Mara McDermott is the Chief Executive Officer of Accountable for Health, a Washington D.C.-based advocacy organization committed to accelerating the adoption of effective accountable care. She is an accomplished healthcare executive with deep expertise in federal healthcare law and policy, including delivery system reform, physician payment and payment models.
Mara is an attorney by training and previously served as counsel in the health industry practice at Akin Gump in Washington, D.C. In that role, she focused on a variety of issues affecting health industry clients, with an emphasis on health policy and regulatory issues facing physician organizations, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and academic medical institutions.
Executive Council & Board
Experts providing strategic guidance for Accountable for Health.
Founder and Managing Partner at Rubicon Founders
Adam Boehler is the founder and Managing Partner of Rubicon Founders, an entrepreneurial healthcare investment firm focused on building and growing transformational companies. Adam has extensive experience in investment, entrepreneurship, and innovation in both the private sector and in the U.S. Government.
Adam founded three successful businesses and is widely regarded as a leader in the healthcare and private investment sectors. Most recently, Adam founded and served as CEO of Landmark Health, a company delivering around-the-clock medical care to chronically ill patients in their homes. During Adam’s tenure, Landmark grew to be the largest home-based medical group in the country, with over 1,000 employees serving 80,000 patients.
While at Landmark, Adam was recruited to lead healthcare innovation for the United States, serving as Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Deputy Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and Director of the Innovation Center at CMS (CMMI) where he focused on transforming the American healthcare system to create better outcomes for patients at lower cost. Adam was also a founding member of Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership which ultimately led to the first COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S.
Following HHS, Adam was appointed by the President and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as the first Chief Executive Officer of the new U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the U.S. Government’s international investment arm. Adam served on the negotiating team for the Abraham Accords and is the recipient of the Department of Defense’s highest civilian medal for his work. Adam is currently a board member at the Atlantic Council and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Vice Chairman of the Duke Margolis Health Policy Center
David Brailer is an American physician recognized for his pioneering leadership in health care, particularly in the use of health information technology. Over the past three decades, Dr. Brailer has built a variety of private and public sector organizations that improve access to and quality of health care.
In September 2022, Dr. Brailer was named the Chief Health Officer of Cigna. As Cigna’s first Chief Health Officer, Dr. Brailer brings together the company’s products, technologies, and services to create breakout health improvements for the 190 million people the company serves.
In 2007, Dr. Brailer founded Health Evolution Partners, a private equity firm that invested in companies seeking to transform health care. In 2011, he founded Health Evolution, an organization that convenes health care leaders as they navigate rapidly changing forces in the industry. Dr. Brailer serves as Chairman of Health Evolution.
In 2002, Dr. Brailer was appointed by President George W. Bush as a health policy advisor and later became the nation’s first National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. In this role, Dr. Brailer oversaw development of the nation’s strategy for electronic records, information sharing and consumer empowerment. His efforts set the foundation for the rapid adoption of digital health technologies that is underway today.
In 1996, Dr. Brailer founded and was CEO of CareScience, a health care information management company. Under his leadership, CareScience developed one of the nation’s earliest health care cloud solutions, serving more than 25 million patients in 500 major health care systems, health plans and physician groups across the United States. Dr. Brailer led CareScience through a successful IPO and subsequent sale of the company.
Dr. Brailer holds doctoral degrees in medicine and economics. He earned his M.D. from West Virginia University and his Ph.D. in economics from The Wharton School. He became board certified in internal medicine after his internship and residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he practiced infectious diseases and HIV medicine. Dr. Brailer was appointed a Charles A. Dana Fellow and a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Brailer taught for a decade at The Wharton School, where he founded the Wharton School health information technology program.
Dr. Brailer is Vice Chairman of the Duke Margolis Health Policy Center and has served on the boards of directors of or as advisor to numerous health care companies, including Walgreens Boots Alliance, VillageMD, Censeo Health and Prolacta Biosciences.
Dr. Brailer grew up in a small town in rural West Virginia where his family has lived since 1840, and now lives in San Francisco with his spouse and two children.
Founder, Chairman and CEO of Equality Health
As founder, chairman and CEO of Equality Health, Hugh works with state government, managed care plans, and primary care physicians to deliver value-based care to our most underserved communities. Hugh created Equality Health to solve for the inequities that exist in government healthcare programs, primarily low-income Medicaid patients, through a tech-enabled care platform that now supports over one Million Medicaid beneficiaries across 4 states and 15 MSA’s. He led Equality from a pure start-up to $1 Billion revenue business in five years. His company is transforming how Medicaid patients achieve better health outcomes while lowering costs and improving quality.
