Latest / Becker's Healthcare Behavioral Health / Mandy Fauble, PhD, LCSW, Vice President of Operations at UPMC Western Behavioral Health

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Mandy Fauble, PhD, LCSW, Vice President of Operations at UPMC Western Behavioral Health · Becker's Healthcare Behavioral Health

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  Welcome everyone to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.
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  I'm Ryan Muhammad, writer and moderator with Becker's
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  Healthcare. I'm thrilled to have with me today
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  doctor Mandy Fauble, vice president of operations at
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  UPMC Western Behavioral Health. Doctor, welcome to the
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  podcast. We're very excited to have you join
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  us today. To get us started, would you
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  mind please introducing yourself and telling us a
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  bit about your background?
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  Sure thing. Well, thanks for having me. As
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  you mentioned, I'm doctor Mandy Fauble, and I
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  work for UPMC Western Behavioral Health.
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  And during my career, I've spent most of
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  my time working in crisis services,
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  in community mental health, and in academia. I'm
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  a social worker by training and love doing
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  community collaboration,
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  And I'm so proud to be at UPMC,
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  which was recently ranked number seven in the
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  nation for psychiatry.
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  So a really truly wonderful place to be
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  practicing in behavioral health.
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  Absolutely. Thank you so much for that background.
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  So what opportunities and headwinds do you have
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  your eye on right now?
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  Oh my gosh. So many. Probably for me,
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  the top ranking ones are, first, the changing
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  workforce.
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  You know, we're seeing all kinds of new
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  technologies arise in both the technical sense. I
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  think we are all familiar with what's happening
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  in,
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  for instance, AI and in apps and just
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  in technology that can help us work
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  more smartly, more efficiently.
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  But even things like advances in medication
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  and things like the types of workers
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  that are out there in the workforce, there's
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  just so much changing
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  that I think attending to how our technology
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  is changing and who
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  can deploy that technology and how we can
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  evolve that to be more
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  efficient is so critical.
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  There are also so many more positive opportunities
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  right now in collaboration.
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  We can collaborate more across health and social
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  services
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  than ever before. It's so strong. I see
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  that in emerging practices, for instance, like core
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  response programs and crisis intervention or things like
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  the expansion of 988 and the buildup of
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  the crisis care continuum really across the country,
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  things like partnerships
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  between housing providers and health care entities,
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  or even things like specialty care coordination
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  among different types of health care practices.
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  So,
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  of course, both of those things mean multiplying
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  and leveraging our resources
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  differently, thinking more creatively,
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  and, again, helping to expand our workforce by
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  teaming
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  and by embracing some of these technology
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  innovations
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  and practice innovations that we're seeing all around
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  us.
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  Absolutely. Thank you so much for that information.
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  And how are you thinking about growth and
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  adding value to your organization this year or
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  within the next couple years?
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  I love that question because I love to
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  think about value and values.
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  And so I think growth in health care
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  services
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  must continue to support the core of our
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  collective mission, which is truly patient care.
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  So, ultimately, I think any growth that we're
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  contemplating
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  has to be framed in that lens, one
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  that is supporting both our critical and foundation
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  services, like, again, our crisis intervention,
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  programming,
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  or things like our outpatient medication services.
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  And then by strengthening those types of services
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  and bringing them to people who maybe have
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  not had those opportunities to experience them, such
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  as people in rural areas
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  where growth may mean reaching people that have
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  had a harder time accessing care.
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  And so I think about,
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  strengthening our crisis programming and our core services
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  and then thinking about how do we focus
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  on our workforce.
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  Because the workforce
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  truly is key to making any of the
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  services
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  not just possible, but they're really truly where
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  the quality comes from, where the success comes
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  from.
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  So anything that can help our employee experience,
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  and that might mean training,
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  more learning and development opportunities,
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  developing more supportive
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  workplace where the staff
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  are given opportunities to take ownership of their
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  tasks and and sort of leave their mark
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  on this space. You know, I am fortunate
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  to work in two locations
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  where
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  staff have actually wanted to support gardening activities.
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  And that's such a small example of an
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  activity that really beautifies the environment, but it
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  also creates opportunities for engagement.
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  And so I think about any way that
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  we can further
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  help our workforce
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  to be deeply engaged
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  is really important to any type of growth
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  that we're going to do,
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  as organizations.
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  And in that same, like, relationship based
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  spirit,
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  when I think about growing the organization,
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  I think it's really about relationships
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  and
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  how we collaborate and partner across types of
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  organizations.
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  Even, you know, when we think about adding
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  value to our own organization, part of that
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  is helping other people see our value too
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  and see the value that they contribute to
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  our work, we contribute to theirs, and that
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  we together
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  and better support our communities.
