The 2016 Albany Update: Health Care Reform in New York State - What's New and What's Next?

View Paul Francis' presentation slides from the event here. 

With ambitious health reform efforts underway in New York, we ask Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services Paul Francis and health policy experts Louise Cohen and Deborah Bachrach to comment on progress to-date and the future of health in the State.

Paul Francis, who became the Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services under Gov. Andrew Cuomo in July 2015, has a varied background in both business and government. He previously held three other positions in New York State government. Paul served as the Director of the Budget under Gov. Eliot Spitzer, Director of State Operations during Gov. David Paterson’s first legislative term, and Director of Agency Redesign for Gov. Cuomo in 2011-12. Mr. Francis' business career includes serving as the Chief Financial Officer of both Ann Taylor Stores Corporation and Priceline.com. Earlier in his career, he spent seven years as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, and between his stints in New York State government, he was the COO of the Financial Products Division at Bloomberg LP. Mr. Francis began his career as a lawyer, working for Shearman & Sterling and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom from 1980-1986.

After leaving the Cuomo administration in February 2013, Mr. Francis was a Distinguished Senior Fellow at NYU Law School, where he worked on a variety of public policy issues from outside of government. He served as Gov. Cuomo's appointee on three boards – the New York State Health Foundation (as Chairman), the Gaming Facility Location Board, and the Utility Debt Securitization Authority (as Chairman). His activities involving healthcare included serving on the boards of the New York e-Health Collaborative (the health information exchange of New York State), New Yorkers to Cure Paralysis, Greater New York Hospital Association Ventures, and as Chairman of Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn. Paul was also the Co-chairman of the Fourth Regional Plan of the Regional Plan Association during this time.

About the Panelists:
Louise Cohen became CEO of the Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC) in August 2015. Prior to assuming leadership of PCDC, she was Vice President for Public Health Programs at Public Health Solutions in New York City (2011-2015), where she oversaw a variety of programs to improve community health through food access and nutrition, women’s reproductive health, tobacco control and child development. Ms. Cohen held successive leadership positions at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) from 1998-2011, including as Deputy Commissioner of the Division of Health Care Access and Improvement. Among her accomplishments at DOHMH, Ms. Cohen led the development and execution of Take Care New York, New York City’s first comprehensive health policy agenda. She also oversaw the Primary Care Information Project, which brought a public health and prevention-oriented ambulatory care electronic health record system to more than 2,500 primary care providers. Before her tenure at DOHMH, Ms. Cohen was Director of the Park Slope Family Health Center (now part of the NYU Lutheran Family Health Centers network). She served on PCDC’s Board of Directors from 2011 until she became CEO.

Deborah Bachrach has more than 25 years of experience in health policy and financing in both the public and private sectors and an extensive background in Medicaid coverage and payment policies and healthcare reform. She works with states, providers, plans and foundations in analyzing and implementing the Affordable Care Act and payment and delivery system reforms.

Ms. Bachrach has served as an advisor to the Center for Health Care Strategies, the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Kaiser Family Foundation as well as state Medicaid agencies, foundations, healthcare providers and other healthcare organizations. She is an adjunct professor of law at the New York University School of Law, where she teaches a seminar on federal health reform.

From 2007 to 2010, Ms. Bachrach was the Medicaid Director and Deputy Commissioner of Health for the New York State Department of Health, Office of Health Insurance Programs. In this capacity, she was responsible for coverage, care and payment policies for over 4 million children and adults enrolled in New York’s Medicaid and Child Health Insurance Programs and led reforms to streamline Medicaid’s eligibility and enrollment process and to improve its purchasing strategies.

Ms. Bachrach was a partner at Manatt from 1992 to 2006, serving as co-chair of the Healthcare Practice Group. She provided legislative, regulatory and strategic counsel to academic medical centers, safety net hospitals, community health centers, health plans and other healthcare companies.

Prior to this, Ms. Bachrach served as Vice President, External Affairs, at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center. She also worked for four years as New York State Chief Assistant Attorney General and for three years as Chief of the Civil Rights Bureau in the Office of the New York State Attorney General.