2019 Congress Faculty

Dr. Namita Ahuja received her MD degree from the Seth G.S. Medical College & King Edward Hospital, Bombay, India in 1995. She completed an Internal Medicine Residency at Methodist Healthcare University in 2000, where she served as Chief Resident during her final year. From 2000 to 2005, she was a Clinical Instructor at the University of Tennessee and as Medical Director of various Assisted Living Facilities and Long Term Care Facilities. After moving to Pittsburgh in 2005 Pittsburgh she completed her Geriatric Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and subsequently joined as an Assistant Professor of Medicine. She is board certified in Geriatrics and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. In addition, she also has a Masters in Medical Management from the Carnegie Mellon University, Heinz College.

From 2006 until 2015 Dr. Ahuja served as Medical Director at UPMC Heritage Place. While in this role, she implemented multiple quality improvement projects and served as an educator for various learners from medical students to fellows. In 2012, Dr. Ahuja accepted the role of Medical Director of the UPMC for Life Options Program and subsequently in 2016 as Senior Medical Director of Medicare and Geriatric Programs for UPMC Health Plan. In her current role, she has implemented many initiatives focused on aging population and is responsible for approximately 160,000 members who are served under their managed Medicare line of business for UPMC Health Plan.

Andrew Allison currently serves as Director of Business Development and Innovation at Aetna, where he helps lead value-based contracting efforts with Medicare providers across the country and evaluates technology and Managed Services Organization capabilities that can enable Aetna’s provider network to move along the value-based care continuum. He is responsible for identifying target markets, developing the appropriate partnership strategy with the right provider partners, driving deal execution, and developing the go-to-market strategy for Medicare provider partnerships.

Andrew most recently served as Director of Business Development for Iora Health, a risk-bearing primary care group with global capitation Medicare contracts with national and regional health plans in markets across the country. In this role, he developed the company’s growth strategy, led payer negotiations, and secured Medicare contracts with multiple national health plans. He is proud to have contributed to Iora’s most successful year in new partnership business development on record.

Andrew has experience growing healthcare companies along life cycle stages from ideation to Fortune 50. Notable companies he’s helped develop include hospital patient experience company Docent Health, behavioral health integration company Quartet Health, and employer wellness and benefit management company Castlight Health, among others.

Andrew earned his MBA from the Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and his bachelor’s in finance at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Jennifer McGuigan Babcock is ACAP’s Vice President for Medicaid Policy and Director of Strategic Operations. She was recently appointed to direct ACAP’s Medicaid policy work after spending over four years as ACAP’s Vice President for Exchanges. And this is her second tour at ACAP; in 2010, she served the Eligibility and Enrollment team within the Office of Health Insurance Exchanges in the Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (OCIIO, now known as CCIIO), focusing primarily on the interplay between Medicaid and Exchange coverage.

Before joining OCIIO, Jennifer served as ACAP’s Director of Policy, working primarily on Medicaid and CHIP health plan issues. Previously, she worked on policy related to Medicaid, CHIP, the uninsured, and private health insurance in the Office of Health Policy for the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) at the Department of Health and Human Services. She has also held positions with CHIP at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services as special assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Health Care Financing at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and as an associate consultant with The Lewin Group in Falls Church. Jennifer also served as an MPH Fellow at the Consumer Health Foundation in Washington, D.C., and as Executive Director of the Lovelight Foundation, an anti-poverty organization in Detroit.She has a Masters of Public Health from the University of Michigan, Department of Health Management and Policy, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Kalamazoo College in Michigan.

Dee Ann Bialecki-Haase is the Chief Medical Officer of Paramount Healthcare. She is the former President of the ProMedica Health Network and the Vice President of Medical Operations ProMedica Physicians. Dee Ann is a practicing family physician in Perrysburg Ohio with ProMedica River Road Family Physicians.

Dee Ann completed her undergraduate education at the University of Toledo graduating in 1989 with a BA in Chemistry. She attended University of Cincinnati College of Medicine graduating in 1993. She completed her family medicine residency at the Toledo Hospital. In October 2011 she received the designation of Certified Physician Executive from the Certifying Commission in Medical Management. Dee Ann received her MBA May 2014 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Her professional interests include quality, care management, population health, chronic disease management and patient centered care. She resides in Perrysburg Ohio with her husband and two sons.

