Medicaid & Policy Track

Seema Verma was sworn in as the 15th Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on March 14, 2017. She brings deep experience in healthcare policy, Medicaid, insurance, and public health to her role at CMS. Administrator Verma is committed to empowering patients to take ownership of their healthcare and ensuring they have access to the resources they need to make informed decisions.

For more than two decades, Administrator Verma has guided healthcare policy in the public and private sector. She has worked with states to build flexibility into their Medicaid programs to help them meet the diverse needs of their unique populations. As the architect of the historic Healthy Indiana Plan, she helped create and implement the Nation’s first consumer-directed Medicaid program.

Continuing her efforts to improve health outcomes for all Americans, Administrator Verma is working toward a new era of state flexibility and local leadership at CMS. She aims to reduce burdensome regulations so doctors and providers can focus on providing high quality healthcare to patients. She also supports implementing innovative solutions that will improve healthcare quality, accessibility, and outcomes for states, while driving down costs. Administrator Verma completed a Master’s degree in Public Health with a concentration in health policy and management from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences from the University of Maryland. Previously she was the President, CEO, and founder of SVC, Inc., a national health policy consulting company.

Derek Asay is Senior Director, Government Strategy at Lilly USA. His team is responsible for Lilly business strategy across all government segments, including Medicare, Medicaid, and 340B, as well as government price reporting strategy. Derek established and maintains the ongoing Lilly relationship with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) across all Medicare and Medicaid business. His team leads Lilly’s healthcare transformation and partnership efforts. He leads the implementation of all health care reform legislation and regulations from the Lilly business perspective, which includes the ongoing implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Derek’s team is also responsible for health care reform education, both internally with Lilly employees and externally with payer and healthcare professional customers. Derek regularly engages with the leadership of large payers and hospital systems across the country on healthcare policy issues. Prior to his current role, Derek held leadership positions in brand management and payer marketing at Lilly.

Prior to joining Lilly in 1999, Derek served numerous pharmaceutical sales, marketing and finance roles with Hoffmann-La Roche in Nutley, NJ.

Derek holds an undergraduate degree in Economics and Political Science from Indiana University and a Masters in Business Administration in Finance and Marketing from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University.

Jay Atkin currently serves as Vice President of Medicaid Business / Program Delivery. He is accountable for Information Technology (IT) business solutions supporting over 3 million members.

Previously Jay led Medicare, Senior Supplemental Insurance and FEDS Technology teams. Prior to that, he was accountable for the Enterprise Quality Assurance (QA) organization. In that role he drove results to best-practice levels, and initiated and executed the first IT managed services contract as well as several other progressive programs enhancing business value. Prior to QA, Jay led the IT Enterprise Production Maintenance teams, instituting programs to increase return on investments across technology products, significantly improved turn-a-round times on business related level one and two incidents and drove the application sunset program, retiring over 125 systems.

Prior to IT Production Maintenance, Jay held a variety of progressively responsible technical and service related roles in the Infrastructure Services organization.

Jay has a variety of college experiences focused primarily on Information Technology.

Dr. Atreja has received formal training in public health and is board certified in gastroenterology, clinical informatics and internal medicine. Over the last fifteen years, he has led many public health and informatics initiatives at Cleveland Clinic and Mount Sinai Medical Center, NY that includes developing online education modules, leading EHR implementation, performing analytics on healthcare data and developing enterprise-wide mobile apps. As Chief Technology Innovation and Engagement Officer, Medicine, he leads the Sinai AppLab (www.sinaiapplab.org) that is one of the first collaborative hub within academic medical center to build and test disruptive mhealth technologies.

Dr. Atreja leads scientific registries for American Gastroenterology Association and serves in Innovation Advisory Board for American College of Cardiology. As an intrapreneur, Dr. Atreja has won innovation awards at Cleveland Clinic and Mount Sinai, successfully licensed technologies from academic centers and advises startups, accelerators and Fortune 500 companies in digital medicine. Recently, Dr. Atreja established Network of Digital Medicine (www.nodehealth.org) to connect innovation centers worldwide and share best practices for digital medicine innovation and implementation between industry, payers and health systems. Dr. Atreja serves as Scientific Co-founder for Mount Sinai Spinoff, Responsive Health (http://responsivehealth.org) that aims to bring first enterprise-wide app curation, prescription and engagement platform to risk sharing hospitals and payers. Dr. Atreja has published more than 60 papers and has been a keynote speaker globally on topics related to digital medicine and health system transformation.

