In January, ImagineCare, a joint venture between Spark Pediatrics and CareSource, announced the appointment of Ponte Vedra resident Adam Beam as CEO. Beam is a seasoned manage care executive with more than 18 years of experience in both the public and private sectors.
In order to understand your new role, it’s important to first understand the organization you work for. Tell me about ImagineCare and its components, CareSource and Spark Pediatrics. What are they and what does this partnership allow them to do better together?
ImagineCare is a joint venture between Spark Pediatrics and CareSource. Spark Pediatrics, they’ve been in Florida for 12 years, primarily serving children with complex needs — and also providing home health services throughout the entire state of Florida. CareSource is a national managed care organization. They’ve been serving Medicaid members for over 30 years.
Basically, ImagineCare brings together one of the most well-respected providers in Florida backed by a health plan with the best operations in the country.
Who are recipients of these services?
Our focus will be on Medicaid recipients throughout the state.
As CEO of ImagineCare, what will your responsibilities be?
I’ll oversee the entire plan, report up through the board of directors and ensure that we provide quality care and services to the state’s most vulnerable constituents.
Will you interact separately with CareSource and Spark Pediatrics or will you be more independent of those partners?
I’ll be with both since it is a joint venture. I’ll be working hand-in-hand with both organizations.
Tell me about your background, your education and career to date.
Prior military. Was stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida. When I got out, I worked in Kentucky. I worked for other health plans similar to CareSource. And then, spent seven years in private equity, serving Medicaid members. Moved to Ponte Vedra close to six years ago for work. I was doing Medicaid work in the state of Florida. And then, joined CareSource about two-and-a-half years ago, primarily focusing on the eastern region of the United States, which has led me up to this point.
I’m on the board of the Northeast Florida Boys and Girls Club and work a lot crisscrossing the state, focusing on building community-based organization relationships. I think we’ve donated over $1 million so far just working with other organizations. Episcopal Children’s and Fostering Connections are some examples.
We’re really dedicated to serving the community.
What do you like best about what you do?
I think it’s just being part of an organization that’s innovative and really trying to get beyond just clinical needs of our members; really looking at the social, behavioral pieces that are all just very important in holistic care.
Also, we have a deep understanding around the whole health of the family and not just of the individual, and really wrapping around services and other community coordination for our members to ensure that their quality of life in Florida is just great.
You’ve stepped up to help those in need.
We’ve created some amazing partnerships throughout the state. For instance, with the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay. We gave them a $50,000 grant to help more survivors [of human trafficking]. … Eighty-eight percent of survivors report that they’ve interacted with health care providers while being trafficked without receiving appropriate intervention. So, we feel compelled to join this fight against human trafficking, and I think that’s a big part of what we’re bringing to Florida. To ensure that we can really help the fight against human trafficking.
With ImagineCare’s support, the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay can provide longer-term human trafficking care coordination.
Mid-Year Halftime Shows, where we’re replenishing students’ school supplies ... We go in and we’re working with students within some of our communities, and then giving them new book bags, paper, pencils, pens, and then just replenishing the supplies, because we feel there’s an urgent need to replenish and secure students’ academic success.
Overall, the most fulfilling part about what I do is fulfilling the mission of ImagineCare while knowing that I’m dedicated to improving the community’s health. There could be no greater responsibility.
Where do you come from originally?
I’m from Louisville, Kentucky.
What do you like best about living here?
We love Ponte Vedra. My wife reminds me we’re never going to move. We love all the normal things, like the beaches and access to the parks — there are lots of things to do outside — but I think what we like most of all is our community. We’ve just really come to fall in love with a lot of the individuals in the community. We love everything about where we live.
I have two kids. They’re thriving. Both of them play three or four sports throughout the year. There’s never time off here!
How do you like to spend your free time?
We’re always doing road trips on the weekends, exploring all of the different beaches and natural parks within the state.
That’s pretty much it. We’ve really focused on kind of check-marking the entire state. We’ll go down to the Keys or even around the Panhandle.
Most of our time is eaten up with kids lacrosse or wrestling or football. But when we get those precious weekends, we definitely take advantage of it.
