Anka Behavioral Health – Bringing Creativity to Mental Health Care

Anka Behavioral Health, Inc. is a Non-Profit Behavioral Health organization that primarily serves the state of California but is also currently seeking acquisitions outside of the sunshine state. The non-profit is inspired by non other than The Walt Disney Company. But what does an animation and entertainment giant have to do with mental and behavioral health care? It all comes down to a management system that rewards creative thinking and innovation. Put that creativity together with Anka’s aggressive growth and you get a recipe for the nonprofit’s continued success.

OFFERING A FULL SPECTRUM OF CARE
Anka Behavioral Health employs over 900 employees spread out over 35 location in California and owns more than 500 beds. The flagship service of the corporation is Crisis Residential programs, which is offered on a short-term basis at multiple facilities. A broad spectrum of in-patient and outpatient Mental Health Services are offered including long-term care and psychiatric counseling for individuals and groups. Similar services are offered for people who are Developmentally Disabled, with the addition of specialized in home support care. Anka also provides a therapeutic environment for the treatment of Drug, Alcohol and Eating Disorders.

Specialized Forensic Services designed for people who are disabled and are involved in the criminal justice system, are provided for the State Government of California. “The are the very people who should not be inside a prison.” explains Michael Barrington, M.A., M.Ed., Ph.D., President and CEO of Anka. “They need treatment and out intent is to normalize them as best we can and get them back into their regular community.” Combined, all of Anka’s services add up to approximately 10,000 patients being served each year.

OUTWARD GROWTH, INWARD FOCUS
With a Ph.D. in Organizational Management and three additional Masters degrees, it’s easy to see why Barrington is qualified to the lead Anka. He was hired as CEO thirteen years ago to change the course of the organization. “They were a bleeding heart business, services were dictated by how people felt and I was hired to reform the company. Now I see our organization as a business with a heart. We use a very strict business model but we have a heart and we have been enjoying a 12-15% growth annually for the past seven years,” explains Barrington. “This year we will exceed that, and next year we will exceed it again because of new business we are already working on. This is very encouraging.” Barrington adds that this continued expansion feeds directly into the corporation’s mission statement “to provide more services to more needy people.” “Organically we are growing tremendously in the State and that will continue, but externally we are also growing because of the acquisitions and mergers we are working on.” He credits Anka’s highly energized staff and management team for the rapid growth. This team consists primarily of Ph.Ds and about half are only in their thirties, and having vice presidents and executives that are both highly trained, highly skilled and young, has led to a very dynamic leadership group at Anka.

“We consider ourselves a Walt Disney-type organization, because of our creativity,” explains Barrington. He says unlike hospitals that need to market their services which are fixed or static to the surrounding community, Anka has the ability to work on reverse. “We have a really simple formula that has really given us our market edge. If you want to buy our services there are three questions I will ask you: ‘What do you want? Where do you want it? And when do you want it?’ And I’ll make the price right for you. We have a formula that allows us to go anywhere in the United States and we do, and we can deliver a program to you in 180 days, including the facility.” Although the organization is keen on expansion, that doesn’t mean that less attention is given to investments in the infrastructure. The corporation retains its own real estate broker as a full-time employee and about 50% of the facilities are owned by the organization. “We’ve also very highly invested in IT, with developing electronic health records and the security needed, and in California there is also the whole issue of electronic signatures which is very controversial.”

CREATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR SATISFACTION
Although today the group enjoys a team of quality staff, until recently, it was a major challenge hiring them. “Before there was a frenzy at the feeding trough for qualified personnel which pushed salary caps very high. We developed a partial solution but it has changed with the economic crisis because there are so many qualified people out of work.” This soft employment market, however, will not last. To address recruitment in the long-term, several years ago Barrington developed an in-house education program. “For the right people we pay for their education right up to Ph.D. level, so we are grooming them to stay with us in the future and to be leaders.” The culture of the organization has also played an important role in employee retention. Anka address this issue by forming a cultural committee that focuses on nurturing the group’s mission, vision and values. The committee has across the board employee representation. They select themselves and they tell the executive leadership team what they want. A representative from the cultural commitee also has input on everything from the corporation’s logo to the kind and frequency of company celebrations. “When we hire, we hire for attitude we assume they have the skills, but we need people who share our values.”

When a new employee does come on board, the team welcomes each new employee with a company shirt, flowers and a small ceremony. Barrington says that little acknowledgments like this awards programs and various holiday celebrations that the cultural committee also organizes, help to solidify the team spirit and enhance employee satisfaction. Two major awards hearken back to the Disney-inspiration. They are the annual Mickey and Minnie Mouse awards that are given to the most creative staff in each region. “We studied the programs and we feel it’s significantly reduced our turnover rates by about 8%.” The efforts towards satisfaction extend into their quality initiatives. Because Anka provides services to multiple and varied customers in a very competitive market place, there is a constant demand for improved quality products. But in this company, such challenges are welcomed and used as an inspiration for continued improvement and the development of cutting edge delivery services. Barrington implemented the ASTRA system, which enables the gourp to monitor facilities, right down to the most distant location, with a direct link to the corporate office. The ASTRA instrument allows for weekly internal audits at every site.

“Our own QI team goes out on a rotation basis measuring quality by looking at customer service and quantifiable outcomes. This is something we are consistently working on, but particularly when you are in a growth mode. How do you grow aggressively and the environment, the culture that you have established?” Anka’s leadership team continually addresses this question, so the company can enjoy both growth and consistency. “We are to the Behavioral Health industry what the Silicon Valley is to the world of computers and technology. We are creative, innovative and dynamic and we attract people that are very excited to be working with us. Our products are the best in the market place.”