Abigail Ferguson

Facility Based Behavioral Care Advocates (FBCAs) role:

• Manage initial & concurrent reviews of clinical for mental health & substance use inpatient, residential, & partial hospitalization levels of care collected from utilization review clinicians of facilities.
• Managing 15-30 cases of members with Commercial, Medicaid and/or Medicare policies managed by Optum daily.
• While reviewing clinical collected, FBCAs identify gaps in treatment, apply correct guideline tool to determine medical necessity (ASAM/Interqual, LOCUS, CASII or ESCII), complete case staffing's with Optum Medical Directors, generate authorizations and provide updates with facility staff.
• Additional responsibilities include creating staffing notes to present to Optum MDs during individual staffing's, rounds, and grand rounds & collaborating with Optum's case management and pharmacy staff.
• Started on Texas Team, managed Commercial and Medicare cases for all facilities located in Texas.
• Volunteered to transition to Optum's new National STAR Chat Team, created to support a need to manage all queue-based chat clinical reviews and provide more consistent service to facilities/UR staff who are opting to use Optum’s online portal to submit reviews from facilities across the U.S.

Worked in the Assessment and Referral Center to complete level of care assessments to determine appropriate services, staffed with on-call psychiatrists, and completed any necessary paperwork, including involuntary petitions, made referrals to psych units for placement, or gave referrals to the appropriate level of care.

• Transitioned from Edward ED to Elmhurst ED temporarily to cover 3rd shift while position was being permanently filled, trained new hire on role in Elmhurst ED, and provided support during transition of ARC staff.
• Transferred from Elmhurst ED to Linden Oaks Main ARC location in July of 2021.
• Starting in 10/21, worked part-time as ARC Charge(Team lead) and provided support to ARC staff, managed flow of assessments, provided staffing to Assessment Specialists, and managed bed assignments of admissions.
• Assisted treatment team in recognizing, treating and managing mental health and psychosocial issues

Emergency Services Counselor responsibilities:

• Responded to calls on DuPage County 24/7 Crisis Hotline and National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
• Completed SASS & EDA evaluations in homes and EDs and found hospital placements
• Worked with clients in person on Respite unit, provided individual and group therapy sessions
• Screened individuals for suicidal ideation at NAMI ‘Living Room’ peer support program

Worked part-time at Sharing Connections, non-profit 501c3 furniture bank in Downers Grove, IL.

Outreach Assistant responsibilities:

• Helped Chief Executive Officer complete mailings to make the community more aware of available services
• Worked with Chief Operating Officer to assist with program operations.
• Other responsibilities included answering phones, filling out and filing paperwork, managing volunteers on Saturdays, creating new programs or making modifications to current programs, implementing a survey to measure client, donor, and agent satisfaction, and scheduling and checking in clients.
• Promoted from Outreach Assistant to Program Coordinator on 05/03/2018.

• Magna Cum Laude graduate
• 3.8 GPA
• Dean's List Spring of 2018

• Summa Cum Laude graduate
• 4.0 GPA
• NASW Member
• Dean's List Spring of 2017