Sponsored by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's State Coverage Initiatives Program
Conducted by AcademyHealth

Jeremy Alberga is a Senior Associate at AcademyHealth and primarily works on The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's State Coverage Initiatives (SCI) program. His responsibilities include providing technical assistance to state policymakers on health policy reform, specifically expanding and maintaining health insurance coverage through public programs and public/private partnerships; disseminating state models of expansion through the program's written products; convening workshops and small group consultations for policymakers; and assisting in the development of technical assistance documents. Mr. Alberga also is the lead content developer for SCI's website and has authored publications on a range of topics from Wisconsin's BadgerCare program to innovative state efforts to incentivize quality care.
Mr. Alberga came to AcademyHealth in April 1999. Before that he worked for a private firm providing research to hospital emergency departments and ambulatory care facilities. Mr. Alberga received his MA in international health policy from the George Washington University and his BA from McGill University, Montreal.

Michael is the president of Bailit Health Purchasing, LLC (BHP), a firm which assists public agencies and purchaser coalitions in the purchase of services from, and the management of performance by, managed care plans and providers. Since January 1997, Michael has worked with almost 50 state, federal, county, and purchaser coalitions clients to design new purchasing programs; structure and conduct procurements; design systems to measure, monitor, and manage contractor performance, and train client staff in the conduct of vendor management practices.

Prior to founding BHP, Michael served as the Assistant Commissioner for Benefit Plans in the Massachusetts Division of Medical Assistance (DMA), the state Medicaid agency. His responsibilities included the management of all of the Division's benefit plans, including the HMO, Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Primary Care Clinician, CommonHealth and Senior Care Plans. He was also responsible for new managed care program development for the Division, including the Division's HCFA 1115 health reform waiver and its 1115 Medicare-Medicaid dual eligibles waiver. While at DMA, he served as chair of the HCFA Medicaid Managed Care Technical Advisory Group.

Michael received his Bachelor's degree at Wesleyan University and his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

John Bertko is responsible for overall coordination of actuarial practice and projects for Humana Inc. As Vice President and Chief Actuary, he directly oversees the Corporate Actuarial group and coordinates work by actuaries in Humana's major business units, including Medicare+Choice, Large Group, Small Group and TriCare. With the introduction of new consumer-oriented products, he has helped lead the internal Humana team that developed the pricing, design and decision-making tools for these products.

Mr. Bertko has had extensive experience with risk adjustment over the last 10 years in all sectors of the health care market. As a consultant, he assisted the California HIPC small group purchasing coalition in developing its Marker Diagnosis methodology. He also assisted several state Medicaid agencies with adapting and implementing risk adjustment methods.

Mr. Bertko has extensive experience with innovative approaches to Medicaid and the design of prepaid managed health programs. He was the engagement partner on a project with the State of Oregon related to the calculation of capitation rates for prepaid plans, and its initiative to develop a prioritized payment system for Medicaid. He was also the engagement partner and senior actuary on the project for the State of Hawaii to develop and implement the State Health Insurance Program for the uninsured and was the engagement Partner for work with the State of California Major Risk Medical Insurance Board's three programs for the uninsured, low income mothers and children and the HIPC purchasing alliance. He also served as a consultant to the Montana Health Care Authority and to the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Finance, which has oversight for newly developing purchasing alliances.

Rod has been Executive Director of the Utah Department of Health since July 1992. The Utah Department of Health is an agency of over 1300 employees with an annual budget in excess of $1.2 Billion. The Agency's responsibilities include all the usual core public health responsibilities, the State's Medicaid and CHIP programs, and responsibility for development of new health access initiatives under Governor Michael Leavitt.

