About BHC : CalEQRO

William Holcomb, PhD, MBA

President & CEO

Dr. Holcomb is the CEO of BHC (Behavioral Health Concepts, Inc.) and founded the company in 1994. He is a licensed psychologist in California, Colorado and Missouri and a Diplomate of Forensic Psychology by the American Psychological Association. In addition to his doctorate in psychology, he also has a master's degree in Public Administration and an Executive MBA from the University of Chicago. For over 25 years he maintained an active clinical practice and was a national consultant on mental health service systems. Administrative positions include being the CEO of a private psychiatric hospital, Superintendent of a large State Hospital and treatment director of a large community mental health center. His current research focuses on community collaboration to enhance mental health services and prevention services for child abuse and neglect.

Kristina Eriksen, MBA

Chief Financial Officer

Kristina Eriksen has over 30 years’ experience as a corporate financial and organizational management professional in technology and consumer packaged goods brands, building organizations with a product/service focus in wellness and healthy lifestyles. During her career she has taken on across all corporate life stages from entrepreneurial launch, corporate renewal, to aggressive corporate growth endeavors, with notable success in guiding high potential organizations through their organizational development, rapid growth, debt and equity financings, private equity, IPO, and M&A transactions. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics/Statistics from the University of California Irvine and an M.B.A. from the Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine. Kristina has been a featured speaker at industry conferences, a university adjunct faculty, and business finance training course instructor. She actively serves on multiple social service non-profit boards including Domestic Violence Solutions of Santa Barbara County, Women’s Economic Ventures providing microenterprise development services to women along California’s Centra Coast, and the American Red Cross – Central California

Sandra Sinz, LCSW, CPHQ

Executive Director

Sandra is an LCSW and CPHQ, and she brings a 25-year career of direct service and executive leadership in behavioral health in the private, public, and non-profit sectors. Most recently, for five years, she served as the Solano County Behavioral Health Director, following her role as Administrator overseeing Solano's adult system of care and systemwide quality management. Sandra's approach to leadership in Solano County was influenced greatly by the learning experiences over ten years with the Mental Health EQRO. While in Solano County, Sandra led improvement initiatives focused on timely access to care, engagement and retention, and post-hospitalization care, among other data driven quality of care initiatives. She is passionate about systems improvements that produce better care and client outcomes.

Patrick Zarate

Assistant Director

Patrick Zarate has worked in the behavioral health field for nearly 40 years, stepping into executive leadership positions since 2006 with a focus on optimizing care by utilizing data to drive opportunities for improvement. Previously the Alcohol and Drug Administrator of Ventura County Behavioral Health, he completed his county career as the Acting Director. A graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara, Mr. Zarate’s work has received state and national recognition as a leading proponent of community-based substance use treatment and prevention initiatives specifically involving impaired driving, the impact of marijuana on the developing adolescent brain, and the opioid crisis.

Leah Hanzlicek, PhD, MSW

Data and Information Systems Reviewer Manager

Leah worked in County human services and child welfare programs until becoming increasingly interested in research and evaluation while pursuing her MSW at University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Since then, she has contributed to research and evaluation projects examining a variety of programs, including mentoring for system-involved youth, juvenile probation camp interventions, First 5 California initiatives, and a health careers pathway program administered under the ACA. She has also earned a BA in sociology from UC Berkeley and a PhD in Social Welfare from UCLA and taught for 10 years in a large MSW program.

Laura Bemis, PSS

Consumer/Family Member Reviewer Coordinator

Laura is not only a professional photographer, but a mental health advocate who’s mission is to fight the stigma of having a mental health or a substance use condition. Because of her passion for photography and having her own mental illness, Laura has used her photographic skills to help with her mental health recovery and uses her photographic knowledge to teach others to see the world in a new way. Laura is also a speaker for Stop Stigma Sacramento Speakers Bureau. She is very involved in the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) where she shares her personal journey towards recovery, facilitates support groups and helps teach a class called Peer to Peer. Laura enjoys writing and is a published author. She has always been very active in her community holding a positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to be the best they can.