Jennifer McGuigan Babcock is ACAP’s Vice President for Medicaid Policy and Director of Strategic Operations. She was appointed to direct ACAP’s Medicaid policy work in 2015 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.

In his four years as the President and CEO of MetroHealth, the public health system in Cleveland, Akram Boutros, MD, FACHE, has galvanized political leaders, entrepreneurs and the public around supporting community-wide health care many had taken for granted.

With his unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality health care to everyone in Cuyahoga County, Akram Boutros has achieved what many thought was impossible. Under his leadership, The MetroHealth System went to market on its own credit in 2017 and sold $946 million in bonds to rebuild its hospital, revitalize its main campus and resurrect its West Side neighborhood.

That is just one piece of the unprecedented transformation of Cuyahoga County’s public health care system Dr. Boutros has piloted since he arrived at MetroHealth in 2013.

In the four years since, he has created an Integrated Delivery System that provides care at more than 20 community health centers, four emergency departments, four clinics in Discount Drug Mart stores, five MetroExpressCare locations and nine pharmacies. Those are in addition to MetroHealth’s main-campus hospital, which is home to the area’s most experienced Level I Adult Trauma Center, a Level II Pediatric Trauma Center, one of two adult and pediatric burn centers in the state and Ohio’s only Ebola Treatment Center.

Now a more than $1 billion operation, MetroHealth and its caregivers treat patients at more than 1.3 million visits a year. In the past four years, The MetroHealth System has also created more than 1,200 additional jobs, sent doctors into a dozen Cleveland schools and constructed an $82 million addition to its Critical Care Pavilion. Annual operating revenues have grown from $783 million in 2012 to $1 billion in 2016. And last year, MetroHealth returned $226 million – 22 percent of its operating expenses – to Cuyahoga County in free care and community benefit programs. That is 2.5 times the national average. An internist with a 25-year record of successful hospital leadership at academic medical centers, community hospitals and specialty hospitals, Dr. Boutros cultivates personal relationships throughout the hospital system and the community along with an atmosphere of personal excellence for everyone he works with.

A graduate of St. John’s University, SUNY Downstate Medical Center and Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program, he has led organizations through strategic repositioning, operational redesign, clinical and physician integration and population-health and risk-contracting programs. He sees collaboration with other health systems, organizations and local residents as a key driver in fulfilling MetroHealth’s mission of leading the way to a healthier community.

Laura Finkelstein Chaise is Staff Vice President for Long Term Services and Supports at Centene Corporation in St. Louis. She leads Centene’s national team that drives product strategy for LTSS, sharing best practices and promoting operational improvements and innovation across Centene’s affiliate health plans. Prior to joining Centene in 2015, she was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company in Washington, D.C., where she worked with healthcare and public sector clients. She began her career at the Claims Conference where she was a Program Officer responsible for overseeing grants to home and community based service providers that support aging Holocaust survivors in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Israel. She also received a Fulbright Scholarship to work with Holocaust survivors in Israel. Ms. Chaise received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Yale University, and a Master of Business Administration degree and Certificate in Health Sector Management from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Gary Cohen has held a variety of senior positions in the public and private sectors. Before joining Blue Shield, Gary was Vice President, Enterprise Regulatory Strategy & Policy at Kaiser Permanente. Prior to that he had his own consulting practice and served on the Blue Shield Board of Directors.

Gary served in the Obama Administration from 2010-2014, most recently as Director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCII0), where he worked with senior Obama Administration officials, state insurance regulators, health plans and other stakeholder groups to put into place the market-wide reforms required by the ACA and to stand up the federal and state Marketplaces. Before joining the Administration he was Chief of Staff to Congressman John Garamendi (D-03).

Gary previously served as General Counsel to CoveredCA and to the California Department of Insurance, where he was responsible for a broad range of legal and policy matters. Among the issues he dealt with were two major health plan mergers, reform of the standard disability policy language permitted in the state, and settlement of bid-rigging allegations against major insurance brokers.

Gary began his state service as General Counsel of the California Public Utilities Commission, where he led the legal strategy in response to the state's energy crisis. Gary has also worked as an attorney in the private sector, as a partner at Keker & Van Nest and Sonnenschein Nath Rosenthal (now Dentons LLP), and at Fireman's Fund Insurance Company.

