Anna Spencer, M.P.H., is a senior program officer for the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS). She leads technical assistance efforts related to the Center for Medicaid & Medicare Innovation’s State Innovation Model program, working with participating states as they design and test new care delivery and payment models to demonstrate improvements in quality of care at lower costs. She is also serves as technical assistance lead for the Whole Person Care Learning Collaborative, part of California’s current Section 1115 Waiver to improve care for a subset of complex Medi-Cal beneficiaries.
Prior to joining CHCS, Ms. Spencer was a qualitative researcher and health policy analyst at the Urban Institute studying payment and delivery system reforms aimed at improving health care quality and reducing costs. She previously worked for Grantmakers In Health, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to supporting the field of health philanthropy. At Grantmakers In Health, Ms. Spencer worked with large national, state and local foundations on health reform implementation, providing technical assistance, coordinating issue-focused forums and workshops, preparing policy briefs and publications on programmatic and foundation operational issues. She also worked as a program manager at the National Conference of State Legislatures providing technical assistance to state legislators and legislative staff, and for eight years served as the managing editor of State Health Notes. Ms. Spencer holds a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health.