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  So in health care, you know, in the
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  system, like, for instance, as large as EPMC,
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  that might mean finding new ways to care
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  for teams together.
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  For instance, one of the teams I support
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  just partnered with our health plan
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  to enhance services for housing case management
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  and to truly enhance
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  housing as health care opportunities.
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  But it could also mean new partnerships in
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  the community.
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  For instance, student success
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  and working in the educational
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  setting. It could mean permanent supportive housing,
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  crisis core response. In so many ways, quite
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  frankly, this is just when we think about
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  our patients holistically,
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  we understand that health is intertwined with every
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  life domain,
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  and
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  partnering together enhances the person's overall wellness. So,
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  the sky's the limit, really, for me.
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  Yeah. That's definitely amazing. I love the idea
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  of servicing the rural communities.
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  They're definitely in need right now.
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  So that's amazing.
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  What do you think is one risk or
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  investment,
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  worth making this year?
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  Oh, well, this is, like, a super hard
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  question, I think.
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  Probably, you can tell by talking to me
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  that I'm
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  really deeply interested in
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  integrated health care and then partnering across systems
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  and integrating across systems. So, you know, for
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  me, I think the risk worth taking is
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  always, always
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  the one where we contemplate a new partnership
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  or a new relationship of some kind, whether
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  that means moving into a new community,
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  a new geographical
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  area, a new,
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  specialty area, or even just building a new
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  strategic relationship.
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  For instance, as I mentioned, the team that
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  I support recently
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  has partnered with our health plan to address
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  housing insecurity,
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  And this really pushed us because, of course,
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  the work that we're most familiar with is
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  more traditional behavioral health services. But by pushing
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  into that space,
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  we are finding
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  new ways to support people
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  and certainly new ways to,
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  support our organization because I think we all
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  know that there's no one thing. There's no
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  one investment, one risk,
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  one ultimate payoff. What we can be sure
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  of though is that being stagnant
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  is unhealthy for any living organism,
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  and an organization's truly a living organism. So
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  leaning into strategic change is kind of always
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  a winning mindset.
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  And I think following
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  sort of those rules of thumb that
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  you want to pull your resources in ways
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  that are going to diversify your core competencies,
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  improve your revenue streams or create more diverse
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  revenue streams, reduce expense,
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  build strategic alliances, or even things like improving
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  your advocacy opportunities
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  because
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  you are bringing more people to the table
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  for that conversation.
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  I think those are always wise. And, again,
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  the relationship
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  is always the risk worth taking.
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  Absolutely. Definitely agree with you there. And, doctor,
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  before I let you go, the last thing
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  I wanted to ask you is where do
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  you see the best opportunities for growth in
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  in the future?
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  Oh my gosh. Well, Mariah, you are going
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  to think I'm a broken record here because
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  I think, again, I'm going to stay in
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  partnership.
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  I think as a behavioral health professional and
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  as someone talking to you on a behavioral
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  health podcast,
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  I I think it's important that we collectively
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  start to emphasize more that behavioral health is
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  truly part of every domain of human life.
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  So, really, the possibilities
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  for partnership
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  are just
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  endless.
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  Things like supporting students in school to be
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  more successful,
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  diverting people from the justice system,
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  helping people to manage their physical health more
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  effectively,
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  thinking about living in the community more easily
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  because of
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  their ability to navigate the complex social systems.
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  These are all ways that we can bring
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  the skill of behavioral health to the table.
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  And when we help people understand
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  that behavioral health care,
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  we're a really great addition to those tables,
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  you know, that we can help them understand
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  how managing behavioral health well
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  often helps to reduce cost in many systems.
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  It reduces complications
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  in other types of settings.
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  And, ultimately,
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  when we improve the health of our community
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  members, we all gain something from that.
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  So,
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  that teaming and that partnership and that leaning
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  into community
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  continue to feel very, very important to me
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  as does
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  embracing
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  technology
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  and
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  new
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  innovations that help us
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  build that community in different ways. You know,
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  things like the use of telehealth
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  or remote patient monitoring or even apps that
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  can be used to bridge people together.
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  All all this partnership
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  and teaming
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  really will will require us also to lean
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  on our innovations that make that work more
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  more easily accomplished.
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  Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. That definitely makes a lot
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  of sense, and thank you so much for
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  those final thoughts. It's definitely been a very
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  form informative discussion. So, again, I wanna thank
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  you so much for coming on back to
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  health care, especially for the first time. And
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  I look forward to connecting with you again
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  soon. Thanks,
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  Mariah.