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Alice Burton Alice Burton is director of the State Health Policy Group at AcademyHealth, where she leads The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s State Coverage Initiatives (SCI) program, and advises on other special projects. Previously, Ms. Burton was the director of the planning administration at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In that role, she was responsible for policy analyses and advising the Department on health care financing legislative issues, including Medicaid, the Maryland State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the uninsured. She also served as the project director for Maryland’s Health Resources and Services Administration Planning Grant on the uninsured. Ms. Burton is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, and holds a master’s degree in health policy from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Donald Cohn
Donald Cohn is an Associate at AcademyHealth and will be working primarily on The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s State Coverage Initiatives (SCI) program. His duties include providing direct technical assistance to state policymakers in order to help expand and maintain health insurance coverage strategies; 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.
Donald is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis where he earned a B.A. Magna Cum Laude in Political Science and a M.A. in Political Economy and Public Policy. He also holds a Master’s degree in Politics from New York University. Merry Davis
Merry Davis is a program officer with the Health Insurance Program at the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) in Oakland, Calif., where she leads the Foundation’s work to support the information needs of consumers related to choosing and using health insurance. Ms. Davis is responsible for marketing and outreach efforts for www.HealthCoverageGuide.org and www.GuiadeCoberturadeSalud.org—Web sites developed by CHCF to provide information about health insurance to California’s small business owners. Prior to joining CHCF, she was the program associate for the End of Life Care Program Management Team at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. From 1995 to 1998, she was a policy analyst with the Health and Social Policy Division at Research Triangle Institute. She has served on the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s (NCQA) Consumer Advisory Committee since 2002. Ms. Davis holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Pamela S. Dickson
Pamela Dickson is a senior program officer at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Her program activities focus on increasing access and quality of care for all Americans, with a particular emphasis on reducing racial and ethnic disparities. 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.
Isabel Friedenzohn
Isabel Friedenzohn is a senior associate at AcademyHealth and works primarily on The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's State Coverage Initiatives (SCI) program. Her responsibilities include providing technical assistance to state policymakers on health policy reform, specifically expanding and maintaining health insurance coverage; 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. Ms. Friedenzohn joined AcademyHealth in October 2001 after receiving her master's of public health degree from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Prior to graduate school, she worked for the Veterans Administration Center for Practice Management and Outcomes Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as a Research Health Science Specialist. Most recently she was a consultant at Mercy International Health Services, where she collaborated on two projects assessing Human Resources and Health Services Management issues. During her graduate studies, Isabel also worked as an international health intern in the Office of International and Refugee Health at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Paul Fronstin, Ph.D.
Paul Fronstin, Ph.D., is a senior research associate with the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to original public policy research and education on economic security and employee benefits. He is also director of the Institute's Health Research and Education Program. His research interests include trends in employment-based health benefits, consumer-driven health benefits, the uninsured, retiree health benefits, employee benefits and taxation, and public opinion about health care.
Dr. Fronstin serves on the steering committee for the Emeriti Retirement Health Program, the board of advisors for CareGain, and on the Maryland State Planning Grant Health Care Coverage Workgroup. In 2001, he served on the Institute of Medicine Subcommittee on the Status of the Uninsured. He has testified before various committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. He has appeared before more than 100 groups to share his expertise on employee benefits. He has also made numerous presentations for congressional staff and the media.
Dr. Fronstin holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Miami. Eugene Gessow
Eugene Gessow is Medicaid director for the state of Iowa. He was previously director for the Bureau of Medical Services for the Maine Department of Human Services, and served as deputy secretary for finance in the New Mexico Human Services Department.
Mr. Gessow was previously a budget director and a senior budget analyst for the Massachusetts Division of Medical Assistance. He has also worked in the areas of budget analysis, Family Independence Act (welfare reform), compensation reform, and legislative commissions. Mr. Gessow holds an M.P.A. from Harvard University, a J.D. from the University of Denver, and an LL.M. from New York University. Beth Grice
Beth Grice, F.S.A., M.A.A.A. directs the actuarial work for Humana Inc.’s large group commercial business segment. Humana Inc. is one of the largest for-profit health insurance companies, with regional operations in more than 15 markets. This work includes assisting large group underwriting and senior management in developing pricing strategies and in product development.
Ms. Grice is involved in the development of new products for Humana for large groups including the development of the consumer-centric pilot SmartSuiteSM. She has presented the results of Humana Inc.’s own employee group results on consumer-centric plans and commercial SmartSuiteSM results to the Society of Actuaries and the SouthEastern Actuaries Club.
