Sheppard Pratt Launches Sheppard Pratt Solutions to Meet Increased Demand for Behavioral Health

Stephen Merz joins Sheppard Pratt to lead Sheppard Pratt Solutions

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Sep 29, 2021, 13:12 ET

BALTIMORE, Sept. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sheppard Pratt today announced Sheppard Pratt Solutions, a new division that will support the increased demand for behavioral health services locally, regionally, and nationally. Sheppard Pratt Solutions utilizes the extensive expertise of its mental health professionals to provide consulting, management services, and development-based partnerships to help healthcare organizations nationwide establish and improve delivery of hospital and community-based behavioral health services in their community.

"Sheppard Pratt is recognized and respected as the national leader, with unparalleled knowledge, clinical expertise, and resources in the behavioral health space," said Harsh K. Trivedi, MD, MBA, president and CEO of Sheppard Pratt. "Sheppard Pratt Solutions will help clients assess their existing capabilities, needs, goals and opportunities, and deliver a solution that helps them best serve their communities' mental health needs."

The need for behavioral health services is tremendous, and rapidly growing in light of the COVID pandemic. In many communities, the availability of psychiatric providers capable of delivering comprehensive, high quality, outcomes-based care is extremely limited. Sheppard Pratt Solutions will partner with hospitals, healthcare systems and organizations, to optimize their existing mental health services or expand behavioral health services across a variety of care settings. Sheppard Pratt Solutions consultants have decades of experience, including in serving underserved areas, both in urban and rural settings, and will leverage that experience with a variety of approaches. These approaches include crisis, inpatient, outpatient, collaborative care, telepsychiatry, and consult liaison services.

Sheppard Pratt Solutions consultants have experience across the country. In addition to consulting services, Sheppard Pratt Solutions provides management and development services to its partners. Regionally, Sheppard Pratt has been providing management-based contract services for years. With its management services, Sheppard Pratt directly manages existing or new behavioral healthcare services by providing executive and clinical leadership on-site and remotely through a longer-term contractual agreement. The team can also help healthcare organizations develop new behavioral healthcare capacity across a variety of care settings in their community.

Stephen Merz, FACHE, recently joined Sheppard Pratt as chief operating officer to lead Sheppard Pratt Solutions. His career spans nearly 30 years including roles as interim president and CEO at Diamond Healthcare, president and CEO of Maine Behavioral Healthcare, and as vice president and executive director of Behavioral Health at Yale New Haven Hospital. Merz has served on national and regional boards, including the National Association of Behavioral Healthcare, chair of the Behavioral Healthcare Councils of the Maine and Connecticut Hospital Associations, and as ACHE Regent for Connecticut. He holds a master's degree in Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

"Steve is bringing his vast knowledge and expertise to Sheppard Pratt to help hospitals and health systems nationwide better integrate behavioral health care into their overall healthcare system. We look forward to his leadership as we stretch our services and make mental health care available in communities where a real need has been demonstrated," said Dr. Trivedi.

"I am thrilled to join the Sheppard Pratt team," said Merz. "With the collective experience of this team, we can help healthcare leaders nationwide access the resources and expertise necessary to provide comprehensive, high-quality behavioral health care services for their community.

For more information, visit solutions.sheppardpratt.org.

About Sheppard Pratt
Sheppard Pratt is the largest private, nonprofit provider of mental health, substance use, developmental disability, special education, and social services in the country. A nationwide resource, Sheppard Pratt provides services across a comprehensive continuum of care, spanning both hospital- and community-based resources. Since its founding in 1853, Sheppard Pratt has been innovating the field through research, best practice implementation, and a focus on improving the quality of mental health care on a global level. Sheppard Pratt has been consistently ranked as a top national psychiatric hospital by U.S. News & World Report for 30 years.

SOURCE Sheppard Pratt