Michael Costa has served legislative and government leaders in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, California, and Vermont. Michael’s expertise is at the intersection of health care, public finance, and taxation with an eye toward reform. Currently, Michael serves as Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access, which administers Vermont’s public health insurance system. He is responsible for financial operations, managed care operations, health information exchange, and health care reform. Specifically, Michael is helping the State of Vermont move away from fee for service billing and towards value based payment reforms, including the use of accountable care organizations. Previously, Michael served as Deputy Director of Health Care Reform for the State of Vermont, contributing to Vermont's All-Payer Accountable Care Organization Model Agreement with CMS and Vermont's efforts to establish a universal health care program. Michael holds a bachelor's degree from Bates College and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin. Currently, he is pursuing a Master’s degree in Health Care Delivery Science from Dartmouth College.

Alison Croke is the Vice President of Medicare-Medicaid Integration at Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island. She has responsibility for Neighborhood’s managed Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) product, and the future Medicare-Medicaid Plan (MMP) duals demonstration product. Prior to her current role she was with Xerox State Healthcare, working with the Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS/Medicaid) for approximately 10 years. In this capacity she worked with senior Medicaid agency staff to create new managed care programs for Medicaid clients, including RIte Smiles, Rhody HealthPartners, and Rhody Health Options. Prior to joining EOHHS, Alison worked as a Senior Project Manager at Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, from 2002-2005 and at the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) in Princeton, New Jersey (1998-2002) on several Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded national programs focused on developing health care delivery systems for vulnerable populations. Alison has a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from the University of Vermont, and a Master of Health Administration from the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Ms. Doran directs the company’s financial operations and is responsible for leading the Controller, Corporate Analytics, Clinical Informatics, Network Management, Value Based Purchasing, Contracting and Provider Engagement, Credentialing and Provider Enrollment and Provider Relations departments.

Ms. Doran holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of New Hampshire and a Master of Public Health from Yale University School of Public Health.

Dr. William Goodman is the Chief Medical Officer and V.P. of Medical Affairs at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, NH. He is a practicing physician who is board-certified in Internal, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Goodman is a graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine and the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed his internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a pulmonary/critical care medicine fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

After witnessing first-hand the havoc the opioid epidemic has inflicted on the patients, hospital, and community, he became actively engaged in addressing this public health crisis with other stakeholders. Dr. Goodman has helped CMC implement aggressive changes to improve the care of its many patients suffering from Substance Use Disorder (SUD), educated the medical community on the current state of the crisis and collaborated with partners in law enforcement, emergency response, and the SUD treatment & recovery communities.

In addition, Dr. Goodman has worked with elected officials and others to develop legislation to support safer controlled substance prescribing practices and strengthen NH’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. Dr. Goodman has recently been recognized by the New Hampshire Hospital Association and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation for his work addressing NH’s opioid tragedy.

Pamela Greenberg is the President and CEO of the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness (ABHW); she joined the organization in 1998 as the Executive Director for the American Managed Behavioral Healthcare Association (AMBHA). ABHW is the national voice for payers that manage behavioral health insurance benefits. ABHW member companies provide specialty services to treat mental health, substance use, and other behaviors that impact health to approximately 170 million people in both the public and private sectors. ABHW and its member companies use their behavioral health expertise to improve health care outcomes for individuals and families across the health care spectrum.

Pamela serves on the Editorial Board of the Bloomberg BNA Health Insurance Report. She is a liaison to the National Committee for Quality Assurance Standards Committee. In 2015 Ms. Greenberg joined the Advisory Board of Landmark Health a company that provides home-based medical care to individuals with multiple chronic conditions and in 2017 she joined InnovaTel Telepsychiatry’s Strategic Advisory Board.

She also was the Chair of the Coalition for Fairness in Mental Illness Coverage, one of the leading Coalitions that helped develop, advocate for, and get the Wellstone-Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 signed in to law. Additionally, Pamela served as President of ACMHA: The College for Behavioral Health Leadership.

Prior to joining ABHW Pamela was the Deputy Director of Federal Affairs for America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). Before joining AHIP Ms. Greenberg was a Legislative Assistant at Capitol Associates, a healthcare consulting firm in Washington, D.C.

Pamela has a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and a Masters in Public Policy from Georgetown University.

