Name
Coordinating Chaos: Building the Behavioral Health “Traffic Controller” Role to Streamline Access, Strengthen IBH Operations, and Unite a Growing Behavioral Health Section
Description

Growing behavioral health service lines create fragmentation, including bottlenecks in scheduling, inconsistent handoffs, redundant triage processes, and increasing operational strain across hospital systems. To address these gaps, CentraCare developed a “Traffic Controller” role, titled the Behavioral Health Access Manager (BHAM)—to centralize navigation, streamline communication, manage referral flow, and operationally support a rapidly expanding Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH) program. The role focuses on workflow mapping, KPI development, equity‑guided redesign, and cross‑department collaboration to reduce system inefficiencies. The session will feature system leaders describing the development, implementation, and evolution of the BHAM role, offering practical strategies for problem identification, role creation, and operational improvement.

Speakers
Cassandra Sanow-Hansen, MSW, LICSW
Ryan Engdahl, PhD, LP, MBA
Jody Kirchner, MSW, LICSW
Co-Authors
John Schmitz, MD - Behavioral Health Medical Director, CentraCare
Content Level
Intermediate
Tags
Innovations, Quality improvement programs, Rural
Session Type
Concurrent
Objective 1
Describe common breakdowns in behavioral health access and IBH operations that create the need for a centralized “Traffic Controller” function.
Objective 2
Apply a framework for designing a hybrid operational‑clinical role that improves efficiency, communication, and flow.
Objective 3
Identify at least one solution for service line bottlenecks and access opportunities within their own organization.
Content Reference 1

Plummer, M. L., Calvello Hynes, E., Fogarty, J., Toro Polanco, N., & Reynolds, T. (2025). Optimizing people’s movement across the health system: A scoping review of referral systems within a primary health care approach. Primary Health Care Research & Development. Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/primary-health-care-research-and-development/article/optimizing-peoples-movement-across-the-health-system-a-scoping-review-of-referral-systems-within-a-primary-health-care-approach/66B27439733D9E656464800B6A2D5CA4

Content Reference 2

Harvey, J. (2026, January 12). Why behavioral health operations break during growth — and how to fix them. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-behavioral-health-operations-break-during-growth-how-jamel-harvey-an0me

Content Reference 3

Vechiu, C., Zimmermann, M., Zepeda, M., O’Donohue, W. T., & Broten, L. (2024). Referral patterns and sociodemographic predictors of adult and pediatric behavioral health referrals in a federally qualified health center. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 51, 101–113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11414-023-09855-2