Forge Health Strengthens Leadership Team, Names Optum Veteran Chad Burkholder as Chief Operating Officer

Burkholder brings decades of operational experience to company’s mission of delivering high-quality, patient-centric care

Forge Health (“Forge” or the “Company”), a leading provider of value-based mental health and substance use care, today announced Chad Burkholder as the latest addition to the Company’s executive team – joining the Company as Chief Operating Officer.

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Chad Burkholder, COO, Forge Health (Photo: Business Wire)

In this role, Burkholder will be responsible for leading the Company’s overall operations to help Forge drive operational performance, accelerate the execution of its strategy, and ensure best-in-class delivery of Forge’s innovative behavioral healthcare model for patients and partners.

Burkholder comes to Forge with over 25 years of experience and expertise in leading health care and payor company operating teams, and most recently served as Chief Operating Officer of Optum Behavioral Health, where he led global operating teams for the largest Behavioral Health Managed Care Organization in the U.S. During his tenure, he developed innovative commercial and operational solutions, aiding care delivery for nearly 54 million insured members.

“As we continue to deliver transformative, value-based mental health and substance use care at scale, we welcome Chad to our team,” said Eric Frieman, CEO of Forge Health. “Chad’s extraordinary breadth and depth of health care operations experience, sophisticated strategic thinking, and outstanding leadership development skills make him uniquely well-positioned to lead Forge’s operations. We’re excited to have him at the helm of our operations, and we’re confident that he will drive operational excellence as we continue to deliver best-in-class care to our patients, and best-in-industry clinical and financial results for our partners.”

“I am deeply honored to join a mission-driven healthcare company like Forge Health, where our responsibility is to execute flawlessly and deliver on our potential every day,” said Chad Burkholder. “I've had the pleasure of leading operations for organizations focused on improving health care delivery, and Forge Health is the right opportunity for me to take that experience to the next level. I look forward to helping Forge advance our operations and improve patient outcomes as we continue to scale significantly across multiple markets."

Mr. Burkholder’s appointment underscores Forge Health’s 2022 ranking on the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. His guidance will bolster Forge in its next phase of growth as the company continues to scale through new and expanded partnerships with leading health plans, health systems, accountable care organizations, and employers.

About Forge Health

Forge Health is a mission-driven company dedicated to delivering the highest quality affordable, accessible, and effective “one-stop-shop” mental health and substance use care to individuals, families, and communities in need. The Forge care model utilizes multidisciplinary clinical teams, data analytics, and streamlined care delivery to provide individualized, whole person care that addresses mental health and substance use issues concurrently, while also driving improved health outcomes. As the first and only behavioral healthcare provider with a proven, national payor-validated ability to drive clinical outcomes that span all areas of health, Forge Health is leading the charge in driving innovation, improving care delivery, and shaping the future of behavioral health care.

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