Speaker's Profile

Taft Parsons III, MD is the Chief Psychiatric Officer for CVS Health.  He directly oversees Aetna’s Psychiatrists, and is responsible for the behavioral health strategy of CVS.  He is a leader within a highly matrixed and complex organization that manages and delivers healthcare to over 30 million people.  Over the years, Dr. Parsons has co-authored several academic papers, and has regularly presented on behavioral health to various professional and trade associations.  He has a passion for the sharing of information, and continues to teach medical students and Psychiatry residents, as well as give seminars to various service organizations.

Prior to joining CVS, Dr. Parsons served as the Enterprise Medical Director of Behavioral Health for Humana Inc.  He was the Psychiatric leadership behind Humana’s integration of physical and behavioral health, and was responsible for the company’s strategic approach to behavioral health.  Before Humana, Dr. Parsons served as Chief Medical Officer at Molina Healthcare of Michigan, where he oversaw the health plan’s clinical operations for a mixture of 400,000 Medicare and Medicaid lives. Dr. Parsons initially joined Molina in 2013, where he served as the VP for Behavioral Health Plans.  His role included insourcing and integrating behavioral health in a standardized fashion for all of Molina’s health plans.  Prior to 2013, he served in a number of medical leadership roles and as a practicing Psychiatrist for Henry Ford Health System.  Over the years, Dr. Parsons has also provided subject matter expertise to several venture capital firms looking to invest in behavioral health, and helped establish the behavioral health service for a telehealth startup.

Board certified in Psychiatry, Dr. Parsons received his medical degree from Medical College of Wisconsin and completed his residency in behavioral health at Henry Ford Health System. He is a proud alumnus of Morehouse College, holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology.  Dr. Parsons is passionate about ensuring quality care, process improvement and the seamless integration of medical and behavioral health care.

Taft currently resides in metro Detroit with his wife and 3 children. He enjoys soccer, art collecting and sneaking in the occasional date night with his wife.