Angel Smith

Administrative Assistant

Experienced administrative assistant with a demonstrated history of working in the computer industry. Skilled in Computer Repair, Microsoft, Administration, and Management.

Rachel Phillips

Reporting Manager

Rachel Phillips currently works as the Reporting Manager for BHC-EQRO. She is a content expert in the following areas: programming, analysis, statistics, reporting, and problem solving. She has a background in technical research projects and applying various algorithms and techniques. She has also presented at several mathematics and science conferences. Rachel received her B.S. in Mathematics from Saint Mary’s College of California, and her M.S. in Analytics from the University of San Francisco.

Saumitra SenGupta, PhD

Quality Reviewer

Saumitra SenGupta has worked in mental health services research for over 20 years. Dr. SenGupta is an expert in quantitative and qualitative research methods and utilizing information systems data for mental health services research. He has served on several federally funded mental health initiatives, the American Evaluation Association, and the San Francisco Bay Area Evaluators. He continues to serve on various statewide mental health evaluation committees, as well as on the editorial board of the American Journal of Evaluation.

Sharon Loveseth, LAADC, HSE

Quality Reviewer

Ms Sharon Loveseth became professionally active in the field of addiction treatment in 1987 and is a Licensed Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor (LAADC). Sharon has an extensive background in treatment program design and management. From 1998 to 2018 she was co-owner and administrator for Healthy Partnerships, Inc., a Commission on Accreditation for Rehabilitative Facilitates (CARF) accredited organization, which provided outpatient behavioral health (MH & SUD) treatment and DUI Program services. From 2014-2020 she assisted with development of the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System (DMC ODS) services for Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services. She continues in her role, since 2014, as a CARF Surveyor.

Kiran Sahota, MA

Quality Reviewer

Kiran Sahota has over 25 years of experience within the mental health treatment field. She has a master's degree in Clinical and Community Psychology and has worked as a service provider within Child Welfare, Community Based Organizations, and trained law enforcement in crisis intervention techniques. Most recently, Kiran retired as a Senior Behavioral Health Manager with a County Mental Health Plan. Her implementation and leadership within Mental Health Services Act (MHSA)/MediCal funded programs are showcased with skills in project design and implementation. Based on her achievements, her areas of expertise extend into community engagement, budget development, quality and performance measures, and project management. As a previous co-chair of the County Behavioral Health Directors Association, MHSA statewide committee, she advocated and influenced counties to "tell their story," which she continues to encourage throughout her engagement with counties.

Anita Catapusan, BSN

Quality Reviewer

Anita Catapusan is a Quality Reviewer. She recently served as the Plan Manager for Ventura County Behavioral Health’s Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System (DMC-ODS) overseeing all aspects of program development, implementation, and operations. She also assisted with the local implementation of the Behavioral Integration Project and the Medication for Assisted Treatment (MAT) program. She is a Certified Clinical Supervisor (SUDCC-III-CS) in the field of Addiction and has worked for over 30 years in the areas of Mental Health and Substance Use Services and with a strong background in Utilization Review, program development, compliance monitoring, and evaluation. She previously worked in medicine as a nurse and has her Bachelor’s in Nursing.

Christy Hormann, LMSW, CPHQ

Quality Reviewer

Christy Hormann has been a health care quality improvement professional for more than 20 years and specialized in External Quality Review (EQR) performance improvement project (PIP) validation for 16 years. She has worked with managed care plans from multiple states on improving quality, timeliness, and access to services for Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries and led EQR validation of the California Medi-Cal managed care plan PIPs for 8 years. Her prior work experience includes coordinating a behavioral health record review project, providing social work services to dialysis patients, case managing families involved with child protective services, and leading a quality department. Christy is a Licensed Master Social Worker, Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality, and Six Sigma Black Belt.

Cynthia Hudgins, MBA

Quality Reviewer

Cynthia has over 30 years of experience in behavioral health, primarily in addiction treatment. She has an MBA in Health Care Administration. She began in direct services and later moved into management and program development and implementation. She has worked in for-profit and non-profit addiction treatment programs, from withdrawal management to aftercare, as well as prevention in school systems. In 2014, Cynthia began working for the State of California overseeing contract and regulation compliance teams monitoring County SUD and DMC programs. She was heavily involved in the implementation of the DMC Organized Delivery System (ODS), leading teams conducting readiness reviews and providing technical assistance to over thirty (30) counties opting into the DMC ODS. She is a strong advocate for strength-based services and whole family care.

