Manatee hires health care ‘czar’ to guide future decisions

Manatee County commissioners have been struggling for the past two years to understand how to best finance and deliver essential health care for the county’s uninsured and under-insured with the long-time indigent care fund depleted.

At one commission workshop back then, County Administrator Ed Hunzeker suggested that the county hire what he termed a “health care czar” to put the county on a positive path.

On Wednesday, during a meeting of the Manatee Healthcare Advisory Board, Joshua T. Barnett was introduced to fill that role.

Barnett was hired as the new health care services manager by the county’s Human Services Division on Sept. 28 to lead Manatee County’s community health care initiative, Karen Windon, deputy county administrator, announced Wednesday.

“Joshua joins our team with a broad range of needed attributes and skills,” Windon said. “His background in behavioral health and his experience integrating primary care into that setting is exactly what we need in our community. That focus, coupled with his experience in data analytics and quality as they relate to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Triple Aim, will place Manatee County on a positive path.”

Barnett has managed public mental health, substance use, and physical health treatment services for private, non-profit, and state government entities, Windon said.

For the past three and a half years, Barnett has served as a consultant to a settlement agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and the state of Delaware, monitoring quality and treatment outcomes of various community-based supportive services within the Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health under the Department of Health and Social Services, Windon said.

Barnett has served on various boards throughout the Mid-Atlantic area focusing primarily on public awareness related to healthcare policy, improving mental health and substance use disorder screenings, and grief awareness, Windon said.

Barnett stated, “I am thrilled for the opportunity to return to my home state of Florida, to work with community shareholders on a collaborative agenda to enhance the use of Manatee County’s public health resources in the areas of prevention, intervention, care coordination, and treatment outcomes.”

Barnett holds a master of health science degree from the Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health and a master of arts in thanatology from Hood College.

He has also earned a bachelor of science in psychology from Florida State University, and he is a certified psychiatric rehabilitation practitioner, Windon said.

Commissioners have been asking for someone to guide them and Barnett was chosen to be that person, Windon added.

“We have to look at this with different eyes,” Commissioner Vanessa Baugh said in the same workshop where Hunzeker gave his suggestion for a health czar. “We have to look at the process and not just say: ‘We’re going to write a check every year.’”

This story was originally published September 28, 2016 at 11:01 PM with the headline "Manatee hires health care ‘czar’ to guide future decisions."