Her Story
About Janelle
I have been working in the healthcare field for about 31 years now, and I currently serve as a Provider Quality Manager in managed care. In this role, I manage about 100-plus organizations within the provider network across the state, primarily focusing on substance use disorder levels of care, but also some mental health levels of care as well, ranging from 24-hour levels of care down to community-based services and outpatient services. I work with these providers to improve quality metrics, improve access, work on HEDIS measurements and trying to improve HEDIS outcomes, and improve clinical quality improvement. I also manage an alternative payment model, a value-based payment model, which I helped develop and implement across the state. I've been in this role since 2014. I started my career at the very basic beginning as a psychiatric psychology student intern working on a locked psychiatric unit, doing direct care with patients on the floor. From there, I worked my way up to running groups, doing case management, biopsychosocials, and referring people out to services when they were going to discharge. After completing my bachelor's and going on for my master's, I became a clinical supervisor and assistant director to a partial hospitalization program, where I supervised clinical staff and did more high-level work with utilization management with insurance companies. Because I am dually licensed, I was recruited to do some fee-for-service outpatient therapy for patients who required a therapist with both a mental health license and an alcohol and drug abuse license. After doing direct care for so long, I decided I wanted to see what the other side of the house was and transitioned to managed care, working on a macro level with providers rather than doing direct care anymore.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Janelle
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
One of my professors during my master's program really emphasized working to live and not living to work. That was his quote: work to live, don't live to work. He told me to make sure that you make enough money and you're fairly compensated for your work, but really enjoy what you're doing. If you're not enjoying it, then don't do it. Go and find something else that you really enjoy. I just took everything he said really to heart. He worked in the field for a long time and did the same thing I did, where he worked direct care for so long and then recognized that he really needed to shift where he was in his life. I think he was such a great mentor to me because that really gave me the insight in my life when it came to that point to say, you know what, I think it's time for me to shift and make decisions that are going to really improve my life, my quality of life, and my success, not just professionally, but also personally.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say that it's a hard industry. It takes a lot out of you physically, mentally, and emotionally, so you really need to be in a good place in your life to be strong to take on that type of a position, but it can be so rewarding. The best thing you could do is really get down to the lower level, like I did, and really learn from the ground up. The successes that you see might be small, but when you see them all together, and even though they may be small successes, you get them all the time with the patients that we work with. It can be life-changing to actually have that type of experience and have that type of role in somebody else's life. But it does take a strong person to do this work. And it's not for everybody, and that's okay. There are different avenues, but it's really good to have that direct experience and really put yourself at that level to really see the whole picture of mental health and substance use.
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