Leaders

Cartesian Solutions, Inc.^™ is a medical management consulting S Corporation which specializes in the integration of physical health and MH/SUD services at each level of the heatlh care system. It was founded by Dr. Roger Kathol, an internist and psychiatrist with medical management credentials who has 25 years of experience providing hands on integrated clinical care at the University of Iowa, 2 years experience integrating behavioral health into general medical business practices at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, and 10 years experience in assisting hospitals and clinics, health plans, employers, care management companies, and software vendors integrate services for their constituencies through Cartesian Solutions, Inc.^™ contracts.

Cartesian Solutions, Inc.^™ works with a consortium of expert consultants who have specialized knowledge about various aspects of integrated care, including selected clinical specialty areas, financial considerations, information technology, actuarial analyses, physical space redesign, educational programs, and performance measurement.

Principal

Innovative Board Certified Internist, Psychiatrist, and Physician Executive with 30 years experience in the integration of general medical and behavioral health care. Dr. Roger Kathol has international expertise in the development and operation of cross-disciplinary programs and services for clinics and hospitals; health plans; software vendors; case, disease, and disability management organizations; employee assistance programs; and employers. Through Cartesian Solutions, Inc.™, he assists leadership problem-solve in each of these areas of the health system in different ways:

• Hospitals and clinics—designs and upgrades inpatient and outpatient integrated clinical programs
• General medical health plans and third party administrators—assists with insourcing carved-out behavioral health and then with integrating physical health and MH/SUD service support and business practices
• Software vendors—creates integrated software solutions which respond to industry demands for coordinated MH/SUD and physical health assessments, communications, and report generation
• Case, disease, and disability management and employee assistance programs--institutes measures which facilitate communication and coordination of physical health and MH/SUD services within and among service providers, i.e. breaks down silos
• Employers/government agencies—redesigns contract benefit language and audits health plan and vendor care management for practices which improve clinical outcomes, reduce impairment, increase productivity, lower health care costs, and allow the measurement of change results

Executive Staff

A board certified physician with extensive experience in developing educational and running programs and in the admininstration of health care services. Dr. Mary Kathol, an academic radiologist, shifted her professional trajectory in 2005 from clinical radiology to one in which she could apply her expertise as an educator and and program manager in the area of integrated health care services. Since taking on the role of Director of Project Implementation, she has organized several workshops and seminars on the integration of physical health and MH/SUD services and has assisted in the initiation and completion of several integration projects both nationally and internationally.

Collaborative Consultants

Ms. Sargent has over 25 years of experience in behavioral health care consulting, emphasizing strategic planning, the management and financing of behavioral health services, mergers/acquisitions/affiliations, development of alternative health systems, operations benchmarking, and the negotiation of managed care contracts. She also has considerable experience in structuring risk-based arrangements, including feasibility assessments, fee determinations, proposal development, contract development, credentialing, and implementation. Recently, Susan merged her practice with Array Healthcare Facilities Solutions, an architectural/design firm. This enables her to continue her consulting practice and blend facilities solutions with financial/operational/technical consulting gauged to the needs of the clients. Ms. Sargent received a Masters of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College.

Dr. Bair uses creative problem-solving to address complex system interactions at the interface of physical and MH/SUD with an emphasis on geriatric practices. He is board certified in general internal medicine, adult psychiatry, internal medicine geriatrics, and psychiatric geriatrics and has additional business qualifications. He has used his extensive leadership experience in academic medicine and public policy to improve the health care of patients through integrated service consultations to over 30 private and community health care systems, the Centers of Medicaid and Medicare, and State Medicaid programs.

Experienced in clinical issues related to chemical dependence, mental health, and general medical nursing with a special emphasis on infectious disease and somatoform disorders. After functioning in the roles of utilization and case manager for several years with a managed care company, created a section of integrated physical health and MH/SUD case management with a special emphasis on catastrophic cases with medical and psychiatric illness. Extensive data gathering, analytic, and report writing skills with several first author publications in medical management and other nursing journals.

President of Veritas Health Solutions, a Boston-based health care consulting firm specializing in the use of information technology to integrate MH/SUD into primary care and the management of chronic medical conditions. Most recently, Dr. Locke was Chief of Behavioral Medicine at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates in Boston, MA where he led the development of programs for disease and demand management. He teaches at Harvard Medical School as an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he is Associate Professor of Health Sciences and Technology. Dr. Locke conducts research and teaches about the use of computers in patient assessment, home monitoring, disease management, and education. He specializes in behavioral informatics and patient-centered computing and the application of these technologies to the management of chronic medical illness. Dr. Locke teaches two courses at Harvard Medical School and MIT: one on the doctor-patient relationship and the other on the use of information technology for innovative solutions in healthcare.

Cartesian Solutions, Inc.™
3004 Foxpoint Rd. - Burnsville, MN 55337
Phone: 952-426-1626 - Fax: 952-426-1200
E-mail: integration@cartesiansolutions.com