Chris Jennings is an over three decades-long health policy veteran of the White House, the Congress and the private sector. Mr. Jennings is currently President of Jennings Policy Strategies (JPS), a nationally respected health care consulting firm committed to assisting foundations, purchasers, health systems and other aligned stakeholders develop policies to ensure higher quality, more affordable and sustainable health care. He is also a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center where he works to develop bipartisan policies designed to lower cost growth, enhance coverage and improve quality.

In January 2014, Mr. Jennings departed from his second tour of duty in the White House where he served as Senior Advisor to the President for Health Policy and Coordinator of Health Reform. He served in a similar capacity in the Clinton White House for nearly eight years. From his positions in the executive branch, Mr. Jennings has helped implement access and delivery reform provisions of the Affordable Care Act as well as played leadership roles in the development, passage and implementation of bipartisan health reforms, such as the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) of 1997 and major Medicare reforms in the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997.

In his decade of service in the U.S. Senate, he served as the Deputy Director of the Special Committee on Aging for three Senators (including his home state Senator, John Glenn) and led major reform efforts in the areas of long-term care, prescription drug coverage/cost containment, and rural health care. In this capacity, he also served in a major role for the U.S. Bipartisan Commission on Health Care (also known as the “Pepper Commission�?).

Victoria (Vicki) Loner currently works for OneCare Vermont where she is the VP of Accountable Care Services and Chief Operating Officer. OneCare is Vermont’s largest multi-payer full-continuum of care ACO whose mission is to be a provider-driven integrated delivery network accountable for delivering high levels of access, quality, and satisfaction to Vermonters.

In her current position, Ms. Loner oversees a variety of health services functions, including care coordination, clinical operations, quality improvement, compliance, finance and analytics and network enrollment and development. She also is responsible for negotiating and implementing federal and state-funded contracts and grants.

Ms. Loner began her health care career as a registered nurse (RN) and completed her Bachelor of Science (BS) degree summa cum laude in Health Care Administration and Nursing. In 2014, she completed her Master of Health Care Delivery Science (MHCDS) degree from Dartmouth College.

Ms. Loner also holds many professional certifications in health care management, health systems administration, managed care and case management.

With over 24 years of experience in health care, she is recognized locally and nationally for her unique combination of clinical, quality, and health care management expertise, her strong leadership and team development abilities, her in-depth knowledge of state, federal and national health care standards, and her commitment to continuous quality improvement.

Karen Love joined Community Health Choice in 2012 as its Senior VP for Strategic Planning and Partnerships and led the organizations entry into the Health Insurance Marketplace in 2014. In her current role as the plan's COO, Karen directs Member and Provider Operations, including Medical Affairs and Quality Improvement, for all of the plan's lines of business (currently Medicaid, CHIP, Marketplace, Employer-Sponsored coverage, and TPA services).

Immediately prior to joining Community, Karen served as the founding Executive Director of the Harris County Healthcare Alliance, a 45-member collaborative focused on creating innovative healthcare solutions for Greater Houston's 1+ million uninsured residents. Under her leadership, the Alliance secured and managed a $10 million Community Clinics Funders' Collaborative designed to expand capacity within those organizations, launched one of Texas' first 3-share health benefit plans for low-income employees of small businesses, and secured initial funding for Greater Houston HealthConnect, the region's health information exchange.

Karen's career includes senior management and consulting positions with a number of large healthcare providers, including a 100-physician primary care group practice in Houston, the Houston Galveston Area Council, and New Orleans' premier integrated delivery system, Ochsner Medical Institutions. She holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin and a master's degree in Health Administration from Tulane University.

Robert E. Moffit is a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation. He is also Chairman of the Maryland Health Care Commission as an appointee of Governor Larry Hogan.

Moffit long has specialized in health care and entitlement programs, especially Medicare. He brings to the health reform effort his government experience as a Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and a senior official of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), where he served during the Reagan administration. In 2010, Modern Healthcare magazine named Moffit as one of the 100 most influential Americans in health care. He has testified frequently before congressional committees.

Moffit’s articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Hill, Fortune, The Irish Independent, The National Interest and National Review. He has also published in numerous professional and specialty journals, among them Health Affairs, Health Systems Review, Harvard Health Policy Review, Inquiry, Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, National Affairs, New England Journal of Medicine, Postgraduate Medicine, and Journal of Medicine and Philosophy.

Moffit holds both a master's degree and a doctorate in government from the University of Arizona. He received his bachelor's degree in political science from LaSalle University in Philadelphia. His essays on political science have appeared in The Catholic Historical Review, Law and Liberty Review, Modern Age and The Political Science Reviewer.