Ms. Bierman comes to the State of Nevada from The Guinn Center for Policy Priorities, where she served as the Director of Health Policy. Prior to her work in Las Vegas, Ms. Bierman served as Assistant Director, Division of Medical Services (Medicaid) for the Arkansas Department of Human Services. She earned her Juris Doctorate and Master’s of Public Health degrees from the University of Arkansas while working in dual roles as a Legislative Analyst and a Law Clerk for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Office of General Counsel. Ms. Bierman has completed both the Henry Toll Fellowship Program, Council of State Governments and the American Society on Aging’s Leadership Academy Program.

Karen M. Dale is the Market President for AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia, the largest Medicaid Managed Care Organizations in Washington, DC. She leads initiatives that strategically position the organization as a market leader with innovative solutions for the critical challenges faced by its members.

Ms. Dale is a highly skilled, visionary leader who has dedicated her entire career to helping others and ensuring equal health opportunities for populations at risk. Having held multiple positions of leadership during the past two decades, she has worked with a broad group of stakeholders to address policies, and other key factors that impact the production of health. She considers it a privilege to utilize her expertise in program development, significant knowledge of health care finance and delivery systems to make a difference in the lives of so many.

Ms. Dale has guided the execution of unique approaches to managing the complex needs of persons with multiple health risks. These efforts include the use of telemedicine to aid in the management of chronic diseases, peer to peer outreach using community health workers, and the roll-out of a multifaceted member engagement approach. In addition, her philosophy that all persons deserve access to the right care, without barriers, starting where they are, has led to several collaborative relationships with providers, community partners, philanthropists and businesses to develop evidence-based, population health strategies.

Karen Dale holds a Master of Science Degree in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing from The Catholic University, Washington, DC, a Bachelors of Science Degree in Nursing from George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, and was a member of the Leadership Greater Washington Class of 2003. She serves as Board Chair for CommonHealth ACTION, a Board Member for both Volunteers of America National Services and, the Volunteers of America National Board. In addition, she serves on the District of Columbia State Innovation Model Advisory Committee. In 2016, she was the recipient of the Washington Business Journal Minority Business Leader Award. This award honors 25 of the most successful business men and women in the region.

Leigh Davison is the Staff Vice President, Medicaid and LTSS Specialty Organization at Anthem, Inc. with responsibility for leading the organization’s Medicaid Strategy/Innovations, LTSS business development, strategy and execution, program oversight, and operations. With more than 20 years’ experience in the health care industry, she has been with Anthem for 14 years and held several positions within the organization both at a corporate and health plan level. She has an extensive background in marketing, network development, provider relations and operations both in Government and Commercial health care industry. Prior to working with Anthem, Inc. and Amerigroup Corporation, Leigh held several positions with Aetna, Inc. and U.S. Healthcare/Corporate Health Administrators.

Mohit Ghose is a health care executive and healthcare policy expert with 20 years of experience working with business leaders to anticipate, respond to, and influence the changing health care landscape. He has managed a wide range of contracting, planning and implementation, advocacy and policy programs designed to improve results and position a company for success in an ever-evolving marketplace.

Mohit currently serves as vice president of government relations for Beacon Health Options (Beacon). In this role, Mohit focuses on the western states and is accountable for organizing, developing and leading government relations strategies and policy initiatives in support of the company’s strategic plan and business development goals. Mohit serves as an advocate for Beacon positions on policy and program design with senior legislative and executive branch officials across the West. In his role, Mohit works to promote awareness of Beacon’s brand, its mission and though leadership, and its capabilities in delivering high-quality behavioral healthcare services to government and private payers.

Prior to this role, Mohit was on the senior leadership team of Molina Healthcare of California as vice president of government contracts, policy & strategic initiatives where he led the government contracts team, served as the plan’s primary point of contact with regulatory agencies while also directing the company’s policy team covering legislative, public policy and regulatory challenges and opportunities. The strategic initiatives department under his direction was responsible for implementation of new initiatives and projects impacting all business units, including Molina’s annual operating plan.

