversus Health). At AspenPointe he developed and managed a system of accountability for monitoring and evaluating provider performance in seven Colorado counties. He was also responsible for the quality management oversight of all business lines, as well as managing a substance abuse treatment contract with the Colorado Division of Behavioral Health and a child welfare services agreement with El Paso County Department of Human Services.

Previously, Mr. Allen was the Director of Clinical Care for Connect Care, (rebranded as AspenPointe in 2010). In this position Mr. Allen provided supervision to the clinical staff, as well as developing clinical guidelines and services. He was also the project director for the 4th Judicial District Family Reunification Grant and he oversaw care coordination and voucher management functions for Colorado Access to Recovery Grant.

Before Connect Care, Mr. Allen was the Director of Child Welfare Services for Signal Behavioral Health Network, a non-profit that has been managing and expanding substance use prevention, treatment and recovery services in northeast Colorado for over 25 years. Mr. Allen managed a network of Substance Use Disorder treatment providers, programs and services across 35 Colorado counties.

Mr. Allen earned a Bachelor of Arts in Design/Psychology from Brigham Young University, a Masters in Social Work from Case Western Reserve University, and a Masters in Business Administration from Colorado State University. He is a Licensed Social Worker and a Certified Addictions Specialist in Colorado.

Deanne Cornette, MHA, GPC, brings over 20 years of experience in the behavioral health field.  Ms.Cornette currently serves as a Senior Associate for OPEN MINDS and brings to the OPEN MINDS team noted expertise in strategic planning, grant writing and revenue development.

Previously, Ms. Cornette was the Vice President of Strategic Development for Tampa Family Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Healthcare Center. In this role, she managed grants, contracts, front desk operations, training, quality assurance special assignments (risk assessments and responses to complaints), credentialing and billing functions.  In a very short time period, she successfully procured funding to integrate behavioral health services, brought a system of processes to track health indicators and improve value-based care payment and service and became proficient in utilizing HRSA’s reporting portals.

As Counsel for Strategic Development at Agency for Community Treatment Services, Inc. (ACTS) and Vice President of Business Development for Gracepoint (merger), Ms. Cornette directed strategic development, contract negotiations, revenue development, marketing and grants.  In this capacity, she targeted funding sources and built a lucrative cash flow that provided needed services to vulnerable populations in need of behavioral health treatment.

Some of her most successful negotiations created best practice services for veteran’s programs, women’s services, as well those involved with the criminal justice system. Her portfolio includes a wide array of awards from a multitude of agencies including, but not limited to: SAMHSA, HUD, Centers for Medicaid, and the Department of Transportation and collaborations with private, non-profit and government entities.  Most recently, she worked with Gracepoint to develop Hillsborough’s Centralized Receiving Facility, one of the first funded in the State of Florida.  From a system of care for jail diversion to evidence based practices for individuals who are homeless with behavioral health needs, her awards have netted over $80 million dollars to our community.

In addition, Ms. Cornette served as the Vice President for the National Contract Management Association Suncoast Chapter, Vice President of ACTS Affordable Housing Board of Directors, Vice President of ACTS Foundation Board of Directors, and was a member of Hillsborough County Health Care Advisory Board.​ She is the recipient of University of South Florida’s 2018 Florida Outstanding Women of the Year in Public Health. Her Centralized Receiving Facility collaborative won a 2018 WEDU PBS Be Brilliant / Innovation Award.  Her concept of Housing, Engagement and Retention Tenancy (HEART) program won the 2018 Heart for Homeless award through the Housing and Education Alliance.

Ms. Cornette received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and her Masters Degree in Health Administration from the University of South Florida.

Monica E. Oss, M.S. is the founder of OPEN MINDS and serves as its chief executive officer, executive editor of its publications and websites, and executive lead of its consulting engagements. For the past three decades, Ms. Oss has led the OPEN MINDS team and its research on health and human service market trends and its national consulting practice.  She is well known for her numerous books and articles focused on the strategic and marketing implications of the evolving health and human service field – and its focus on the verticals of the field serving consumers with chronic conditions and complex support needs.

Ms. Oss has extensive experience in developing and implementing growth strategies for a wide array of organizations in the field. She has expertise in industry trend analysis, reimbursement, rate setting, and creating actionable plans for market success. In her role, she has led numerous engagements with state Medicaid plans, county governments, private insurers, and health plans, service provider organizations, technology vendors, neurotechnology and pharmaceutical organizations, and investment banking firms – with a focus on the implications of financing changes on delivery system design.

Prior to founding OPEN MINDS, Ms. Oss served as an executive with a nationally managed behavioral health organization, responsible for market development, actuarial analysis, and capitation-based rate setting. She also held a position as vice president of the U.S. risk management and underwriting division of an international insurance company.

Ms. Oss has been the keynote speaker at the conferences of dozens of national associations and has been published in a wide range of professional journals and trade publications. She has provided Congressional and state legislative testimony on issues as diverse as the financial impact of parity and payer medication access policies.

Ms. Oss has led a range of industry research and consultation initiatives, serving as principal investigator on research projects that include the examination of national managed care enrollment and service patterns, development of provider rate structures for government entities, creation of return-on-investment models for technology investments; design of performance-based compensation models within public and private health plans; and analysis of the economic impact of changes in benefit design, adoption of evidence-based practices, and new technologies.

