Our Team

Michael Hoge, Ph.D. is Professor Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine and the Director of Yale Behavioral Health. For four decades at Yale, he has been developing and managing comprehensive systems of behavioral health care and a broad range of clinical, rehabilitative, educational, vocational, outreach, and recovery-oriented services for children, adolescents and adults. Simultaneously, he has worked to develop and evaluate innovative services, including alternatives to hospitalization, crisis response systems, programs for the homeless, and therapeutic schools. Dr. Hoge, a clinical psychologist, is a nationally recognized expert on behavioral health workforce development. He is a founding member and the Senior Science and Policy Advisor of The Annapolis Coalition on the Behavioral Health Workforce. He is the senior editor or author of three major works by the Coalition: the...

Mr. Migdole is the Chief Operating Officer of Yale Behavioral Health and the Yale Program on Supervision and holds an appointment as Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry of the Yale School of Medicine. Within his Yale role, he (1) serves as the Lead of the Yale Monitoring Team designed to address concerns as defined by regulatory, accrediting, and/or oversight bodies, (2) directs for Yale its juvenile justice mental health services statewide in Connecticut, which includes pre and post adjudicated youth in detention centers and residential facilities. (3) directs outpatient mental health and substance abuse services, (4) manages a comprehensive telephonic/mobile crisis service, and (5) provides clinical consultation to Yale’s private therapeutic junior and senior high school which serves grades 6-12. As a turnaround specialist, Mr. Migdole has extensive experience in...

Barbara Bugella, RN, MSN, MBA holds the position of Senior Consultant with Yale Behavioral Health Consulting Services. In this capacity, her primary focus is assisting psychiatric hospitals and behavioral health organizations across the United States in attaining and upholding Joint Commission accreditation as well as CMS compliance. Her consulting experience includes training programs, mentoring, organizational assessments, conducting simulated surveys, and offering technical assistance pertaining to Joint Commission, CMS standards and survey process, restraint and seclusion reduction, utilization management, and policy development. With an impressive career spanning over 35 years, Ms. Bugella has a wealth of experience within both the public and private sectors of Behavioral Healthcare. Her most recent role as Chief Operating Officer of a State Mental Health and...

Lesa has over forty years of clinical, administrative, operational and consulting experience in healthcare. As a senior corporate trainer and in house consultant for a national hospital system, Lesa was responsible for the development and implementation of clinical programs and oversaw regulatory compliance and accreditation preparation for the behavioral health professional and clinical services divisions. As a former Executive Senior Vice President of one of the largest managed care companies, Lesa oversaw multiple Commercial, Medicaid and Medicare management care implementations and took that knowledge and expertise to emerging public sector Prepaid Inpatient Health Plans (PIHP), Insurers, Managed Care Companies and state and federal government agencies. Lesa has provided consultation services to more than 37 state, regional and local jurisdiction...

Dr. Amble completed his residency training at the Yale Department of Psychiatry in 1992 and is Board Certified in Psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatry. During his career he has worked collaboratively with colleagues to formulate best practices and manage individuals who presented significant risk toward themselves and the community. As a member of the Yale faculty and teacher/educator for many years, he has been qualified as an expert in state and federal courts and has been involved in the clinical oversight of high-risk patients throughout his career. Dr. Amble is an expert in managing individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism, overseeing the prescribing of psychopharmacology and assisting to reduce the patient exposure to medication through managing individuals within the clinical behavioral team. Dr. Amble has been involved in the monitoring panel over class action...

Domenic Baratta, MPH, CSP, HEM, CHSP is a consultant with Yale Behavioral Health Consulting Services. In this capacity, he provides Joint Commission and CMS related consultation to clients nationwide. His expertise is in the areas of Life Safety Code compliance as well as Joint Commission and CMS standards for the Environment of Care and Emergency Management. Mr. Baratta has assisted organizations in the development of their Evidence of Standards Compliance, Statement of Conditions, and CMS Plan of Corrections including those for Condition Level and Immediate Jeopardy citations, and implementing processes to ensure sustainable programs for compliance. Mr. Baratta is an accomplished healthcare executive with 9 years experience in healthcare operations, operational management, regulatory compliance, and performance improvement. In addition to his consulting experience, Mr....

Originally from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Dr. Heidi Hutman has over a decade of clinical and research experience in multilingual and international contexts. While in Canada, Dr. Hutman secured funding at provincial and federal levels, spearheading the development of several initiatives, including KidsCan!, a Health Canada funded drug prevention program that targeted elementary school students within the English Montreal School Board. She was also actively involved in a career intervention geared toward fostering intrinsic motivation for career exploration among at-risk youth. In addition, Dr. Hutman has practiced in hospital, university, educational, community, and private settings, providing her with an intimate understanding of how contextual factors shape the nature and scope of one’s clinical focus and target outcomes. As an associate professor at Temple University serving as...

Jacqueline Smith (Gacek) RN MS CPHQ LNC is a regulatory and accreditation consultant with Yale Behavioral Health Consulting Services. In that role, she works with hospitals and healthcare programs nationwide to support them in achieving and maintaining accreditation and CMS compliance and provides technical assistance on standards and the survey process. Additionally, she conducts training, gap analysis, and mock surveys. She is experienced in developing and monitoring action plans to remedy regulatory and accreditation non-compliance. Ms. Smith has more than 30 years of healthcare management experience and has been consulting since 2013. She most recently served as Chief Operations Officer for a two-hospital system providing inpatient, outpatient, partial hospitalization and telehealth services. Prior experience includes Director of Quality & Risk Management, with...