PBN Leaders & Achievers 2023
James M. Lehane III
Newport Mental Health
CEO and president
JAMES M. LEHANE III IS IMMENSELY PROUD of how far Rhode Island has come in addressing mental health and substance use care.
Facing the Holidays with a Cancer Diagnosis
The holidays are often painted as a time of joy, tradition, and togetherness. But for…
Learn More
Lehane, CEO and president of Newport Mental Health, has spent the last decade building the organization’s successful approach to evidence-based practices supporting high-quality, affordable mental health care.
Lehane’s career accomplishments over four decades are plentiful. At Newport Mental Health alone, he has brought in more than $15 million in new funding, sharing more than two-thirds of that funding with partner organizations through provider subcontracts. Lehane’s leadership led Newport Mental Health – based in Middletown – to becoming Rhode Island’s first federally designated certified behavioral health clinic.
“Today, we have to be mentoring and connecting right down to into middle school to educate about careers in behavioral health,” Lehane said “I have a team where we [support career advancement] just the way I was able to be trained and mentored.”
He is also managing partner and board chair of Horizon Pharmacy – Horizon Healthcare Partners is Newport Mental Health’s parent – Lehane has been instrumental in growing Newport Mental Health’s statewide supporting corporation, leading to a projected $1.35 million net profit this year.
“I’m very passionate about helping people and I’m not shy,” Lehane said. “I manage change. My strength is my vision, my skill set is that I have that high-level vision, and my secret sauce is having the clinical background to implement it and make it work.”
Lehane fell in love with clinical patient care during the time he spent working as a psychiatric aide at Yale Community Health Center after earning his bachelor’s degree in the late 1970s. An early career mentor sparked Lehane’s interest in mental health administration.
Lehane is nearing the end of his 40-year career that has spanned similar work across four states and many more communities. However, Lehane admits there is still much work to be done in Rhode Island and acknowledges his industry is facing a workforce crisis, with COVID-19 being among the major impacts on the local health care sector.
“It comes down to some real basics. We save lives. [As an administrator], I can help thousands of people,” Lehane said.