Elaine Crandall

Quality Reviewer

Elaine graduated with a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Pepperdine University, a master’s degree in psychology from California Lutheran University, and later earned a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification from Kent State University. Her career has been diverse; including contract management in manufacturing, Director of a non-profit organization, the Executive Director of the Workforce Investment Board, The Director of Administration for the Resource Management Agency, Deputy CEO, and Director of the Behavioral Health Department, each with the County of Ventura, and Assistant Vice-President of the Department of Business and Financial Affairs with California State University, Channel Islands. Elaine recognitions include the 2011 County of Ventura Inaugural Champion for Change, 2017 Process Improvement Merit Award from California State Association of Counties, 2017 State of California Outstanding Behavioral Director from the National Association for Mental Illness, and the 2019 Change Leaders Focus on Efficiency from the California Higher Education Innovation Honors.

Nathan Lacle

Quality Reviewer

Nathan Lacle has over 10 years of experience in behavioral health, most recently as the Clinical and Psychiatric services Manager. Nathan has been heavily involved in setting up programs for public behavioral health in various disciplines across different systems of care. He holds a masters degree in public administration, a masters in organizational leadership, he is a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology, and a six-sigma green belt. Nathan previously collaborated with several international governments on mental health system implementations, efficiency, and provides expert consultations on quality of care. He is also an adjunct professor of psychology at Fresno Pacific University. Nathan is an advocate for quality rural mental health and mental health literacy.

Cristobal Hernandez, PsyD

Quality Reviewer

Cristobal Hernandez, PsyD has worked in the behavioral health sector for over 20 years, most recently as the Director of Behavioral Health and Social Services for a Federally Qualified Health Center. Cristobal has provided leadership in a wide array of behavioral health programs including adult and children’s services. He also has experience in program oversight in both the non-profit and public behavioral health sectors. He holds a Doctorate in Organizational Development, a Master’s degree in Organizational Behavior, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration.

Heather Claibourn, LCSW

Quality Reviewer

Heather Claibourn has degrees in both Psychology and Social Work, and over 18 years of experience in the behavioral health field. She has provided many years of direct psychotherapy focused on complex trauma, the mind/body connection, clinical supervision, and eventually survivors of natural disasters. She has worked for both Glenn and Butte County Behavioral Health systems, and spent 8 years working for Adventist Health - Paradise, the site of the 2018 Camp Fire. Heather has supported the development of several integrative health programs in county behavioral health and rural health clinics. Most recently, as part of the executive leadership, she lead the Quality Management Team (quality improvement, quality assurance, data and research, and access center) for Butte County. She is also a fitness trainer and corrective exercise specialist who established a unique integrated private practice.

Lynda Hutchens, LMFT

Quality Reviewer

Lynda Hutchens is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Her vibrant work history includes Protocol Secretary for the Ambassador of USA in Indonesia; Director of a large Employee Assistance Program in Hawaii; a Behavioral Health Consultant for the Department of Defense, where she worked to design programs onsite with service members and families world-wide, as well as military units affected by the most recent wars. Before joining BHC, she worked in a healthcare organization in the role of Oversight Case Manager for a CMS Special Needs Program of Medi-Medi clients who were designated SMI. She joined BHC in January 2015, as a Quality Reviewer, and was promoted to the Mental Health Quality Reviewer Supervisor December 2020 until March 2023 when she retired. She returns to BHC to serve as a Quality Reviewer.