Prior to his appointment as Executive Director, Mr. Betit was the Director of the Utah Division of Health Care Financing (the State Medicaid agency) from 1987 to 1992, and prior to that directed the medical assistance and public assistance programs in Alaska for 12 years. Rod has designed and launched a number of innovative Medicaid programs under Governor Leavitt's comprehensive health care agenda called "HealthPrint". The latest initiative that Rod and Governor Leavitt have teamed up on is an 1115 Waiver under Medicaid called the Primary Care Network which will bring basic health coverage to 25,000 working Utahns whose employers do not offer health care coverage. This new initiative was opened for enrollment by Governor Leavitt on July 1, 2002.

Deborah is a senior fellow at Mathematica Policy Research in Washington, DC. Dr. Chollet conducts and manages research on private health insurance coverage, markets and regulation, including employer-sponsored health plans for workers and retirees, individual health insurance, and Medicare supplement plans. As a senior consultant to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's State Coverage Initiatives program, she frequently provides technical assistance to the States on matters related to private health insurance coverage and markets. She currently serves on the Medicare study panel of the National Academy of Social Insurance and on the editorial boards of Benefits Quarterly, the Journal of Insurance Issues, and the Health Administration Press. Her previous positions include vice president of Alpha Center; director of the Center for Risk Management and Insurance Research and associate professor at Georgia State University; and senior research associate at the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Dr. Chollet holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

Kevin W. Concannon has served as Maine's Department of Human Services Commissioner since February 1995. Previously, he was Director of the Oregon Department of Human Resources from 1987 - 95. From 1982 - 87, he was Commissioner of the Maine Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. From 1980 - 82, he was Maine's Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Corrections.

Mr. Concannon has overseen major programs and innovations during his leadership in Maine, Oregon, and as national president of two organizations. He has led nationally recognized initiatives in expanding community systems of care for people with mental illness, long-term care systems expansion for elders and disabled people, expanded rehabilitation for people with mental retardation and other disabilities. In public health he has promoted better integration in policy and programs between medical care and public health. He has helped transform state welfare systems, strengthened child support, expanded Medicaid and child health insurance, led major Maine initiatives in prescription drug access and has overseen efforts to improve child welfare systems in Maine and Oregon.

William Daley is the Deputy Insurance Commissioner for Policy in Washington State's Office of the Insurance Commissioner.

Daley was brought into this position by Commissioner Mike Kreidler to help develop and implement reforms for Washington's health insurance market. Daley's policy development experience includes significant reforms of education programs for disadvantaged children in the 1970's; major revisions of personnel and civil service systems in the 1980's; and administrative reorganization of the state's Liquor Control Board in the 1990's. With over thirty years of experience in state government, Daley has worked for the State Legislature, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Office of the Governor.

As a local elected official, Daley helped lead efforts to revitalize the City of Olympia's downtown and served a term as Olympia's Mayor.

Pamela S. Dickson is a Senior Program Officer at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Her program activities at the Foundation focus on increasing access to care for all Americans with a particular emphasis on reducing racial and ethnic disparities in access to care. Before joining the Foundation, Ms. Dickson held several senior positions at the New Jersey Department of Health. As Assistant Commissioner from 1988 through 1994, she supervised the all-payer hospital rate-setting system and the health planning program. As Director of Health Care Reform Initiatives, she coordinated efforts among the Governor's Office, The Department of Health, The Department of Human Services and The Department of Insurance to implement New Jersey's 1993 Health Care and Insurance Reform Legislation.

Ms. Dickson has held positions as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Health Data Organizations and of the Access for the Uninsured Steering Committee of The National Academy for State Health Policy. She holds an M.B.A. in Health Care Administration from the Wharton School of Business.

Allen D. Feezor became Health Benefits Administrator for the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) in January 2000. The CalPERS health benefits program purchases health coverage for nearly 1.2 million public employees, retirees, and their families for more than 1,350 state and local public agencies throughout California.

