Innovation is most impactful when it’s applied at scale. This principle guides Nasser Khan, the newly appointed operations group president of comprehensive treatment centers (CTCs) at Acadia Healthcare (Nasdaq: ACHC). Khan believes that meaningful change in healthcare happens where innovation meets scale, where solutions like Medication-Assisted Treatment Access are deployed broadly enough to make measurable improvements in patient outcomes and system efficiency.
A Rhode Island native, Khan’s curiosity has always driven him to ask difficult questions about healthcare systems. “How do things really work? Why don’t certain things work? How do you make the most of a possible solution?” he said. These questions shaped a career dedicated to addressing high-impact problems and finding solutions that improve lives on a broad scale.
From Physician-Scientist to Healthcare Innovator
Before entering healthcare management, Khan began his career as a physician-scientist. Yet he found that the questions he most wanted to answer—structural and systemic issues in healthcare delivery—weren’t addressed in research labs or clinical practice. Seeking a broader understanding, he moved into healthcare operations and management, hoping to influence the system where it mattered most: at the point of care.
In 2012, Khan joined DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA), a major kidney care provider. There, he made a pivotal realization: a tiny fraction of Medicare enrollees—just 0.8% with end-stage renal disease—accounted for 8.3% of all Medicare spending. This illustrated the Pareto principle, or 80-20 rule, highlighting that a small proportion of problems often creates outsized outcomes.
“How do you find the chunk of the problem where you focus outsized energy?” Khan asked. In dialysis, a relatively small patient population had a huge impact on the healthcare system—a lesson he has carried into behavioral health.
After completing an internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, Khan worked at McKinsey & Co., but he wanted more direct involvement in the delivery and management of healthcare services. DaVita offered him that opportunity. Over five years, he deepened his understanding of operations and patient care while refining his approach to solving high-impact problems.
Embracing Early-Stage Innovation
Khan later joined Biograph, a San Francisco startup focused on preventative health through technology. “I had always wanted to work at the earliest stages of innovation,” he said. “What I found is I enjoyed the innovation process; it fascinated me.” Leading a small company highlighted the importance of scale—innovations only create impact when they reach large populations.
This realization led Khan to Shield Health Solutions, a nationally scaled specialty pharmacy company, where he served as senior vice president of operations. Shield was eventually acquired by Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA) in 2021. During this time, Khan focused on operational excellence at scale, solving problems that affected large populations while maintaining quality of care.
The Shift to Behavioral Health
Khan’s interest in high-impact challenges eventually brought him to behavioral health and addiction treatment, sectors that have long been under-resourced but have outsized effects on health systems and communities. In September, he became operations group president for Acadia Healthcare’s CTCs, which provide a full spectrum of care including Medication-Assisted Treatment Access, mental health services, medical support, and social services.
CTCs account for 60% of Acadia Healthcare’s nationwide footprint. Acadia is the largest pure-play behavioral health provider in the U.S., operating 242 facilities with roughly 10,800 beds across 39 states and Puerto Rico. Approximately 145 of these facilities are CTCs, which contribute over a third of the company’s $2.31 billion annual revenue as of 2021. The company also operates inpatient psychiatric hospitals, residential treatment centers, and outpatient clinics.
Khan sees large-scale, integrated care as essential. “I think a large-scale player that’s well-integrated is the only way that you’re going to be able to fully service the patient,” he explained. “Otherwise, you end up perpetuating the fragmented environment, which I think is always a challenge in our healthcare system.”
Applying the Pareto Principle to Behavioral Health
The lessons Khan learned in kidney care translate directly to behavioral health. Studies show that people with mental health or substance use disorders represent 57% of the top 10% of most costly insurance plan members. Within this group, just 6% of the population had behavioral health disorders and were among the most costly plan members—yet this group drove 44% of total healthcare costs.
“If you’re not familiar with the space, you might think addiction is a small problem,” Khan said. “But get closer to the problem and you realize this is everyone’s problem and the magnitude of it.” Addressing this issue requires expanding access to Medication-Assisted Treatment Access and other high-impact interventions that can reduce costs while improving lives.
Expanding Access and Enhancing the Workforce
Looking ahead, Khan’s objectives are clear: expand access to SUD treatment and improve the working environment for CTC staff. Currently, only one in ten people with opioid use disorder receives gold-standard Medication-Assisted Treatment Access. Khan’s goal is to reach the remaining nine out of ten individuals who aren’t getting treatment, using innovation in patient engagement, treatment models, and outreach efforts.
Growth also involves education—fighting stigma and misconceptions around behavioral health treatment, both for patients and the broader healthcare system. “We’ve got a crisis on the staffing and care delivery side of things,” Khan said. “We need to excite and energize people to come into our field. We need to realign employees with the mission orientation that got them to want to be caregivers in the first place.”
Reducing operational friction and refocusing staff on what they do best will create a world-class environment in Acadia Healthcare CTCs, where patients can receive high-quality care and staff can thrive. By improving efficiency and scaling access, Khan aims to dramatically increase Medication-Assisted Treatment Access nationwide.
A Vision for the Future
Khan’s approach combines innovation, scale, and human-centered leadership. By applying lessons from specialty care, startup innovation, and pharmacy operations, he is positioning Acadia Healthcare to address behavioral health challenges in a systemic, sustainable way. Expanding Medication-Assisted Treatment Access is central to this mission, providing care to millions who previously had no access.
For Khan, the intersection of innovation and scale is not just a business strategy—it’s a moral imperative. When solutions reach enough people, the impact is transformative, improving individual lives and the healthcare system as a whole. Behavioral health challenges—from mental illness to substance use disorders—can finally be addressed comprehensively, reducing costs, improving outcomes, and breaking cycles of untreated addiction.
Through his leadership, Acadia Healthcare is poised to become a national leader in scaling innovation, improving Medication-Assisted Treatment Access, and creating a behavioral health system that truly works for everyone.
