Dr. Ruble (pronounced “roo-ble”) has extensive experience as a physician in private, commercial, and public practice, a medical school and residency leader and educator, and an executive with health care providers. Most recently, he served as chief medical officer for Humana, where he worked for seven years, creating an innovative integrated medical and behavioral health model and leading clinical utilization management for behavioral health.
Previously, he worked for 14 years at Cambridge Health Alliance, a division of Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital, where he served as Associate Director of Training for the residency program with duties overseeing curriculum, clinical rotations, supervising faculty, and Clinician and Resident Recruitment, Quality Initiatives, Productivity, and Integrated Behavioral and Primary Care Practices.
With the increasing integration of clinical practices with telehealth to provide comprehensive behavioral health care, Dr. Ruble envisions strengthening the patient-provider partnership as one of his goals as medical director.
“Measuring the strength of this alliance will be one of the most powerful predictors of outcomes. To that end, my goal is to provide evidence-based behavioral health treatment for all who need it by expanding access points in our current health care system, including telehealth, primary care practices, and even schools,” he says.
He supports the concept of creating a universal mental health screening for children. Given the recent advisory by the US Surgeon General on the mental health crisis for the nation’s youth, Dr. Ruble says there is an urgent need to create an annual exam to complement the recommended annual physicals for school-age children.
“The pandemic has highlighted the need to assess both mental and physical development in children of all ages. Providing a standardized mental screening that could be administered by behavioral health physicians, pediatricians, or primary care providers would go a long way.” to improve mental health health challenges experienced by young people, which existed long before COVID-19,” he says. “The mass murder of elementary school students in Uvalde, Texas – the 27the mass shooting at a school in the US this year calls for the need to think about new ways to provide mental health support to our youth and families.”
The opioid drug overdose crisis has continued to expand even as the pandemic has overshadowed it in the past two years, he says. The CDC recently issued a report that drug overdose deaths in 2021 were up 15 percent from the previous year to a record number of 107,622. “There is a 60 to 80 percent comorbidity rate between substance use disorder and disease mind,” he says. There are effective evidence-based treatments for behavioral illnesses, substance use disorders, and the combination of the two.
Dr. Ruble, a native of Iowahas a medical degree from the University of Iowa Faculty of Medicine, internship and residency in adult psychiatry at Harvard Medical School Cambridge Health Alliance. She also completed her senior residency in advanced psychopharmacology and a fellowship in medical education from Harvard Medical School.
Says DBH President and CEO John Peloquin“Later this year, Discovery Behavioral Health will introduce a new integrated health care model that will seamlessly integrate the best of telehealth and in-person patient visits. Dr. Ruble’s experience as a psychiatrist, teacher, and provider executive medical care is critical to meeting our goal of providing the best outcomes for the treatment of eating, mental health and substance use disorders.”
About Discovery Behavioral Health
Everyone deserves a happy and fulfilling life. That’s why Discovery Behavioral Health has worked to make evidence-based, outcomes-based health care accessible and affordable from the ground up. With a complete continuum of care: detoxification, medical residencies, residential treatment centers, partial hospitalization, acute outpatient care, outpatient, psychiatric and addiction medicine, TMS, virtual and telehealth services, we strive to offer the right care at the time suitable for adults or teens struggling with mental health, substance use, or eating disorders. We are a contracted provider with 100 payers and other managed care organizations. Our portfolio of more than 130 treatment centers includes service lines in successful operation since 1985. When treatment is complete, our patients become part of Discovery’s growing family of alumni, connected through free aftercare programs, support groups, activities and a caring community. Because when quality behavioral health care is within reach, so is happiness.
Press Contact:
Greg Ptacek
Communications
Discovery Behavioral Health, Inc.
323-841-8002 mobile
[email protected]
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