Ms. Grice is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Louisville.
W. David Helms, Ph.D.
W. David Helms, Ph.D., is president and CEO of AcademyHealth. He is also president and CEO of the Coalition for Health Services Research, AcademyHealth's advocacy arm. Dr. Helms serves as senior advisor on AcademyHealth’s contract to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for its knowledge transfer and application initiatives. He is frequently invited to facilitate consensus processes on health policy issues and on the development of research agendas. He also serves on a number of health-related boards and advisory committees. Prior to his current position, Dr. Helms founded and directed the Alpha Center where he was president from 1976 – 2000. He received his doctorate in public administration and economics from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University.
Patricia Ketsche, Ph.D.
Patricia Ketsche, Ph.D., M.B.A., M.H.A., holds a doctorate in risk management and insurance from Georgia State University and is on the faculty in the Institute of Health Administration at Georgia State. Her primary research interests focus on insurance coverage and the effect of coverage on access to care. Dr. Ketsche has done extensive research for various public and private organizations to evaluate the existing distribution of health insurance in the population and the effect of policy proposals on that coverage. Dr. Ketsche worked for several years in the employee benefits field, assisting firms in evaluating and implementing managed care plans and communicating those changes to their employees. In addition, she worked as a physical therapist in a variety of health care settings for more than 10 years.
Barbara Ladon
Barbara Ladon is director of the Colorado Child Health Plan Plus. She has extensive experience nationally in health services development with primary accomplishments in business development, program innovation and evaluation, management, and marketing.
Ms. Ladon was vice president of public sector program development for United HealthCare, representing them nationally on expanding access to health services for public sector programs. Previously, she was principal owner of HealthPro Inc., in Worcester, Mass, a company specializing in public sector utilization and data management. Ms. Ladon had an extensive consulting practice, working with non-profit health service providers and community organizations on business development, providers entering the managed care arena, managed care companies, and states developing programs to improve access to health services.
Scott Leitz
Scott Leitz is the director of the Health Economics Program at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), where he also serves as the state health economist. As the primary health policy development and analysis unit in Minnesota’s executive branch, the Health Economics Program serves the Legislature, stakeholders, consumers, and other interested groups. Before joining MDH in his current position, Mr. Leitz was the Director of Budget and Legislation for Health Care Programs at the Minnesota Department of Human Services where he was responsible for overseeing and coordinating budgetary and legislative initiatives related to the Medicaid, MinnesotaCare, and General Assistance Medical Care. He also served as a research economist and coordinator of federal relations for MDH and has served as a senior program evaluator for the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor. Mr. Leitz has a master’s degree in public affairs from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and a B.S. in economics and mathematics from the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire.
Enrique Martinez-Vidal
Enrique Martinez-Vidal joined AcademyHealth in February 2005 as the deputy director of the State Health Policy Group and the deputy director of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s State Coverage Initiatives (SCI) program. Previously Mr. Martinez-Vidal was the deputy director for performance and benefits at the Maryland Health Care Commission, an independent state agency. There he was responsible for the oversight of Maryland’s small group insurance market reforms; the annual evaluation of Maryland’s mandated health insurance benefits; the collection and public dissemination of quality and performance information for hospitals, nursing homes and health plans; providing primary assistance on all legislative issues; and working on numerous other projects related to the affordability of health care, quality improvement, and patient safety.
Mr. Martinez-Vidal was formerly a policy analyst with the Maryland Department of Legislative Services for five years. During that time he staffed the House Economic Matters Committee and was involved with a number of health-care related issues. He has a B.A. in political science and international studies from Dickinson College and a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University.
Steve Norton
Steve Norton is Medicaid director in the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services where he is responsible for the state’s Medicaid program and directs the Department’s program evaluation, monitoring, and financial reporting efforts. Previously he was acting senior health policy analyst with DHHS, where he was responsible for the implementation of the New Hampshire Health Insurance Coverage and Access Survey.
Mr. Norton previously worked at The Urban Institute where he was a research associate in the Health Policy Center specializing in the area of health care needs of vulnerable populations. He has published a variety of papers on the Medicaid expansions to pregnant women and their impact on access to care and provider uncompensated care burdens, Medicaid crowd-out, Medicaid payment levels, and safety net providers.
Gary Packingham
Gary Packingham is vice president for marketing and product development for Community Health Ventures (CHV), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Muskegon Community Health Project. He has worked with three-share health coverage initiatives around the country in the development of business plans and implementation of marketing and sales strategies. He has also assisted the nationally recognized Employer Benefit Research Institute in their studies of the development and economic impact of the Muskegon three-share plan.