Prior to founding Equality Health, Hugh co-founded Univita Health, a care management business that improves the coordination and effectiveness post-acute care delivery. As president and CEO, he helped build Univita into a national platform, serving over six million working-age Medicare and Medicaid patients.
He also co-founded Axia Health Management, the first true single source provider of preventive health and wellness benefits for employers and health plans. Their Silver Sneakers Fitness Program is the still the country’s leading fitness program for seniors, keeping over two million participants active and strong.
In addition to creating three successful health management companies, Hugh’s experience includes executive positions at CVS Health and Xerox. He holds an MBA from Butler University and sits on several boards. He and his wife Barbara are active philanthropists through their Foundation, whose mission is to create a more inclusive and loving world by supporting organizations that create a safe environment for those experiencing traumatic circumstances.
CEO of PSW and Chair of MultiCare Care Connected (MCC)
Since she joined PSW in 2016, she has maintained the core principals in which PSW was founded on and expanded business lines to include advisory and management services including credentialing, coding and compliance and the implementation of various CMMI innovation models. Melanie brings extensive knowledge in population health strategies and a strong commitment to value-based care. Prior to PSW, Melanie served for three years as Vice President of Operations for Prestige Care, Inc., where she was responsible for regulatory and financial operations and outcomes for 38 skilled nursing facilities and two Medicare home health agencies in a four-state northwest region.
Melanie embraces strategic partnerships and novel collaborations to solve systemic problems and improve lives. Melanie’s extensive knowledge in population health provides strategic focus in reducing overall cost of care as well as provider and beneficiary engagement. Her passion for public policy and engaging legislatures from the voice of the providers and community members has propelled Melanie as a highly desired public speaker as a result of her nationally recognized visionary leadership.
In 2020, Melanie was awarded a NAACOS Board of Director position to serve as a single-ACO representative. Among her other accomplishments, Melanie is a board member on the Health Care Transformation Task Force, she serves as Co-Chair for APG – Risk Evolution Taskforce, serves on the APG Board of Directors, was selected by the American Health Care Association as a “National Political Ambassador” in 2013, and was named a national “Future Leader” in 2012.
Melanie holds a Master of Science, social gerontology, degree from Central Missouri State University and a bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies from Pennsylvania State University.
CEO and Founder of Sitka
Kelsey P. Mellard is the CEO and Founder of Sitka, a virtual, value-based multi-specialty network that is expanding the scope of primary care. With years of experience across the healthcare system, she has been a leader in healthcare innovation across companies within the
healthcare, government, and technology industries. Kelsey is deeply committed to improving the delivery of healthcare across the nation while ensuring access for everyone.
Prior to founding Sitka, Kelsey led Health System Integration for Honor, a technology-backed home care company. Before Honor, she led the development of the Post-Acute Care Center for Research, where she served as its Executive Director. Earlier in her career, she also served in VP roles at naviHealth, UnitedHealth Group and was on the initial team to establish the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at CMS. Prior to working in the federal government, she worked directly within the healthcare delivery system as a consultant at the Advisory Board Company to a variety of hospital systems and as an Administrative Fellow at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics. Kelsey began her career at Kaiser Family Foundation.
Kelsey volunteers with the National Investment Center for Senior Housing (NIC) board and the Rock Health Foundation board. She has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, and TechCrunch. She received her Bachelor of Science in Community Health from Winona State University and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Kansas. During her free time, she enjoys the great outdoors with her partner George, son Dalman, and puppy Arlo.
CEO and Founder of Heritage Group
Richard Merkin founded Heritage in 1979. Heritage was the first global risk medical group in the United States. Heritage comprises 50 medical groups, 15 urgent care centers, home health agencies, surgi-centers and hospice care. Dr. Merkin’s innovations and research endeavors in an ever-changing healthcare environment has led to the formation of multiple public and private companies. He has been recognized by HealthLeaders Media as one of the top 20 healthcare leaders in the nation, and “Fast Company Magazine” named Heritage as one of the most innovative global healthcare companies for 2012. Seeking cutting edge solutions to achieve healthier outcomes, Dr. Merkin created the $3 million Heritage Health Prize Competition, challenging entrants to create an algorithm that will predict avoidable hospitalizations. The competition had 39,000 entries from 41 countries.