Earlier in his career, Mohit was vice president of public affairs for Aetna, Inc. and led Aetna’s internal and external efforts for policy advocacy and communications through health care reform and its implementation.

Mohit started his career in health care policy and advocacy in Washington, DC at America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). As senior vice president of public affairs, Mohit managed all aspects of media and crisis communications and served as national spokesman on industry issues over several years of legislative and policy campaigns, including the landmark Medicare prescription drug law, the genetic non-discrimination law and the mental health parity law of 2008.

Pamela Greenberg is President and CEO of the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness (ABHW). She joined the association in 1998 and since that time has become a nationally recognized leader on managed behavioral health care policy issues. In her role, she works on a variety of policy issues that are important to health plans and will increase quality and access to behavioral health care. One of Pamela’s greatest accomplishments is the leadership role she played in developing, advocating for, and getting the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 signed into law.

ABHW is the leading association working to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and advance federal policy to improve mental health and addiction care. ABHW represents major national and regional health plans who care for more than 200 million people.

Pamela has worked on both behavioral health and managed care issues for almost three decades. She began by lobbying for both a large managed care company and substance use disorder treatment providers when she worked at a small boutique health care consulting firm in Washington, DC. That led to a position in America’s Health Insurance Plans’ (AHIP) Federal Affairs Department lobbying on issues such as health reform, Patients’ Bill of Rights, and Medicare reform. Pamela left AHIP to run the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness.

Pamela currently serves on InnovaTel Telepsychiatry’s Strategic Advisory Board and has spent many years on the boards of both the national and local chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America.

Ms. Greenberg has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Holyoke College and a Masters in Public Policy from Georgetown University.

Robin Hacke is Executive Director of the Center for Community Investment (CCI), which is dedicated to overcoming disinvestment and improving opportunity so that everyone has a fair chance to lead a healthy and productive life. Working with cross-sector partnerships, innovative health institutions and local leaders, CCI helps ensure that all communities can unlock the capital they need to thrive. CCI is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

CCI, housed at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, was incubated during Ms. Hacke’s tenure as a Senior Fellow at The Kresge Foundation. Previously, she served for seven years as Director of Capital Innovation at Living Cities, where she managed capital deployment for the $80 million Integration Initiative and spearheaded creation of the Catalyst Fund. She has served as a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, a consultant to major foundations and a member of the Steering Committee for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Working Cities Challenge.

A former venture capitalist and investment banker with more than a decade of community investment experience, Ms. Hacke holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Harvard-Radcliffe College. Learn more at www.centerforcommunityinvestment.org

For more than two decades, Anne has consulted to and advised government agencies, health plans and providers as they strive for success in government healthcare programs.

Her clients have included the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Veterans Healthcare Administration, governors’ offices, approximately 24 states’ Medicaid agencies and their sister agencies, as well as private sector payers and providers serving in government programs, foundations and associations.

Anne specializes in the design, implementation, ongoing operation, monitoring and assessment of Medicaid managed care programs and other Medicaid programs. She also specializes in assisting payers, particularly Medicaid health plans, to identify opportunities to improve their operations, to implement such improvements and to develop and execute market entry and exit strategies. Anne earned a Bachelor of Science in Bio-Psychology and Community Health at Tufts University. She then received a Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health, where she also completed doctoral coursework and exams. Before founding Riverstone Health Advisors, Anne consulted for KPMG, Tucker Alan Inc., and Navigant Consulting. Early in her career, she served as a health policy government liaison for a national membership organization.

Hannah Katch is a Medicaid expert and senior analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, where she analyzes Medicaid policy and provides technical assistance to states and Capitol Hill. Prior to her position at the CBPP, Katch was an administrator of the California Medicaid program where she oversaw the state’s Medicaid managed care, long term care, and specialty children’s health programs. She previously served as a senior health policy advisor in U.S. Senate, where she worked on a broad range of health policy issues including the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Matt develops custom solutions to quantify risk for health care providers and health plans. He supports health care providers with strategic analysis of alternate payment models. Matt has extensive experience assisting health plans with pricing and regulatory submissions for Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D, Medicare Supplement, individual exchange, and small group commercial products.

Matt is a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst. He assists insurance companies with various risk assessments, including Own Risk and Solvency Assessments (ORSAs).

