Dr. DiFranco has been active within managed care for the past 23 years, having joined the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan Heath System early in his career. There, he led the university’s Managed Behavioral Health Care Division at M-CARE while also teaching psychiatry residents and providing clinical care to patients.
He left the university in 2007 to join Blue Care Network as Medical Director for Behavioral Health. Dr. DiFranco is a past President of the Michigan Psychiatric Society. His professional accomplishments include the design and implementation of a web-based patient portal—the M-STRIDES system—at the University of Michigan Depression Center and the implementation of a smoking cessation campaign at Blue Care Network that resulted in the largest decrease in tobacco use among Michigan health plans in 2016. Dr. DiFranco serves on the Board of Directors for Emmaus Health Partners and Board of Trustees for Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan.