John Benko, Director Healthcare Coordination, Bellefaire JCB

Summary

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Becker’s Healthcare Podcast: John Benko, Director Healthcare Coordination, Bellefaire JCB

Date: January 4, 2026
Host: Grace Lynn Keller
Guest: John Benko

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Episode Overview

This episode features John Benko, Director of Healthcare Coordination at Bellefaire JCB, a Cleveland-based organization specializing in behavioral health and special needs services for children and families. Benko discusses growth strategies post-pandemic, impactful initiatives to improve care access for special needs populations, and his perspective on sustainability and partnerships in healthcare.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction to Bellefaire JCB and Benko’s Role

• [00:52] John Benko provides background on Bellefaire JCB, outlining its focus on serving families and children with behavioral health and special needs.
  • The organization operates through varied models: in-school counseling, in-home counseling, a 69-bed residential site, and a 12-bed inpatient hospital.
  • Quote:

    "We service from a very organic level, families and children who are in either behavioral health or special needs areas... really the full gamut of how we can support the community."
    — John Benko ([00:52])

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Growth Strategy for the Coming Years

• [01:32] Benko explains Bellefaire’s approach to sustainable growth:
  • Emphasizes organic roots—many such organizations started as "mom and pop" social organizations or orphanages.
  • Modern growth relies on diversification of services and strategic partnerships, both with familiar and new community allies.
  • The pandemic increased demand and awareness for behavioral and special needs services, creating both opportunities and funding challenges.
  • Quote:

    "It's a diversification, both of the products, aligning ourselves with some of the community partners... and really looking at every one of our service lines as a way to be sustainable."
    — John Benko ([01:32])

  • Partnerships and expansion into new areas are key to managing resource limitations and reaching sustainability.

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Impactful Initiatives for Special Needs Populations

• [02:43] Breakdown of ongoing and recent projects targeting routine medical and dental care access:
  • Benko noticed upon his return to Bellefaire that access to crucial health services for the special needs population needed significant improvement despite outperforming local averages.
  • Two new programs were rolled out, focused on routine physical and dental health for special needs clients. These are already showing signs of sustainability.
  • Challenges of the Medicaid reimbursement model are detailed (e.g., $16 for a dental visit is not viable for providers), necessitating creative funding solutions.
  • Holistic care led to more manageable overall health and faster, more effective treatments for clients.
  • Quote:

    "There’s not a dentist that can do that work for $16. And so we’ve had to find some alternative funding... by preempting some of those needs and providing a full holistic look at their health, we're able to get them through their course of treatment much faster."
    — John Benko ([03:17])

  • Improved access results in better community integration and quality of life for clients.

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Advice for Healthcare Executives: Sustainability & Alignment

• [04:11] On future organizational success, Benko urges leaders to focus on:
  • Immediate actions toward sustainability.
  • Nimbleness: Not getting bogged down in long-term, cumbersome measurement strategies.
  • The dire need for alignment and partnership in an excessively fragmented sector:
    • Healthcare sees vast federal investment and claims a large role in population health, but real provider alignment remains minimal.
  • Quote:

    "We're the most fragmented industry, Healthcare has the most to say about population health. We spend the most of federal dollars... and yet... maybe 1.5% is the most aligned provider we see out there. So until we can get these partnerships going back, both big and small, I don't think we're going to have a workable solution."
    — John Benko ([04:11])

  • Emphasizes partnerships as essential to systemic improvement.

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Memorable Quotes

• "We service from a very organic level, families and children who are in either behavioral health or special needs areas... really the full gamut of how we can support the community."
  — John Benko ([00:52])

• "It's a diversification, both of the products, aligning ourselves with some of the community partners... and really looking at every one of our service lines as a way to be sustainable."
  — John Benko ([01:32])

• "There’s not a dentist that can do that work for $16. And so we’ve had to find some alternative funding... by preempting some of those needs and providing a full holistic look at their health, we're able to get them through their course of treatment much faster."
  — John Benko ([03:17])

• "We're the most fragmented industry, Healthcare has the most to say about population health. We spend the most of federal dollars... and yet... maybe 1.5% is the most aligned provider we see out there. So until we can get these partnerships going back, both big and small, I don't think we're going to have a workable solution."
  — John Benko ([04:11])

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Key Timestamps

• 00:52 – Benko introduces Bellefaire’s mission and services
• 01:32 – Discussion on growth strategies via diversification and partnerships
• 02:43 – Impactful projects: improving medical and dental access for special needs clients
• 03:17 – Medicaid limitations, alternative funding models, and holistic care outcomes
• 04:11 – Benko’s advice: focus on nimble, sustainable alignment and system-wide partnerships

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Episode Takeaways

• Behavioral health and special needs organizations must leverage community roots while pursuing intentional growth through diverse services and strong partnerships.
• Funding constraints in Medicaid necessitate creative approaches for sustainable, accessible care—especially for marginalized populations.
• System-wide alignment and collaboration, rather than fragmentation, are essential for real progress in healthcare delivery and population health.
• Nimbleness, sustainability, and relationship-building are fundamental for healthcare leaders aiming to thrive amid shifting challenges.