Prior to joining Milliman, Matt spent several years working for two large health insurance companies where he supported contract negotiations with health care providers, as well as pricing, reserving, and forecasting for

Katherine Leff has a combined 40 years of management-level experience in private and public-sector insurance. Past experience includes twenty-eight years in private sector insurance supporting Auto, Life, Health, Disability, and LTC claims functions from various different management positions.

For the last thirteen years, she has worked as Director, Special Investigations for CareSource, a nonprofit Ohio-based health plan and one of the largest Medicaid managed health care plans in the country. CareSource serves approximately 2 million Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, MyCare (Duals) and Exchange members in Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Georgia and Indiana. Her responsibilities there include managing a successful Special Investigations Unit dedicated to preventing, identifying, investigating, mitigating, and reporting Medicaid and Medicare fraud, waste, and abuse.

She is a Registered Nurse and has earned the following designations; ALHC (Associate in Life/Health Claims), CLU (Chartered Life Underwriter), AHFI (Accredited Healthcare Fraud Investigator), CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner) and CHC (Certified in Health Care Compliance). She was the Board Chair of the National Healthcare Anti-Fraud Association in 2015 and currently remains on the Board. Katherine works out of Dayton, Ohio, at CareSource’s corporate headquarters.

Kyle works in Milliman’s healthcare practice. He assists MA-PDs with strategic planning, contracting and risk sharing arrangements, and other issues related to Medicare. He develops Part C and Part D bids for Medicare Advantage plans including the development of bids for Special Needs Plans for the dual eligible population.

Kyle also works with state Medicaid agencies to develop Medicaid managed care capitation rates. He analyzes managed care encounter data for completeness and accuracy, analyzes the impact of changes in payment arrangements on Medicaid managed care programs, including the introduction of physician incentive programs, and prepares analyses to respond to Medicaid MCO and CMS questions regarding capitation rates.

Gabriel McGlamery is in charge of Federal regulatory policy for Florida Blue’s individual market business. This means analyzing, influencing, and general problem-solving for the insurer covering roughly 10% of Marketplace enrollment. Prior to joining Florida Blue in 2012, Gabriel helped develop the rules for the ACA at HHS and graduated with honors from the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Paul currently serves as Senior Health Policy Advisor to the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy. To this opportunity, he brings a lifetime of experience related to rural healthcare from both his family heritage and more than thirty years in community and hospital pharmacy. His experience reaches beyond pharmacy as he has also been the CEO of a County Healthcare Authority, consisting of one of the nation’s earliest Critical Access Hospitals, the County EMS, a physician clinic and a Home Health Agency.

His is a Past President of the National Rural Health Association and currently serves as the Executive Secretary for the National Advisory Committee for Rural Health and Human Services.

Jeff Myers is the president and CEO at Medicaid Health Plans of America (MHPA), the leading national trade association for Medicaid managed care organizations. Mr. Myers serves as the primary spokesperson for the Medicaid health plan industry before Congress, the executive branch, state governments, and the media. Mr. Myers is responsible for demonstrating the value of Medicaid managed care to these audiences as well as opening new markets for Medicaid health plan business. He also leads advocacy efforts in advancing an aggressive policy agenda on behalf of the industry.

A government affairs veteran, Mr. Myers comes to MHPA from the American Health Care Association (AHCA), where he was senior vice president of policy and government relations. Prior to AHCA he represented pharmaceutical companies like Cephalon, Biogen Idec, Pharmacia, and Hoffman-LaRoche before the legislative and executive branches. His time on Capitol Hill included serving as U.S. Representative Fred Upton’s legislative director and health staff for the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, and working for U.S. Representatives Don Sundquist and Alex McMillan. While at McMillan’s office, Mr. Myers led McMillan’s health staff during the attempt at health reform in 1994. Mr. Myers received his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke and his bachelor’s degree from Rhodes College in Memphis. He lives in McLean, Virginia with his wife and three children.

Justin Neece brings 25 years of visionary leadership experience from multiple Fortune 500 to early stage growth companies. In his role as President and CEO, Neece has transformed i2i into one of the top population health management companies in the healthcare technology market. He has developed unique domain knowledge from his field work with several provider organizations and health plans launching alternative payment models. Neece holds degrees from Tennessee Technological University, Middle Tennessee State University, and the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business.