Mr. Packingham also serves as a communications consultant to the Muskegon Community Health Project and Access Health, Inc., where he developed the strategic marketing campaign as a business model designed to assist small business in the competition for skilled labor. He has assisted public policymakers in Michigan and around the country in understanding the benefits of subsidizing health coverage to small businesses in terms of economic development for a community.
Previously, Mr. Packingham was public relations director for Mercy General Health Partners of Muskegon. During the Carter Administration, he served as a presidential appointee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and as part of the White House staff for various projects. Mr. Packingham also served in both presidential campaigns for Carter as the National Director for Administration. He enjoys a reputation for his past work as a political cartoonist, including work for The Washington Post and several Michigan papers, including the Detroit Free Press.
Cindy Roberts
Cindy Roberts, C.P.A., CGFM, is director of the Management and Audit Services Division with the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, where she oversees the development of the Governor’s plan to provide assistance to small businesses and working families so they can afford health care coverage and therefore reduce the number of Oklahoma’s uninsured. Other responsibilities include the planning and coordinating of both strategic and audit projects of organizational, functional, and program activities of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority. Her 21-year career with the state of Oklahoma has included work with the State Auditor and Inspector’s Office and the Department of Human Services’ Office of Inspector General.
Ms. Roberts is a certified public accountant and a certified government financial manager.
Matt Salo
Matt Salo is director of the Health and Human Services Committee at the National Governors Association (NGA). Prior to joining NGA as their chief health lobbyist in January 1999, Mr. Salo spent five years working for the National Association of State Medicaid Directors. He earned his first health policy Purple Heart analyzing the Clinton Health Security Act, his second with the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, and a third on the NGA Medicaid Reform Task Force.
Mr. Salo has dabbled in issues like tobacco, Medicaid, Medicare, public health, long-term care, prescription drugs, and managed care, and firmly believes he was personally responsible for the repeal of the Boren Amendment; securing the entire tobacco settlement for the states, and getting $20 billion in fiscal relief.
Mr. Salo taught high school for two years at T.C. Williams High in Alexandria, Va. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Eastern Religious Studies from the University of Virginia.
Kerry Schaefer
Kerry Schaefer is manager of compensation, benefits, and workforce management for King County, Wash., where is responsible for researching and proposing strategic and policy directions related to the county’s employee benefits and worksite health promotion programs. She also manages an array of programs including both insured and self-insured health benefits for more than 13,000 employees and their families.
Ms. Schaefer has more than 25 years of corporate-level managerial experience in the full range of human resources services. She has been appointed to the Governor’s Health and Welfare Advisory Board, the Employer’s Advisory Committee of the Washington State Department of Retirement Systems, and was the King County representative to the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Pension Policy. She holds a master’s degree in psychology from Chapman College.
Steve Scheer
Steve Scheer is a principal with Health Management Associates where he assists clients with association strategic planning and member satisfaction improvement, Medicaid special financing, financial policy options, alternative coverage mechanisms, and the development and implementation of programs to cover the uninsured. He has more than 25 years of experience in health finance, policy development and legislative and executive branch advocacy.
Mr. Scheer has worked in 24 states on hospital and hospital association projects, including numerous special financing efforts involving hospital assessments, intergovernmental transfer plans, and hospital upper payment limit determinations. He also works with hospitals and health systems around the country on strategic planning and improving payment levels from governmental payers.
Mr. Scheer previously served as executive vice president of the Illinois Hospital Association (IHA) where he was responsible for strategies that boosted Illinois to the “top ten” among states in Medicaid cost recovery and doubled Medicaid hospital outpatient rates. He also organized and led the Critical Care Coalition to improve Medicaid payments by $70 million per year; created the Cost of Doing Business adjustment for Medicare reimbursement, which increased total payments to Illinois hospitals by over $200 million, and developed the Cook County Intergovernmental Transfer program.
Mr. Scheer holds a bachelor’s degree in systems engineering and a master’s degree in economics from Michigan State University. Maria Schiff
Maria Schiff is a health policy manager at the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy. Her current responsibilities include managing the state’s biennial employer survey to determine trends in employer-sponsored health insurance, participating in a multi-year HRSA grant to study “crowd out” from the employer health insurance market, and managing a series of reports to the legislature analyzing potential costs and benefits of proposed health insurance mandates. She is also the creator and manager of a demonstration project for high cost chronically ill Uncompensated Care Pool patients.
