The Future Leaders Awards program is brought to you by Behavioral Health Business, a WTWH Media health care brand. The program is designed to recognize up-and-coming industry members who are shaping the next decade of behavioral health, home health, hospice, senior housing and skilled nursing care. To see this year’s Future Leaders, visit https://futureleaders.agingmedia.com/.
Chris Yakscoe, senior director and GM of AI for Netsmart, has been named a 2024 Future Leader by Behavioral Health Business.
To become a Future Leader, an individual is nominated by their peers. The candidate must be a high-performing employee who is 40-years-old or younger, a passionate worker who knows how to put vision into action, and an advocate for those in need of behavioral health services, along with the committed professionals who work across this important corner of health care.
Yakscoe sat down with BHB to talk about driving change, the power of AI and more. Highlights from our conversation are below, edited for length and clarity.
BHB: What drew you to this industry?
Yakscoe: Personal experience. I’ve long been passionate about behavioral health and human services. Having witnessed close friends and family benefit from these services, I’ve also seen the detriment when services are unavailable.
I felt that a career spent improving the lives of providers and driving better access to care was more than a worthy calling. It was clear to me that providers and organizations as a whole were drowning in administrative burdens, grappling with staff shortages and rising demands for services.
About a decade ago, I set out with a partner to start a technology company that would deliver the high-quality solutions our industry needed and deserved. Thus, Remarkable Health was born, with the mission of building exceptional software to remove obstacles for behavioral health staff, the same way the services they provide help remove obstacles in their clients’ lives.
What’s your biggest lesson learned since starting to work in this industry?
Some people will focus on the limiting factors and the challenges. Insufficient funding, staffing shortages and turnover, stigma, outdated technology and so on. There are plenty of obstacles. But it’s my belief that the obstacle is the way! This industry is filled with some of the most passionate, cause-connected people you could ever meet. Many providers got into this line of work not because it is easy, but because it is hard and important work.
Their motivation and dedication are renewable resources. Experience has taught me that joining arm-in-arm with them is the best way to overcome these challenges and create a lasting impact for my generation and those that follow.
If you could change one thing with an eye toward the future of behavioral health care, what would it be?
I would advocate for widespread technology access and adoption. It’s crucial that the best tools become available to both patients and providers as soon as possible. Perhaps I’m guilty of being a man with a hammer searching for nails. But I believe the smartest path forward is paved by leveraging technology.
Recent years have brought new challenges to our industry, but doors to new opportunities have opened at the same time. With reduced red tape, improved care delivery methods – especially via telehealth – and an industry-wide craving for innovation, we stand at a pivotal moment.
Now is the time to supply the industry with the tools to deliver or receive the best care possible, regardless of geographic, socioeconomic, or any other limitation.
What do you foresee as being different about the behavioral health industry looking ahead to 2025?
2025 is an inflection point for our industry. Almost every organization I meet with is evaluating or implementing an AI strategy. I can’t think of another time that had such widespread opportunity and change-management implications.
I read recently that we shouldn’t be worried about AI replacing people, rather that people with AI will replace people without AI. It’s been true throughout human history that those with the best tools and technology will win the day. I expect 2025 to be no different, especially with leaders and organizations that embrace AI.
In a word, how would you describe the future of behavioral health care in the U.S.?
Pivotal.
What quality must all Future Leaders possess?
A willingness to challenge the status quo. A great leader of any kind should have a thirst for knowledge, appreciation for the past, ability to inspire and put plans into action and much more.
But a Future Leader needs gumption to buck the trends. I believe the future of behavioral health is “pivotal” not only because it is essential and critical, but also because we need to pivot and innovate to create the brightest possible future. There is more funding and attention directed to our industry than ever before. The stakes are too high to continue to do things “the way we’ve always done them.”
If you could give advice to yourself looking back to your first day in the industry, what would it be and why?
Be patient yet relentless. Patient that slow progress is lasting progress. Yet relentless in the pursuit of knowledge.
The learning curve will be steep – lean into it and use perspective to discover ways to innovate.
To learn more about the Future Leaders program, visit: https://futureleaders.agingmedia.com/.