Dr. Merkin is on the Board of Trustees at the California Institute of Technology and the Board of Overseers at the Keck School of Medicine, and the cofounder of Faster Cures. He recently developed a six country drug development program supporting the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He has established foundations, initiatives, professorships and institutes at the Broad Institute at Harvard and MIT (stem cell research), UCLA (Nanosystem Institute and Neural Regeneration), Johns Hopkins Brain Science Institute, the Brookings Institution (Reform and Clinical Leadership for Healthcare reform), the City of Hope (Gene Therapy and Immunology), Beijing’s Tsinghua University, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, University of California San Francisco, Harvard University Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Co-Founder and CEO of Aledade
Farzad Mostashari, MD ScM is the CEO of Aledade – the largest network of independent primary care practices in the country. Since founding Aledade in 2014, he has helped the company grow to serve more than 1,500 practices in 45 states, be accountable for the care of more than two million patients, and prevent more than $1 billion in unnecessary health care costs. Dr. Mostashari currently serves on the Founder’s Council of United States of Care, is a Visiting Fellow at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University, serves as co-chair of the Health Evolution Summit and is on the board of directors for Resolve to Save Lives – a global health organization that aims to save millions of lives from cardiovascular disease and infectious disease epidemics. Dr. Mostashari is the former National Coordinator for Health IT at the Department of Health and Human Services, and served as a distinguished expert at the Brookings Institute’s Engelberg Center for HealthCare Reform. Prior to his work at the Office of the National Coordinator, he founded the NYC Primary Care Information Project. Dr. Mostashari received his MD from Yale University School of Medicine and his Masters in Population Health from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Co-Founder of Strive Health
Chris Riopelle has spent almost his entire career working to better the lives of under-served patient populations in a way that drives alignment and value for patients, providers, and payors. Chris entered the healthcare world in 1995 and joined GeriMed, a geriatric value-based care company that sparked his interest in both underserved patient populations and risk-bearing healthcare businesses. He spent 10 years in the kidney care industry in a variety of roles at Gambro and DaVita, culminating in leading a $1B division of the dialysis company. Chris also served as COO of LaVie Care Centers a $1B private-equity backed skilled nursing company, where he was part of a team that led the cultural, financial, and operational turnaround and sale of the company. In 2013, he was recruited to serve as CEO of NorthStar Anesthesia, a private-equity backed anesthesia management company that grew from $130m to nearly $500m in revenue.
After NorthStar was sold in 2018, Chris began to focus on the next chapter. He was intent on taking a large swing at a large problem, with a focus on chronic diseases and poor transitions in healthcare. He quickly narrowed in on a set of patients he loves who deserve a better patient journey – kidney patients. Co-founding Strive Health has allowed Chris to blend his professional experiences and his passion for serving patients in need. He is deeply committed to fundamentally changing how kidney care works in America and helping to build an amazing company while he’s at it.
Today Strive Health is leading the value-based kidney care industry, serving more than 28,000 patients in 7 states. Having raised more than $220 million of capital from leading investors and now home to nearly 300 “Strivers”, Strive is transforming how kidney care is delivered in this country. In recognition of the progress the Strive team has made, Chris was named an E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year for the Mountain Desert Region in 2021.
When he finds some downtime, he loves to spend time in the outdoors with his wife of 24 years and his 12-year-old daughter, mountain biking, skiing and boating.
Founder and CEO of OPN Healthcare
Srin Vishwanath is the founder and CEO of OPN Healthcare, a specialty MSO that focuses on value-based oncology care. He has developed and managed OPN for 25 years. Initially begun as GreenWave Health Technologies, OPN has grown to offer coverage in 5 states for 1.6 million enrollees through a value-based approach supported by robust data analytics, innovative care approaches, and flexible strategies to align oncology providers and payers.
Prior to his time at OPN, Mr. Vishwanath was Director of Business Development for City of Hope National Medical Center. He began his healthcare career as a Strategic Planning Analyst for HCA’s Louisiana division and an administrative resident at American Life Care, the largest PPO in Louisiana, at the time. He has had extensive experience working in managed care and developing services that better integrate physicians and the payer community to provide coordinated, patient-centric care solutions.
In addition, Mr. Vishwanath is active in the development of healthcare policy as a board member for initiatives that develop an integrated approach for value-based care models and shape healthcare operational policies. He is an annual guest lecturer at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business for the MD/MBA program.
Mr. Vishwanath received a BA in Economics from UC Berkeley and an MHA from Tulane University.
Policy Council
Former government officials and thought leaders advise Accountable for Health on our robust policy agenda.