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Transcript

[A]

This is where healthcare leadership comes together. Becker's 16th annual meeting brings more than 3,500 hospital and health system executives and nearly 800 speakers to Chicago, April 13th through the 16th. This year's event includes keynote conversations with Dallas Cowboys legend Troy Aikman and former President George W. Bush. For the agenda and event details, visit Beckershospitalreview.com and click on the Events tab in the upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you in Chicago.

[B]

This is Grace Lynn Keller with the Beckers Healthcare Podcast and we are recording live at the 13th annual CEO and CFO Roundtable. I'm currently joined by John Benko, who is the Director of Healthcare Coordination at Belfair jcb. So, John, thanks for being here. Let's have you start off by introducing yourself a little bit further and telling us more about your background.

[C]

Sure. Thanks, Grace. It's great to be here this morning. Again, my name is John Benko. I'm with an organization called Belfair. We are in the Cleveland metropolitan Collin area in Ohio and we service from a very organic level, families and children who are in either behavioral health or special needs areas. We do that in a variety of ways, from in school counseling to in home counseling to 69 beds on site to a small 12 bed inpatient hospital. So really the full gamut of how we can support the community with their behavioral health and special needs as that aligns with behavioral health.

[B]

Wonderful. And let's start our conversation by having you expand on your growth strategy in the next year or two.

[C]

Yeah, it's a very interesting conversation for folks in the arena that we're in. We often refer to ourselves as the mom and pop shops because these have all started over the last hundred years or so very organically, typically as a social organization or an orphanage. And then they've grown into the full gamut of support throughout healthcare as well as counseling and in some cases actually housing for adults and those who become emancipated through the system. So how do we grow that other than organically? Really, it's a diversification, both of the products, aligning ourselves with some of the community partners who may not be able to fulfill all of those missions. Or maybe we can do it over a broader footprint and really looking at every one of our service lines as a way to be sustainable. At the same time, looking to where the changes in service have presented. We certainly post pandemic know that we're reaching a lot more families than we probably did originally. We think that's a good thing. We think it's raised some awareness, but the funding end of it comes through through partnerships and just finding ourselves in spaces that we're both familiar and unfamiliar with and trying to align with partnerships.

[B]

Absolutely. And tell us about the most exciting and impactful initiative or project that you're working on right now.

[C]

Yeah, thanks. There's several in just some disclosure, I had been with this agency for a number of years, left, went into the inpatient space for a while and came back. And when I came back, I noticed that we weren't potentially accessing care in the form of physical care for some of our special needs population. Maybe as well as we knew how, we certainly did better than the community footprint. But we tried to find a way to do that better, particularly with routine medical care and routine dental care for special needs populations. We've been able to roll out two programs that are both now in full swing and showing signs of sustainability. But what we had to do is break that payer model because these are all Medicaid recipients. A Medicaid recipient typically bill a doctor or a dentist maybe $16 for a visit. There's not a dentist that can do that work for $16. And so we've had to find some alternative funding. The nice thing is what we've been able to show is in addition to improving the care for those individuals, other areas of their care have become much more manageable because these are folks who can't typically let their needs be known. And so by preempting some of those needs and providing a full holistic look at their health, we're able to get them through their course of treatment much faster, which often puts them back into the community and we would hope a more enriched life as benefit of that treatment.

[B]

And what is the most important thing that you think healthcare executives should be doing right now to make sure their organizations are successful in the future?

[C]

I think what we have to do is we have to immediately start looking at what's sustainable. We often bring in these large projects to how we're going to measure things and how we're going to move things forward. And we have to be a little more nimble than we've been in the past. And I think really where that's going to be in the space that we're in is we have to align. We're the most fragmented industry, Healthcare, Healthcare has the most to say about population health. We spend the most of federal dollars by far from any organization. And yet there's no more than I think maybe 1,5% is the most aligned provider we see out there. So until we can get these partnerships going back, both big and small, I don't think we're going to have a workable solution. And it's a big lift.

[B]

Absolutely. Well, John, thanks so much for joining me today on the Beckers Healthcare podcast. Again, we are recording live at the 13th annual CEO and CFO roundtable.

[C]

Well, thanks for having me. It's good to see you.