Prior to joining CalPERS, Feezor served as Vice President for Planning, Marketing, and Managed Care for University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina (UHS). Based in Greenville, North Carolina, UHS is affiliated with the East Carolina University School of Medicine. He served as Chief Deputy Commissioner for the North Carolina Department of Insurance from 1985 to 1995. From 1985 to 1988 he also served as chief executive of the 430,000-member North Carolina Teachers', State Employees' and Retirees' Health Plan. Feezor has also served as the Senior Washington (D.C.) Representative for the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association from 1978 to 1985, developing legislative, regulatory and public policy positions for that organization.

Mr. Feezor currently serves on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, Pacific Business Group on Health Board of Directors, and The Integrated Health Association. He was also a founding faculty member of the National Academy for State Health Policy.

Mr. Feezor is a graduate of Duke University, where he earned a B.A. degree in political science and an M.A. degree in political science and intergovernmental relations. He has also done post graduate work in Public Administration at the George Washington University. His wife, Lorelle, is a health care attorney and risk manager.

Vickie Gates is a Vice President of AcademyHealth and serves as Director of the State Coverage Initiatives Program. She also serves as the Project Manager for AcademyHealth's HRSA State Planning Grant (SPG) contract to provide technical assistance to grantee states and prepare the national report drawn from the grantee's experience. Previously, Ms. Gates was the Director of the Department of Support Services of Multnomah County, Oregon. She was responsible for central services including finance, human resources including employee benefits and collective bargaining, information technology, organizational development, central research and evaluation, and support of the county's quality initiative. Ms. Gates also served on the Board of Directors of the Northwest Health Foundation, Oregon Health Decisions, and the Oregon Coalition of Health Care Purchasers. She currently serves on the Oregon Health Forum Board of Directors.

Ms. Gates has a wide variety of experience in health care and human services. She served as the first Oregon Health Plan Administrator, responsible to the Governor and the Legislature for oversight and coordination of Oregon's health care reform and health policy development. Prior to this, Ms. Gates served for a number of years in the Oregon Department of Health and Human Services, including positions as the Deputy Director, and the Director of Program and Finance. Other governmental experience includes the Oregon Legislative Fiscal Office and the Children's Services Division of the Department of Health and Human Services. Ms. Gates received her B.A. from the University of North Carolina and has pursued graduate studies in history and public administration.

Anne K. Gauthier is Vice President at AcademyHealth. Ms. Gauthier comes to AcademyHealth from one of its predecessor organizations, the Alpha Center, where since January 1989, she has directed a wide range of health policy and demonstration projects concerned with health care financing and delivery issues of national significance. She serves as Program Director for The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization (HCFO) Initiative and as Senior Advisor for the Foundation's State Coverage Initiatives (SCI) program. She oversees the development and operation of Academy programs for research/policy syntheses and for information services. She also serves as Secretary to the Board of Directors and staffs several Board standing and advisory committees. Prior to joining the Alpha Center, Ms. Gauthier was Senior Researcher for the National Leadership Commission on Health Care and, for over six years, served the Congress of the United States in its Office of Technology Assessment. A graduate of Princeton University, Ms. Gauthier earned her M.S. in Health Administration at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) School of Public Health.

Dr. Helms is President and CEO of AcademyHealthHealth. The Academy was formed on June 19, 2000 from the merger of the Alpha Center and the Association for Health Services Research (AHSR). The Academy serves as the professional society for the fields of health services research and health policy. Its programs are dedicated to stimulating the development, understanding, and use of the best available health services research and health policy information by public and private decision makers. Currently, there are 3,000 individual members and 100 organizational affiliates. In addition to leading AcademyHealth, Dr. Helms serves as a senior advisor to for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's (RWJF) State Coverage Initiatives program. He also serves as the as project director for AcademyHealth's contract with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to conduct workshops and prepare research reviews for state and local government officials.

Prior to his current position, Dr. Helms founded and directed the Alpha Center where he was president from 1976-2000. The Alpha Center was known as a non-partisan, non-profit health policy center that provided expert technical assistance, objective analysis and research, and comprehensive education and facilitation services. Dr. Helms received his doctorate in public administration and economics in 1979 from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University.