Head of Partnerships and Policy at Cityblock Health and Chair, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC)
Bella also serves as Chair of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), a non-partisan agency that advises and makes recommendations to Congress, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the states.
Before Cityblock, Bella served as the first Director of the Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Prior to that, she was the Medicaid director for the state of Indiana, and then the senior vice president for policy and operations at the Center for Health Care Strategies.
Bella earned a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School, and a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University.
Director and Robert J. Margolis, MD, Professor of Business, Medicine and Policy at Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy
Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, is Director and Robert J. Margolis, M.D., Professor of Business, Medicine and Policy at the Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University.
Dr. McClellan is a physician-economist who focuses on quality and value in health care, including payment reform, real-world evidence and more effective drug and device innovation.
Dr. McClellan is at the center of the nation’s efforts to combat the pandemic and the author of a roadmap that details the steps needed for a comprehensive COVID-19 response and safe reopening of our country.
Dr. McClellan is former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, where he developed and implemented major reforms in health policy.
Dr. McClellan is an independent director on the boards of Johnson & Johnson, Cigna, Alignment Healthcare, and PrognomIQ; co-chairs the Guiding Committee for the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network; and serves as an advisor for Arsenal Capital Group, Blackstone Life Sciences, and MITRE.
Frederick Isasi, JD, MPH, is Executive Director of Families USA, a national organization working for almost 40 years on the state and national level to ensure that the best health and health care are equally accessible and affordable to all.
Mr. Isasi is a national expert on a wide range of health care issues including value, coverage, and equity and frequently testifies in front of Congress.
Before joining Families USA, Mr. Isasi served as the Health Division Director at the bipartisan National Governors Association, Vice President for Health Policy at the Advisory Board Company, and Senior Legislative Counsel to Sen. Jeff Bingaman on the U.S. Senate Finance and HELP Committees where he was a key staff negotiator on both Committees during creation of the Affordable Care Act.
Avik Roy is the President of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP.org), a non-partisan, non-profit think tank that conducts original research on expanding opportunity to those who least have it.
Roy’s work has been praised widely on both the right and the left. National Review has called him one of the nation’s “sharpest policy minds,” while the New York Times’ Paul Krugman described him as man of “personal and moral courage.”
Roy has advised several presidential candidates on policy, including Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, and Mitt Romney. As the Senior Advisor to Perry’s campaign in 2015, Roy was also the lead author of Gov. Perry’s major policy speeches. The Wall Street Journal called Perry’s address on intergenerational black poverty “the speech of the campaign so far.”
Roy also serves as the Policy Editor at Forbes, where he writes on politics and policy. NBC’s Chuck Todd, on Meet the Press, said Roy was one “of the most thoughtful guys [who has] been debating” health care reform.
Roy is the author of Medicare Advantage for All: A Patient-Centered Plan for Universal Coverage and Permanent Fiscal Solvency, published by FREOPP in 2019; How Medicaid Fails the Poor, published by Encounter Books in 2013; and other books. He is an Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellow. He serves on the advisory boards of the National Institute for Health Care Management, the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, the Bitcoin Policy Institute, and other organizations; is a Senior Advisor to the Bipartisan Policy Center; co-chaired the Fixing Veterans Health Care Policy Taskforce; and serves on the Boards of Directors of CrowdHealth and the Texas Bitcoin Foundation.
Roy’s writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Atlantic, among other publications. He is a frequent guest on television news programs, including appearances on CBS, NBC, PBS, HBO, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, Fox Business, CNBC, and Bloomberg.
Previously, Roy worked as a health care investor and portfolio manager at Bain Capital, J.P. Morgan, and other firms. He was born and raised near Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from high school in San Antonio, Texas. USA Today named him to its All-USA High School Academic First Team, honoring the top 20 high school seniors in the country. Roy was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied molecular biology, and the Yale University School of Medicine.
Mark D. Smith, MD, MBA is currently Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. From 2015 to 2019 he served as co-chair of the Guiding Committee of the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network. Previously, Dr. Smith was the founding President and former Chief Executive Officer of the California HealthCare Foundation from 1996-2013.
Dr. Smith was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2001 and chaired its Committee on the Learning Healthcare System, which produced the widely publicized 2012 report Best Care at Lower Cost.
Dr. Smith serves as a Director of Teladoc Health, Inc., Phreesia, the Commonwealth Fund, and Jazz Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Smith earned his B.A. degree in Afro-American Studies from Harvard College, his M.D. from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his M.B.A. in Healthcare Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. He maintains a clinical practice in HIV at the Positive Health Practice at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.
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