Naga Kasarabada, PhD

Quality Reviewer

Dr. Naga Kasarabada retired after 25 years of service with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) and during her tenure as the as the QI Chief, she played a key role as the lead for the annual reviews conducted by the External Quality Review Organization (EQRO) team. Through out her DMH career, she was always involved in preparing the county for EQRO reviews. She had oversight over Quality Improvement and Data, Access to care for Underserved Cultural Communities, and the Cultural Competence Plan for DMH and implemented critical projects to improve access to care for the underserved. She managed seven co-located programs with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and contributed to improvements in access to care and quality of services provided to these clients. She made major contributions to the smooth operations of the DMH 24/7 ACCESS Center during her ten-year tenure and played a key role in the redesign and transition to a remote call center during COVID. She is a certified call center manager. During her postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA prior to her county career, she published papers in peer reviewed journals including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Eric McMullen

Quality Reviewer

Eric has a 35-year career dedicated to behavioral healthcare, bringing a wealth of experience gained from working in diverse public and private treatment environments. Following his clinical training, he worked within California’s State Hospital system, assuming various roles including work on a specialized team which coordinated services for individuals with co-occurring developmental challenges. Eric has also worked in the private sector on a psychiatric emergency team and as a clinic manager for a multi-site mental health agency. In 2016, Eric transitioned to the field of substance use treatment working as an admissions and discharge manager for a hospital based ASAM Level 4 withdrawal management wing, a position involving clinical oversight and administrative and finance duties to support care transitions. Most recently, he provided oversight for the day-to-day operations of a withdrawal management facility which included ensuring facility compliance with two accreditation bodies (JCAHO and CARF). Eric is fluent in Spanish, French and American Sign Language.

Lisa Farrell, BS

Information Systems Reviewer

Lisa Farrell has served as an External Quality Information Systems Reviewer since 2004 and also worked as a Data Analyst. She spent several years performing IT programming and Quality Assurance in the banking industry, plus six years as a Systems Engineer performing mainframe program development and maintenance and data quality assurance at EDS on the California Medicaid Management Information System (Medi-Cal).

Joel Chain

Information Systems Reviewer

Joel Chain has served over seven years in the public behavioral health sector, most recently as the Assistant Director of Behavioral Health, Administration. He brings experience in oversight of the fiscal, contracts, IT, billing, research/evaluations, and HR support services in public behavioral health. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, and is passionate about system improvement, synergy between clinical and administrative teams, and creating a solution-focused culture.

Zena Jacobi

Information Systems Reviewer

Zena Jacobi has been working in healthcare IT since 1986. She started in the private sector working for a hospital system and a large home medical equipment company on integration and HIPAA projects. She then worked at Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health for 10 years implementing the revenue components of an electronic health record and managing Billing and the Revenue Cycle in their Central Business Office.

Rita Samartino

Information Systems Reviewer

Rita has 15 years of experience in the behavioral health sector working as a Systems Analyst and System Software Specialist for the County of Yolo. She implemented and administered both revenue and clinical components of an electronic health record and developed hundreds of reports. She is a proud veteran who served 20 years in the US Air Force as an Information Manager and Paralegal. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from St Leo University and a Master of Business Administration from Phoenix University.

Lorrie Sheets

Information Systems Reviewer

Lorrie has more than 20 years experience working in healthcare information technology within California with the majority in the county behavioral health system. Lorrie worked for multiple bay area counties with a focus on reporting, data warehousing, and software implementation. Lorrie held a management position responsible for the implementation and maintenance of their electronic health record and became the Director of Business Intelligence, where she led the implementation of a unique patient identifier and a health information exchange.

Brian Deen

Information Systems Reviewer

Prior to joining BHC, Brian Deen worked over 5 years as a Senior Analyst for Butte County Behavioral Health. During that time, he worked alongside Quality Management and IT to develop new forms and reports for the county Electronic Health Record, extracted and analyzed data for leadership, and lead the submission of all mandated State Reporting. Brian also holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Sharon Mendonca

Information Systems Reviewer

Sharon Mendonca, has more than 28 years of experience working in Behavioral Health. Most recently, Sharon spent 15+ years as the Assistant Director of Administration for Merced County BHRS. Prior to Merced, Sharon worked for Tuolumne and Mariposa Counties. Sharon has been a part of the CBHDA Financial Analysts Review (FARS) Committee, the California Behavioral Health Administrators Association (CBHAA), as well as a participant in legislative and state meetings. Sharon understands some of the biggest challenges facing California Behavioral Health Departments today, include CalAIM,, Care Court and the needs of an increased workforce. Sharon enjoys spending time with her family and pets, gardening, hiking.