Ms. Schiff previously worked at a community hospital in marketing and planning as a liaison to area employers. She has a master’s of science degree in community health administration.
Jeanene Smith
Jeanene Smith, M.D., M.P.H., is the HRSA State Planning Grant project director and deputy administrator of the Office for Oregon Health Policy Research (OHPR). Her work has focused primarily on Medicaid benefit design, cost-sharing strategies, and quality of care in new emerging models. Dr. Smith continues to use her clinical experience with a limited appointment as assistant clinical professor for the Department of Family Medicine at Oregon Health & Sciences University.
Dr. Smith has an extensive background in health care and insurance coverage. She practiced family medicine in both private practice and safety net clinics for more than 12 years, including a year in the Alaska Native Health Service overseeing two remote Aleutian Island village clinics, before joining OHPR to work with the Oregon’s HRSA State Planning Grant in September 2000. She has been the project director for Oregon’s State Coverage Initiatives Grant project, which facilitated the final submission and implementation of the Oregon Health Plan 2 Medicaid Waiver. She has overseen the evaluation of the impacts of the Oregon Health Plan policy changes through the development of the Oregon Health Research and Evaluation Collaborative (OHREC).
Dr. Smith is a graduate of Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) School of Medicine, and completed a residency in Family Medicine at Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. She holds a master’s degree in public health from Portland State University.
Vernon Smith, Ph.D.
Vernon Smith, Ph.D., is a principal with Health Management Associates, where he focuses on Medicaid, Medicare, SCHIP, state budgets and trends in the health care market place. He has authored several reports on the effects of the economic downturn on Medicaid, on enrollment trends in Medicaid and SCHIP, how states are responding to budget shortfalls, and on state preparations for the Medicare prescription drug benefit.
Dr. Smith has spoken on these issues before many national and state audiences, including committees of the U.S. Congress and Medicaid reform groups in several states. He has been a guest on National Public Radio and quoted on these issues In the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and USA Today.
Before joining HMA, Dr. Smith served as Michigan Medicaid director and as budget director for the human services agency during 30 years of public service. He serves on the Board of Trustees of Anderson University, his undergraduate Alma Mater. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University.
Walter Smith
Walter Smith is the executive director of the DC Appleseed Center, a nonprofit public interest organization that addresses important issues facing the National Capital area. Under his direction, the organization is currently involved in managing a coalition addressing the needed reform of CareFirst, the largest health insurance company in the region; investigating the District’s handling of the HIV/AIDS epidemic; and recommending better coordination between the District and federal government in planning for national security emergencies, among many other projects.
Mr. Smith was a partner for 16 years with Hogan & Hartson. The last four of those years he served as the full-time director of the firm’s nationally recognized pro bono department. His practice was primarily devoted to litigation, much of it concerning public policy issues. Mr. Smith left Hogan & Hartson in 1997 to become the Deputy Attorney General for the District of Columbia. His primary activities concerned addressing the many receiverships in the District, supervising litigation affecting the school system, setting up pro bono assistance for the District from private law firms, and bringing a suit seeking voting representation for the District in Congress.
Mr. Smith holds a law degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree in law from George Washington University. Following law school, he clerked for the Chief Judge of United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and then spent four years in Navy JAG handling courts-martial trials and appeals.
Julie Sonier
Julie Sonier is director of the Health Economics Program at the Minnesota Department of Health. The Program conducts research and applied policy analysis to monitor changes in Minnesota’s health care marketplace; to understand factors influencing health care cost, quality, and access; and to provide technical assistance in the development of state health care policy. Ms. Sonier manages the work of research staff analyzing trends in health care costs, quality, and access in Minnesota and their implications for public policy. Prior to joining the Minnesota Department of Health, Ms. Sonier was a policy analyst in for the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget. She holds a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and an undergraduate degree in economics from Amherst College.
Ronald N. Walters
Ronald N. Walters is an associate at Structured Financial Associates Inc. in Baltimore. He has been a self-employed Insurance Agent for 32 years, where he has worked with large, self-insured plans sold health insurance to small groups and individuals. He is a five-term member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, where he has served on the Finance, Ways & Means, Banking and Insurance, and several other committees. He served as minority chair of the Banking and Insurance Committee.
Mr. Walters also served as a member of the Select Committee on Health Care and the Children’s Health Insurance Sub-committee. He holds a master’s degree in medical economics from the University of Michigan.
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