Kevin is a project analyst at the UPMC Center for High-Value Health Care. In this capacity, he supports externally-funded research opportunities, efforts to translate multiple data sources into actionable intelligence, and positioning UPMC as a corporate citizen dedicated to creating shared value across sectors to the benefit of UPMC Health Plan members and the communities where they live, work, and pray.

As part of a small team, Kevin has worked with a local housing provider (Community Human Services) and national experts (Nonprofit Finance Fund and Corporation for Supportive Housing) to craft and execute a Pay-for-Success contract designed to scale UPMC for You’s proven permanent supportive housing program, Cultivating Health for Success. Additionally, he supports the Center’s many opportunities to promote rapid cycle evaluation across UPMC Health Plan’s diverse business lines, most notably, working with interdisciplinary teams to develop and advance UPMC Insurance Services Division’s evolving housing and social determinant of health strategies. Kevin also serves as UPMC’s Team Lead for Accelerating Investment for Healthy Communities initiative, which is designed to increase health system investments in upstream determinants of health, with an emphasis on affordable housing (that is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and administered the Center for Community Investment).

Previously, he spent 4 years working at the Healthcare Council of Western Pennsylvania. There he partnered with a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including hospitals, government agencies, and community organizations, to promote a multidimensional understanding of health literacy and address the social determinants of health throughout western Pennsylvania. Kevin has bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies from the University of Pittsburgh and looks forward to learning to continuing to learn how UPMC Health Plan can promote capital absorption and deploy community investment best-practices that improve health and equity in the communities UPMC serves.

Dave Richard is the Deputy Secretary, NC Medicaid, where he leads North Carolina’s $14 billion Medicaid and NC Health Choice programs for the state’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Richard’s vision for Medicaid is to ensure a sustainable, person-centered and innovative Medicaid program for more than two million North Carolinians who use Medicaid. As the programs undergo transformation to even better fit the needs of state and its residents, he is committed to the fundamental goal of improving the health and well-being of all residents. Richard believes the right way to achieve success is to work closely with stakeholders in all aspects of Medicaid.

Prior to leading Medicaid, Richard was the Deputy Secretary for DHHS Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Services and the State Operated Healthcare Facilities divisions. He joined DHHS in May 2013 as the Director of the Division of Mental Health, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services. Richard joined DHHS after leading The Arc of North Carolina, an advocacy and service organization for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as its Executive Director for 24 years.

Richard has a bachelor’s degree in education from Louisiana State University.

June Simmons is President and CEO of Partners in Care Foundation. Over the past two decades, June has pioneered the development and scaling of innovative, evidence-based interventions for management of medications at home, self-management of chronic conditions, coordinated care to improve health outcomes, and care transitions.

Throughout her distinguished career, she has been instrumental in envisioning, creating, funding, and operating forward-looking health and social service programs that meet the mutual needs of patient populations, health care delivery networks and health plans. Her priority is sustainable, cost-effective, patient-driven integration of care across settings, from primary care and hospital to home and community in the 21st century.

Troy Timmons serves as the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Western Governors’ Association. He manages a diverse policy portfolio ranging from high-level nuclear waste to health care, and oversees WGA’s outreach efforts to Capitol Hill. Troy’s previous experience includes work at the Department of Energy’s former weapons production facilities, Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, Professional Staff Member with the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Legislative Director for a U.S. Representative. Troy graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from Wheaton College in Illinois, and lives in Evergreen, Colorado.

Elena Tkachev is a Senior Director, ACO Analytics at Collaborative Health Systems, a WellCare Company. Elena supports multiple ACOs with over 2,700 providers serving over 210,000 Medicare beneficiaries. She focuses on transforming information into insight to improve managerial operations and prescribe clinical action that enhances beneficiary health outcomes. Previously, Elena worked at McKinsey Healthcare Group, where she concentrated on design and development of Innovative Population-Based Delivery and Payment Models. Elena held leadership positions at Horizon BCBS of NJ, Anthem and Milliman. Elena earned an MBA from Fordham University and a BS in actuarial science and mathematics from Maryville University.