Mrs. Isaacs is the Deputy Director for the Policy and Legal Affairs Administration for Michigan's Department of Community Health. The Department of Community Health is Michigan's largest state department and encompasses Public Health, Mental Health, Medicaid, the Office of Services to Aging, the Office of Drug Control Policy and numerous other health services. Ms Isaacs is responsible for development of policy and legal affairs in all of these areas.

She has been a key figure at the state level in development and coordination of state health initiatives. Many major pieces of legislation and policy initiatives have been developed by, or significantly contributed to, by Mrs. Isaacs over the past years, including Michigan's Patient Bill of Rights legislation for health care, the recent Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) called MIChild, EPIC, the new pharmaceutical insurance program for seniors and most recently the development of the state's HIFA waiver (MIFamily). She has helped coordinate several significant commissions over the past few years on genetics, End of Life policy and Long Term Care.

Ms. Ladenheim is a program manager for NCSL's Forum for State Health Policy Leadership, specializing in state-level access and financing issues such as health care for the uninsured, insurance market reform, HIPAA, ERISA, risk pools, and comprehensive access reforms. Other recent projects deal with quality and cost -- the rest of health policy's three-legged stool--and disparities. She serves as an expert for state legislatures in these areas, conducting policy research on state legislative activities and identifying, summarizing and disseminating policy-relevant information for a state legislative audience. She also staffs the Health Chairs Project and takes the lead on Forum projects that use electronic media to disseminate policy information.

Before joining the Forum's predecessor at the George Washington University, Ms. Ladenheim was executive director of the Maine Health Policy Advisory Council. She also worked as a policy analyst at the Project HOPE Center for Health Affairs, where she conducted research on health care financing and the uninsured. In the course of three decades she has accumulated experience in health planning, quality assurance coordination, family and community health and health policy, and has taught at the professional and graduate levels. A graduate of Harvard (BA) and UNC-Chapel Hill (MSPH) she is currently completing doctoral work on federalism and health policy at the George Washington University.

"Bill" graduated from Gettysburg College in 1969 with a Bachelors' degree in Political Science. He obtained the designation of Chartered Life Underwriter ("CLU") in 1976 from the American College of Life Underwriters in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He is currently enrolled in the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist courses ("CEBS") offered by the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. Bill is a Registered Representative with the National Association of Securities Dealers and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bill has published and co-authored a series of articles and white papers on insurance, employee benefits, health care, and health care reform. He has also testified before Congress several times on topics including small business health care issues and health insurance reform. He has met occasionally with members of the Clinton Administration's Health Care Task Force.

Bill is currently the President of Benefit Management and Design, Inc.

Ms. Probst is the Executive Director of the Gateway Purchasers for Health, an employer sponsored health care purchasing initiative serving the Greater St. Louis Area. Gateway Purchasers for Health, incorporated in 1994, represents 34 St. Louis Employers and approximately 300,000 covered lives in their commitment toward value-based health care purchasing.

Ms. Probst began her career in health care as a critical care nurse and has vast experience within the industry as a clinician, educator, hospital administrator, and a purchaser advocate. Prior to joining the Gateway Purchasers for Health, Ms. Probst served as the President of the Colorado Health Care Purchasing Alliance, an employer sponsored health care purchasing cooperative formed by Colorado businesses in 1988. Ms. Probst has a BS degree in Nursing and a Master's Degree in Business Administration from the University of Denver.

Currently Ms. Probst serves on the National Committee of Quality Assurance's (NCQA) Standards Committee, the National Quality Forum's (NQF) Hospital Performance Measurement Committee, the St. Louis Regional Leapfrog Rollout, and the National Business Coalition on Health's (NBCH) V8 group. She is a past Chairperson of the NBCH (9/94 - 9/96) and an active participant in several other purchaser driven initiatives aimed toward the enhancement of health care value and accountability.