Moffit serves on the advisory board of the Buckley School of Public Speaking in Camden, South Carolina. Recognition for his work includes public service awards from diverse organizations such as the American College of Eye Surgery, the International Hyperbaric Medical Association, and the National Hispanic Family Against Drug Abuse.

Dr. Moffit is married and lives with his wife, Barbara, in Severna Park, Maryland.

Lida Momeni is a Departmental Analyst at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) in the Medical Services Administration. She oversees contracts with Integrated Care Organizations (ICOs) in MI Health Link, a demonstration program created by the State of Michigan and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to better serve individuals eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. Lida earned a Master of Public Health at Michigan State University and has a background in long term supports and services, managed care, and clinical informatics.

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.

As the Managing Director for Healthcare at Google, Ryan Olohan leads the teams responsible for developing and managing Google's relationships with pharmaceutical and consumer health companies. Ryan and his teams partner with the largest companies in the world to leverage Google's consumer platforms while connecting the vast health resources and innovation at Google in an effort to push the industry forward. His relentless push is why he was selected by MM&M; as a “Top 40 Healthcare Transformer of 2016�? and PRWeek’s 2017 Top 50 Healthcare Influencer.

Before Healthcare, Ryan spent the first half of his 11 years at Google overseeing the CPG industry as the Head of Consumer Packaged Goods. Prior to Google, Ryan was a consultant for Hewitt Associates and a Vice President at Bank of NY Mellon before getting the itch to lead Business Development at two prominent startups. Outside of his day job, he is a frequent speaker at industry events and is a Board member for the Chopra Foundation, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association Foundation, and the Digital Health Coalition. He is also the founder of the Google Healthcare Advisory Board and the co-author of the widely acclaimed "Pharma 3D" (www.Pharma3D.com) in partnership with Google, McKinsey, and Wharton. When not at Google, Ryan "relaxes" at home in New Jersey with his wife and seven children.

Dr. Parks currently serves as Medical Director for The National Council for Behavioral Health and is a Distinguished Research Professor of Science at Missouri Institute of Mental Health with the University of Missouri, St. Louis. He is the national behavioral health representative at large for The Joint Commission. He practices outpatient psychiatry at Family Health Center, a federally funded community health center established to expand services to uninsured and underinsured patients in Columbia Missouri.

He previously served as the Director of Missouri MO HealthNet Division (Missouri Medicaid) in the Missouri Department of Social Services. He was also Medical Director for the Missouri Department of Mental Health in Jefferson City and the Division Director for the Division of Comprehensive Psychiatric Services.

Dr. Parks has conducted research and published in the areas of implementation of evidence-based medicine, pharmacy utilization management, integration of behavioral healthcare with general healthcare, and health care policy. He has received numerous awards for improving the quality of care and leadership.

Dr. Thomas E. Price, an Orthopedic surgeon, most recently served as the 23rd Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). He brought to the Department a lifetime of service and a dedication to advancing the quality of health care in America – both as a physician and policymaker. Dr. Price is excited about opportunities to use his vast experience and unique expertise in healthcare and public policy to help actively shape improvements in technology and throughout the financing and delivery systems.

His first calling was to care for patients. Dr. Price received his Bachelor and Doctor of Medicine degrees from the University of Michigan and completed his General Surgery Internship and Orthopedic Surgery Residency at Emory University. After his training, Dr. Price – a third generation physician following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather – began a solo medical practice in Atlanta, Georgia, which would eventually grow to be one of the largest, non-academic orthopedic practices in the country, which he led as Chairman of the Board. During his 20+ years as a practicing physician, he also served as Medical Director of the Orthopedic Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital as well as an Assistant Professor at Emory University School of Medicine.

As with many physicians and health care providers, Dr. Price’s experience caring for patients gave him a unique perspective about the impact of public policy on the practice of medicine. Eager to broaden the impact he could have on improving access to quality health care, Dr. Price ran for public office and was elected to four terms in the Georgia State Senate – during which time he was chosen by his colleagues to serve as Senate Minority Whip and later as the first Republican Senate Majority Leader in the history of Georgia.

Dr. Price also served as the U.S. Representative for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District from northern suburban Atlanta. He held this office from 2005-2017 and earned a reputation amongst his colleagues for being a tireless problem solver and the go-to expert on health care matters. During his congressional career, Dr. Price served in various leadership roles including Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee and Chairman of the Republican Study Committee.