Rick Jackson

Information Systems Reviewer

Rick has spent the last two decades working for the Butte County Department Behavioral Health. During his tenure with this agency, he occupied roles that placed an emphasis on data analytics, business intelligence, and system development. More specifically, Rick has helped to craft and implement myriad data-entry screens and reports within a dedicated Electronic Health Record to not only facilitate the strategic capture of information, but also to extract, evaluate, and share data in intelligible formats to address divergent reporting needs that arise from sources both internal and external to the County. To be sure, he has a passion for supporting systems of care that want to proactively embrace a model of operation that is at once predicated on the objective of becoming increasingly data driven. Rick holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science from California State University, Chico.

Marcia Marsh

Information Systems Reviewer

Marcia is a seasoned professional with more than a decade of expertise in EHR Adoption and Implementation. By collaborating closely with the team, she has effectively supported the implementation of Netsmart Avatar, resulting in improved operations and enhanced care delivery within the Sacramento County BH system. Throughout her career, she has honed her skills in effectively integrating electronic health records systems into medical practices, optimizing workflow efficiency, and enhancing patient care. Additionally, She brings valuable experience as a Medical Billing and Coding Instructor, where she has successfully imparted her knowledge and mentored aspiring professionals in the field. Her passion lies in leveraging technology to improve healthcare processes while empowering others through education.

Pamela Springer

Information Systems Reviewer

Pamela comes to BHC with almost 30 years of experience, supervisory and project management work overseeing videoconferencing, telemedicine, and the building and rollout of member website features for Kaiser Permanente. Pamela was hired to help with the final design of the videoconferencing system, and then the Northern California rollout. After the successful rollout, Pamela oversaw the implementation of the technology nationally, which included choosing the vendor, having them build systems to Kaiser’s specification and overseeing the maintenance of those systems. She was responsible for the training and the support for all regions, her team being the first line of contact when there were problems. Pamela was asked to support the four tele-medicine pilots, tele-psychiatry, tele-home health, tele-nephrology and tele-dermatology. She wrote the business justification to include tele-dermatology as a healthcare option. She worked with nursing leadership to provide distance education. Physicians were able to obtain their Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits needed to practice medicine.

Corey Davin

Director, Information Systems and Technology

Corey Davin leads BHC’s technology department by architecting, implementing and overseeing the technology systems and strategic planning; and supporting daily operations. He has extensive IT experience and has held leadership roles at various companies in industries such as healthcare, insurance, technology startups, and non-profits.

Amy McCurry Schwartz, Esq, MHSA.

Consultant to CalEQRO

Amy Schwartz is a healthcare outcomes and evaluation consultant and a performance improvement project expert. She implemented performance-based contracting and outcomes evaluation in her work of 6 years in the public sector. She then started her own consulting firm, McCurry Schwartz Consulting, and now consults on External Quality Reviews for physical and behavioral healthcare in three states. Amy has a Juris Doctor from Washburn University School of Law and a Masters of Health Services Administration from the University of Kansas.

Vandana Joshi, PhD

Statistical Consultant

Vandana Joshi has over 18 years of experience conducting program evaluation of national studies and statistical analysis of statewide and local county data systems. She has evaluated nationwide studies on Drug Treatment Outcomes Systems and developed performance indicators for mental health, health and social services. She has managed complex data systems needed to accurately develop clinical and administrative performance indicators related to quality of care, care coordination, care integration, timeliness of services, access to care and consumer satisfaction. She received her doctorate in Sociology from University of California - Los Angeles.

Rama Khalsa, PhD

Quality Reviewer

Rama K Khalsa, PhD has worked as a psychologist in delivery and management of care systems and health policy for over thirty years at the local, county and statewide levels. She has also served on the Board of the Central Coast Alliance for Health supporting the expansion of Medi-Cal plans to serve at risk populations and worked on legislation such as the Mental Health Act and the Mental Health Rehabilitation Act Expansion. She has now been the lead within BHC helping to design and launch quality service reviews for the DMC-ODS and is a strong advocate for quality of care in substance use disorder prevention and treatment as well as science-based care for those with serious mental health disorders and their families.