Creative Solutions for Delivering Integrated Care Across Missouri: Chestnut's Jim Wallis

Jim Wallis is  Director of Business Development with Chestnut Health Systems. He has over 32 years in behavioral health, starting his career in 1989 as a Deputy Juvenile Officer, working with at-risk adolescents in Missouri’s Pike, Lincoln, and St. Charles Counties. With Chestnut, he’s been instrumental in expanding Chestnut’s footprint across Missouri. We discuss:   How his background in criminology and criminal justice led him to a career on the “treatment” side of the “continuum.”  The initial challenges of expanding Chestnut’s programs from Illinois to Missouri, and its rapid expansion since.  Several of Chestnut's “signature” programs, including the innovative Metrolink and Jefferson County school-based programs. Chestnut’s success in lowering barriers to access to services in rural and urban areas across the state.    Senator Josh Hawley’s vocal opposition to the proposed cuts to Medicaid given the potential impact on his constituents, and its potential impact on Chestnut’s programs. We close by inviting the Senator to join us on the pod to explain what the cuts would mean if enacted in their present form, and lay out a path forward that will have the best outcome for Missouri and the nation.