Boulder Care Appoints Optum Behavioral Health Executive Andy Kelly as First-Ever Chief Commercial Officer

Industry veteran brings decade-plus of behavioral health and value-based care leadership to expand and deepen Boulder's payer partnerships

PORTLAND, OR, UNITED STATES, May 7, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Boulder Care, a leading addiction medicine provider, today announced the appointment of Andy Kelly as Chief Commercial Officer to expand health plan partnerships and value-based care contracts. Kelly brings more than a decade of senior leadership experience at Optum and UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health insurer, where he led over 400 behavioral health value-based programs in all 50 states, pioneering industry-first initiatives around measurement and quality of care.

"When high-quality care heals the most underserved patients, everyone wins," said Stephanie Strong, founder and CEO of Boulder Care. "Andy has spent his career building payer and provider relationships that actually move the needle, and he joins us at a pivotal time. When Boulder helps patients with substance use disorder get the right care, at the right time, lasting outcomes transform lives while avoiding costly, tragic, preventable outcomes. Structuring partnerships grounded in accountability for outcomes transforms addiction medicine.”

Boulder Care delivers addiction treatment via telehealth, eliminating traditional barriers to care and producing outcomes that drive impact for patients and health plans alike:

— Quality and effectiveness measures in the 90th percentile for HEDIS measures
— Patients three times more likely to remain in long-term recovery compared to NCQA quality benchmarks
— Reductions in emergency department and inpatient utilization
— Rapid access to same-day medication-based treatment

As Chief Commercial Officer, Kelly will lead Boulder's commercial strategy, bringing together payer growth, partner success, and community engagement under one vision: reaching more patients with proven care and accountability for outcomes.

Kelly has spent his career building payer and provider strategies that help scale access to quality clinical interventions in behavioral health and value-based care. At Optum Behavioral Health, he served as Senior Vice President of Provider Enablement — Whole Health Solutions, leading value-based program strategy and practice management. Earlier at UnitedHealth Group, he focused on population health implementations, network builds, and total cost of care initiatives. He began his career at Epic, helping large health systems implement electronic medical records across the country.

"50 million Americans have a substance use disorder, and yet 4 out of 5 people do not receive treatment. This scale of unmet patient need devastates families, driving tremendous cost for the healthcare system and our communities," said Kelly. "Across the hundreds of providers I’ve partnered with across my career, the Boulder model stands apart for its patient-centricity and innovative Pop-In Clinic approach, getting new patients into recovery care within minutes. The incentives are aligned for us to be able to bend the curve on the opioid epidemic, and extend this life-saving model into other condition areas."

About Boulder Care
Boulder is a leader in high-quality addiction medicine, providing evidence-based treatment for opioid and alcohol use over telehealth. Dedicated care teams collaborate to provide low-barrier access to medication-based treatment and emphasize long-term support as patients work toward unique recovery goals. Boulder partners with health plans and community organizations to offer affordable treatment to patients across the U.S. Learn more about Boulder’s mission to improve the lives of people with substance use disorders at www.boulder.care or contact us at press@boulder.care.

Media Contact
press@boulder.care

Katie Maffei
Boulder Care
+1 203-858-0546
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