Anneliese Hanson
Anneliese Hanson
Subject Matter Expert
info@openminds.com
717-334-1329
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Anneliese Hanson, MBA, LPCC comes to OPEN MINDS with over ten years’ experience in behavioral health managed care, community mental health, payer contracting, health care analytics, and telehealth delivery systems. She currently serves as a Subject Matter Expert for OPEN MINDS.
Prior to joining the OPEN MINDS team, Ms. Hanson served as the Western Region Behavioral Health Network Market Manager for Cigna Behavioral Health (now Evernorth Behavioral Health). In that position she oversaw network development and recruitment efforts for the Western US as well as working on the implementation of statewide fee schedule increase in CA, OR, and WA through her use of projective analytics investigating behavioral health cost trends. Through her targeted recruitment efforts and extensive market research she managed to grow Cigna’s behavioral health specialty network in her regions by double and triple digits within two years. Anneliese was instrumental in creating a value-based, self-contained referral network in the Phoenix metro for Cigna Medical Group, which cut down on mental health hospital readmissions by as much as 50%. She has also worked closely with hospital groups around California to develop streamlined behavioral health integration strategies that directly improved the hospital’s HEDIS metrics. This project was so highly regarded by the partnering hospital groups in Southern CA that it was implemented nationally within a year.
During her tenure as market manager, Ms. Hanson developed a strong interest in digital behavioral health providers and alternative contracting solutions. She was the primary point of contact for all digital behavioral health entities headquartered in the Western US. Ms. Hanson also has specialized knowledge in non-standard and non-traditional contracting for behavioral health providers from her position on Cigna’s CSN (client specific network) team, where she advised on implementation of non-standard funding and contracting arrangements for Cigna’s behavioral health products.
Prior to her role as market manager, Ms. Hanson served as a Behavioral Health Inpatient Care Manager at Cigna Behavioral Health, engaging in case management and medical necessity reviews of behavioral health cases. In this capacity Ms. Hanson gained a keen awareness of case management, utilization management, and medical necessity best practices from the payer perspective.
Ms. Hanson earned her Masters of Business Administration from the University of Hartford in Hartford, Connecticut with a focus in Healthcare Analytics, Behavioral Health Contracting, and Behavioral Health Reimbursement Strategy. She earned a Master of Arts in Clinical Counseling, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Art Therapy from the Adler Graduate School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a fully licensed professional clinical counselor in the states of California, Illinois, and Minnesota.