Elevance Health announced that Dr. Patrick Fox is the new president of Carelon Behavioral Health, effective immediately. The appointment was reported by Healthcare Dive on Aug. 25, 2026. The company described the change as an internal leadership move within its behavioral health platform.
Dr. Patrick Fox has a roughly 30-year career spanning clinical psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, behavioral health leadership and health-plan management. Before assuming the top role at Carelon, Fox served as president of Wellpoint New Jersey, an Elevance-affiliated plan that offers Medicare Advantage and Medicaid coverage in New Jersey.
Fox joined Elevance in 2020. Prior to that, his career included academic and public-sector roles: he taught forensic psychiatry at Yale, directed a maximum-security forensic hospital in Connecticut, led Colorado’s Office of Behavioral Health and served as chief medical officer of Colorado’s Department of Human Services. Within Elevance, he also led the company’s Medicaid health plan in Colorado.
Elevance quoted Kristy Duffey, president of Carelon Health, saying Fox “understands the challenges facing behavioral healthcare from the clinical, operational and system perspectives,” and that his breadth of experience will support efforts to improve access, strengthen system connections and deliver better outcomes.
Elevance describes Carelon Behavioral Health as one of the largest behavioral health platforms in the U.S., serving more than 61 million members nationwide. The business was formed after Elevance acquired Beacon Health Options in 2020 and rebranded those assets as Carelon Behavioral Health in 2023.
Carelon’s portfolio includes clinical mental health services, substance use disorder management and specialty programs for conditions such as autism and depression. Its clients include health plans, employers, government agencies and provider organizations.
The source notes rising demand for these services as conditions like depression and anxiety become more prevalent and social stigmas around seeking mental health care decline.
Fox succeeds Corbin Petro, who had been named president of Carelon Behavioral Health in 2024. An Elevance spokesperson told the outlet the company does not comment on personnel matters when asked about the reason for Petro’s replacement; no further explanation was provided in the source.
Concurrently, Elevance named Patrick Gillespie — its regional vice president of state affairs — to succeed Fox as president of Wellpoint New Jersey. Gillespie joined Elevance in 2016 and previously worked as a state lobbyist for Cigna, according to the reporting.
The article situates this appointment within a broader Elevance effort to reshape its executive bench. The insurer has been making multiple internal moves intended to bolster profits in its core insurance business and to leverage growth opportunities through Carelon. Earlier in the year Elevance announced a series of mid-level executive appointments and elevated Mark Kaye to lead Carelon, centralizing oversight of health plan businesses.
The source connects the Fox appointment to that pattern of reorganizing leadership to align clinical and business oversight across the insurer and its behavioral health platform.
While the article does not provide new operational plans or performance targets tied to Fox’s appointment, it highlights two contextual points: Carelon’s large member base and the growing market need for behavioral health services. Elevance’s framing emphasizes improving access, strengthening connections across the healthcare system and delivering better outcomes — priorities that align with the division’s existing offerings in mental health, substance use disorder management and specialty programs.
The reporting does not include metrics, timelines or specific initiatives that Fox will pursue in his new role. Elevance’s public statement and the personnel moves described in the article are the source’s only cited information about strategy and rationale.
Elevance has installed a veteran clinician and health-plan executive, Dr. Patrick Fox, to lead its large behavioral health arm, Carelon Behavioral Health, at a time when the company is consolidating leadership and seeking growth in behavioral health services. The announcement reiterates Elevance’s focus on access and outcomes for a division that serves more than 61 million members, but the source did not disclose detailed plans or reasons for the personnel changes beyond formal statements and succession assignments.