John Santa is a general internist with experience in a diverse array of clinical, administrative, community, and research activities. Dr. Santa attended Stanford University, Tufts Medical School and is now pursuing a Masters in Public Health at Oregon Health Sciences University. He practiced medicine for thirteen years in solo, group, and employed settings. He has worked in administrative positions for hospitals, insurers, medical groups, and now the State of Oregon. His activities have often involved implementation of health policy initiatives.

Dr. Santa is currently the Administrator of the Office for Oregon Health Policy and Research.

Dr. Smith is a Principal with Health Management Associates. He conducts research on economic, health care and public policy trends and their impacts on Medicaid, managed care, long-term care and other state health care programs. He has authored reports on the effects of the economic downturn on Medicaid, Medicaid and SCHIP enrollment trends, the impact of welfare reform on Medicaid, the use of Medicaid as a source of financing in state health programs, and exemplary practices in Medicaid primary care case management programs. He has spoken on these issues before many national and state audiences; including testimony before committees of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.
Prior to joining HMA, Dr. Smith was Michigan Medicaid Director. He also served as budget director for the human services agency, and handled the welfare and Medicaid budgets for the Governor's budget office in Michigan.
Dr. Smith holds a Ph.D. degree in economics from Michigan State University. In recent years, he has held academic appointments in health care and public administration, including Adjunct Professor in Health Services Administration for Michigan State University and Adjunct Associate Professor in Public Administration for Western Michigan University.

Ana Smith-Daley joined the Texas Department of Insurance in her role as Deputy Commissioner of the Life/Health division in August of 1998. In this capacity, she is responsible for planning, directing and coordinating the division's activities. Prior to her current role, Ms. Smith-Daley held various positions of increasing responsibility Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, in the administration of Fortune 500 clients' group benefits.

Ms. Smith-Daley received a BS in Business Administration from Montclair College, in Montclair, New Jersey.

Bradley Strunk is a health research analyst at the Center for Studying Health System Change. Mr. Strunk's current research is focused on trends in private health care costs and insurance premiums, the managed care industry and the specific role of Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in the industry, and access to health care among the U.S. population. He has also worked extensively on the site visit research component of HSC's Community Tracking Study. Prior to joining HSC, Mr. Strunk was at the Department of Public Health Sciences at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, where he studied the implications of tobacco reform efforts on rural tobacco farmers across the nation. Mr. Strunk received a degree in economics from Wake Forest University.

Alan Weil directs the Assessing the New Federalism project at the Urban Institute. This project, the largest in the Institute's 34-year history, monitors, describes and assesses the effects of changes in federal and state health, welfare, and social services programs. Mr. Weil was formerly executive director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing - the cabinet position responsible for Colorado's Medicaid and Medically Indigent programs, health data collection and analysis functions, health policy development, and health care reform. He was also health policy adviser to Colorado Governor Roy Romer, program director of the Colorado Children's Campaign, and legal counsel to the Massachusetts Department of Medical Security. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from the University of California at Berkeley, a master of public policy degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Mr. Wheatley serves as a Senior Associate at AcademyHealth, having joined the organization in May 1997. He works primarily on The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's State Coverage Initiatives program, assisting state officials in developing and implementing strategies to expand health insurance coverage through public programs. He has authored technical assistance products focusing on state children's health coverage programs and efforts to promote more seamless insurance coverage for low-income families. He has also worked with states in developing premium assistance programs to support employer-based health care coverage for low-income workers. Prior to joining AcademyHealth, Mr. Wheatley worked as a researcher at the National Rehabilitation Hospital Research Center where he analyzed the impact of managed care on post-acute providers and the consolidation of the rehabilitation hospital industry through mergers and acquisitions. Prior to that, he worked as an analyst in the Business Development office of the University of California at San Diego Medical Center. Mr. Wheatley is a graduate of Georgetown University, where he received a Master's Degree in Public Policy with an emphasis in health care policy.