Rick Rowley brings over 10 years of experience driving improved performance, quality, and costs of the health care system to OPEN MINDS as a Senior Associate. Mr. Rowley is focused on bringing together health care physicians, provider organizations, health care payers, and data-driven strategies.

Prior to joining OPEN MINDS, Mr. Rowley was the Chief Data & Analytics Officer at the State of Colorado, Behavioral Health Administration. In this role, he designed and implemented the Colorado behavioral health performance monitoring system, which focused on the impact of care across privately and publicly funded services including health care, criminal justice, and social services. Mr. Rowley served as the state’s subject matter expert on quality and performance measures for behavioral/mental health services, grants, and contracts worth over $200 million annually. He brokered data-sharing agreements with both public and private organizations and advised senior executives and state leaders on data trends utilizing data visualizations and formal presentations. He spoke at national and state-level conferences focused on improving mental health care.

Previously, Mr. Rowley was the Vice President of Healthcare Strategy and Operations at Redwood Family Care Network, a private equity-backed provider of services for those with severe mental illness disabilities within California, Washington, Nevada, and Arizona. He developed strategies and implemented the use of operational guidelines for physicians, psychiatrists, behavioralists, and social workers caring for residents within our 124 facilities located across the four states. He also served as a merger and acquisition (M&A) consultant on the business development team providing subject matter expert insights on revenue cycle management, quality of services, and the strategic synergies of potential healthcare acquisitions.

Mr. Rowley was also the project manager for the development of a specialty mental health/primary care medical group contracted with Medicare Innovations Value-Based “Primary Care First” program that performed services through a hybrid telehealth and satellite facility environment. He designed and engineered a data warehouse (BigQuery) for the integration and coordination of care between insurance payers and state services.

Prior to that role, Mr. Rowley served as the Vice President of Corporate Wellness at OC Wellness Physicians Group. In this role, Mr. Rowley drove B2B sales for corporate wellness contracts that generated $18 million worth of new business. He provided operational and strategic leadership creating and maximizing payer agreements with Medicare, Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna, and UnitedHealthcare.

Previously, Mr. Rowley served as the Executive Director for Regenerative Orthopedic Clinic, where he turned the company around from a negative EBITDA to $2.5 million. He was responsible for $10.1 million annual P&L grown from $750k in 2011. While working with the CEO, Mr. Rowley oversaw the operations and strategies for the company’s three southern California facilities and 45 employees with support from eight direct reports.

Mr. Rowley earned his Doctorate of Chiropractic degree at Southern California University of Health Sciences. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree at Brigham Young University, majoring in Microbiology with a minor in business management.

Raymond “Ray” Wolfe, J.D. brings over 40 years of experience in the health and human services sector to the OPEN MINDS team. Mr. Wolfe currently serves as a Senior Associate, a position in which he utilizes his expertise to successfully lead varying projects for OPEN MINDS. His areas of expertise include financial analysis and management, mergers and acquisitions, performance improvement, and strategic planning.

Before joining OPEN MINDS, Mr. Wolfe served in a 22 year tenure with Pittsburgh Mercy Health System in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Most recently, Mr. Wolfe served as the organization’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) where he was responsible for oversight of all system operations, strategic planning, and performance management. Under his direction Pittsburgh Mercy achieved over $850K in value-based reimbursement contract quality bonus awards, integrated three organizations through merger/acquisition, and adopted a new performance management program for managers.

Before acting as Pittsburgh Mercy’s COO, Mr. Wolfe served as the organization’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and was responsible for the development of internal costing methodologies, contract rate negotiations, and financial forecasting activities. In addition, he coordinated an integrated care program with local partner hospitals to develop a series of diversion and respite programs, as well as, specialized primary care, integrated care management and high utilizer teams, while maintaining 15 straight years profitability.

Mr. Wolfe was promoted to CFO after serving as the Director of Fiscal and Information Security/Compliance for the health system. In this role, he was responsible for managing the transition of service contracts from fee-for-service (FFS), leading all compliance activities, and implementing a next generation electronic health record (EHR) system.

Prior to his time at Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, Mr. Wolfe served as Chief Fiscal Officer with the Summit Center for Human Development in Clarksburg, West Virginia, where he was responsible for reporting and budgeting functions and preparing Summit Center’s programs for FFS billing.

Previously, Mr. Wolfe served in billing and collections for two Pennsylvania-based hospitals. First, as an Accounts Receivables Manager for Brownsville General Hospital in Brownsville, PA, where he managed the accounting and billing system transition systems. Later as a Patient Account Manager for St. Francis Medical Center in Pittsburgh, PA, where he improved collections to hit 95% rate through the implementation of new billing software and department reorganization.

Prior to working in the health and human services market, Mr. Wolfe spent five years practicing as a Lawyer with at Law Offices of Arch A. Moore in Moundsville, WV. In this role he provided general legal practice, created and established bylaws for multiple corporation, and handled West Virginia licensing of first vision insurance plan.

Mr. Wolfe earned his Juris Doctor from the West Virginia University School of Law in Morgantown, WV and his Bachelor’s degree with a focus in Political Science and Sociology from West Liberty University, in Wheeling, WV, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.