Rachel Block Joins Milbank Memorial Fund as Program Officer

Rachel Block has joined the Milbank Memorial Fund as a Program Officer.  An independent consultant who worked for the Fund and other organizations focusing on federal and state health policy issues, she has served in numerous executive roles in the public and private sectors, most recently spearheading development of New York state’s health information technology strategy as deputy commissioner for Health Information Technology Transformation in the New York State Department of Health and as the founding executive director of the New York eHealth Collaborative.

Ms. Block has also worked at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), where she held several senior management positions directing policy development and operations for Medicaid, State Children’s Health Insurance, and federal survey and certification programs, with particular emphasis on quality improvement, data, and systems issues. She supported development of a comprehensive health reform plan for Vermont and, prior to that, worked for the New York State Legislature, where she concentrated on Medicaid, coverage for the uninsured, public health, and professional licensing issues.

Her consulting work focused on a variety of issues—from advancing multi-stakeholder community health collaborations, the development of new health workforce policies, policy and operational analysis for primary and behavioral health integration, and other topics related to state health care cost measurement, state and regional health improvement collaborations, state insurance exchange implementation, and Medicaid innovation support through CMS.

“My career to date has focused on innovations in state health policy and program operations,” said Ms. Block.  “I am very pleased to have this opportunity and expand on my previous work with the Fund supporting states to implement effective population health improvement strategies.”