Committed to promoting positive solutions under principled leadership, Dr. Price remains a fierce advocate for a patient-centered health care system that adheres to six key principles: affordability, accessibility, quality, choices, innovation, and responsiveness.

Dr. Price and his wife, Betty, have lived in the Metro-Atlanta area for nearly 40 years. They have one adult son.

Dave Richard is the Deputy Secretary for the Division of Medical Assistance (DMA), 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.

Marisa Scala-Foley is the Director of the Office of Integrated Care Innovations in the Center for Integrated Programs at the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL), where she manages the agency’s efforts to build the capacity of state and community-based organizations for delivery system reform. She also identifies and analyzes emerging policy issues and trends related to health care, aging, and disability; advances innovative program strategies; and provides training and technical assistance related to the Affordable Care Act. Prior to joining ACL, she served as Director of the National Center for Benefits Outreach and Enrollment at the National Council on Aging, and has worked her entire career in the field of aging on issues related to health-care and long-term services and supports. Marisa holds a Masters in Gerontological Studies from Miami University (Ohio), and a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology/Gerontology from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. She lives in Alexandria, VA with her husband and two sons.

Dr. Steve Szebenyi received his medical doctorate from Johns Hopkins and completed an internal medicine residency at the M. I. Bassett Hospital in New York. He continued to practice at Bassett, leading the general internal medicine group and developing the AIDS program for the system in the 1980s. He subsequently served as director of the AIDS Treatment Center at Albany Medical Center and the chief of the division of HIV Medicine. He was professor of medicine at the Albany Medical College and clinical professor in the Department of Health Policy, Management and Behavior at the SUNY Albany School of Public Health. Dr. Szebenyi then joined HealthNow New York as medical director and during his tenure started the HealthNow Foundation, a health services research foundation, for the plan. Recently he has been chief medical officer at Security Health Plan of Wisconsin and at Health Partners Plans, primarily serving inner city Philadelphia with Medicaid, Medicare and CHIP. He is currently CMO with Gateway Health®, a government programs plan serving Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and North Carolina.

Hemi Tewarson serves as the director for the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices’ Health Division, where she oversees all the Health Division projects which include Medicaid transformation and coverage, Medicaid data systems, health care delivery and payment system reform, workforce, opioids, and behavioral health and social determinants.

Prior to joining NGA, Ms. Tewarson had decades of experience in health care policy in the private and public sectors. She served as senior attorney for the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Government Accountability Office and was in private practice as a health policy attorney where her practice included advising states on how to reform their Medicaid programs.

Ms. Tewarson holds a J.D. and a master’s degree in public health from the George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Melinda Thomason is employed by the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA,) the state Medicaid agency that annually serves around a million Oklahomans. As the director of health care systems innovation, she continues more than 25 years of dedication to public service. Melinda assists in researching and designing systems of care delivery against a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape. Her particular expertise lies in ensuring that program requirements are aligned with legal authorities to ensure ongoing compliance. She has an extensive background in communications, health care quality improvement, provider relations and member services. Melinda joined the Health Care Authority in September 1998. She holds an undergraduate degree in journalism from Oklahoma State University and a master’s degree in adult education from the University of Central Oklahoma.

Lisa Truitt is the Director of the Health Care Delivery Management Administration at the District of Columbia Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF). In this role, Lisa is responsible for oversight and monitoring of the Agency’s largest Administration; managing programs and contracts totaling over one billion dollars ($1B). She supervises staff and delivery of Medicaid services through four Divisions – Managed Care, Children’s Health Services, Clinicians, Pharmacy and Acute Provider Services and Quality and Health Outcomes.

Lisa is responsible for policy development, program administration, evaluation and performance of services rendered to eligible beneficiaries enrolled in the Fee-For-Service (excluding long-term care) and the Medicaid Managed Care programs. The District contracts with three (3) Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) and a single Care Management Organization that administers the Child and Adolescent Supplemental Security Income Program (CASSIP) to a smaller population of individuals with special health care needs. Over 70% of the District’s Medicaid beneficiaries are enrolled in Managed Care, which includes a locally funded program, DC Healthcare Alliance (Alliance) and Immigrant Children’s Program (ICP) that serves as a safety net for District residents that does not qualify for Medicaid.