Theresa Hayes Cruz, PhD, Director, Eunice Kennedy Shriver
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health
Theresa Hayes Cruz, Ph.D., became director of NCMRR in August 2020, after serving as acting director since September 2019. She has been a full-time NIH staff member since 2009. In her capacity as a health scientist administrator in NCMRR, Dr. Cruz manages grants in the Devices and Technology Development and Rehabilitation Diagnostics and Interventions Programs. She also manages Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) awards in medical rehabilitation.
In addition to her duties at NCMRR, Dr. Cruz is a team lead in the NIH Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative where she co-manages a grant portfolio in the areas of neurotechnology development, validation, and translation for applications in neuroscience, neurophysiology, movement disorders, pain, neuromodulation, and other interfaces with the nervous system. In 2015, Dr. Cruz performed a research detail at the Functional and Applied Biomechanics Laboratory in the Rehabilitation Medicine Department of the NIH Clinical Center. In late 2016, she returned fulltime to NCMRR.
Reva Singh, Director of Advocacy and Government Relations,
American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R)
Reva Singh is the Director of Advocacy and Government Affairs for the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R). At AAPM&R, Reva leads federal legislative and regulatory advocacy efforts, focusing on demonstrating the value of physiatry and rehabilitation during the pandemic, reducing physician burden, improving patient access to rehabilitation care, post-acute care reform, increasing rehabilitation research funding, and much more.
Prior to working with AAPM&R, Reva worked as a Health Policy Fellow at the Powers Law Firm.
Susanne Seagrave, PhD, Deputy Director, Chronic Care Policy Group
Division of Institutional Post-Acute Care, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
Dr. Susanne Seagrave is currently the deputy director of the Division of Institutional Post-Acute Care within CMS’s Chronic Care Policy Group. Susanne’s division is responsible for both inpatient rehabilitation facility and skilled nursing facility payment policies. Since 2007, she has led the team that works on inpatient rehabilitation facility payment and coverage policies, including the development of IRF regulations to refine the payment system, enhance the accuracy of payments, re-write coverage requirements, update the 60 percent rule, and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Susanne is the co-lead on a collaboration project with ASPE to develop a prototype and recommendations for a report to Congress on a unified post-acute care payment system for Medicare.
Cheri A. Blauwet, MD, Assistant Professor of PM&R, Harvard Medical School
Sports Medicine Physiatrist, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Director, Kelley Adaptive Sports Research Institute
Director, Disability Access and Awareness, Spaulding Rehabilitation Network
Cheri Blauwet, MD is an Assistant Professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School and an attending physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. She serves as Director of the Kelley Adaptive Sports Research Institute.
Dr. Blauwet is also a former Paralympic athlete in the sport of wheelchair racing, competing for the United States Team in three Paralypmic Games and bringing home a total of seven Paralympic medals. She is also a two-time winner of both the Boston and New York City Marathons. Translating her background as an athlete to the clinic setting, Dr. Blauwet now serves as a Member of the International Paralympic Committee’s Medical Committee and serves on the Board of Directors for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) as well as numerous other leadership roles throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Movement.
In 2016, she was the recipient of the Harvard Medical School Harold Amos Faculty Diversity Award and was named one Boston’s “Ten Outstanding Young Leaders” by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. In 2019 she was named by the Boston Business Journal as one of the “40 under 40” community leaders. She has become a global advocate for the use of sport and physical activity to promote healthy lifestyles for all individuals with disabilities.
William A, Dombi, Esq, President, National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC)
Bill Dombi is the President of NAHC where he serves also as the Director, Center for Health Care Law and the Executive Director, Home Care and Hospice Financial Managers Association. He specializes in legal, legislative, and regulatory advocacy on behalf of patients and providers of home health and hospice care.
With over 40 years of experience in health care law and policy, Dombi has been involved in virtually all legislative and regulatory efforts affecting home care and hospice since 1975, including the expansion of the Medicare home health benefit in 1980, the formation of the hospice benefit in 1983, the development of Medicare PPS for home health in 2000, and the national health care reform legislation in 2010.
Dombi also has an extensive background in impact oriented litigation. He was lead counsel in the landmark lawsuit that reformed the Medicare home health services benefit, challenges to HMO home care cutbacks for high-tech home care patients, lawsuits against Medicaid programs for inadequate payment rates, a nationwide class action against then-HCFA for its failure to enforce the federal HMO Act, litigation directed against the "Interim Payment System" for the Medicare home health benefit, a lawsuit addressing the so-called Medicare “case mix creep adjustments” in 2008-2010, a challenge to the Medicare face-to-face physician encounter rule, and litigation challenging changes to federal overtime rules.
Nicole O. Fallon, Vice President of Health Policy & Integrated Services and Director,
Center for Managed Care Solutions & Innovations, Leading Age
Nicole Fallon joined LeadingAge as its Vice President of Health Policy and Integrated Services in September 2016 and also leads its Center for Managed Care Solutions & Innovations. She brings more than 28 years of extensive and diverse health policy experience to this role, working across sites of service including hospitals, senior living, home and community-based care and social services; populations including older adults, disabled patients and low-income communities; and across payment sources such as Medicare, Medicaid and managed care.
For 15 years, Fallon advocated before state legislatures and regulatory agencies on behalf of various businesses, trade associations, and nonprofit organizations. In 2017, on behalf of LeadingAge, she authored a white paper entitled, “Integrated Service Delivery: A LeadingAge Vision for America’s Aging Population” and in 2018, lead the creation of LeadingAge’s Center for Managed Care Solutions & Innovations, which focuses on both managed care and alternative payment models. Nicole has a BA in political science with a minor in mass communications, and a concentration in math from Minnesota State University – Moorhead.
Lane Koeing, PhD, President, KNG Health Consulting, LLC
Director of Policy and Research, National Association of Long Term Care Hospitals
Lane Koenig is President and Founder of KNG Health Consulting and Director of its Healthcare Reform and Payment Innovation Practice. He is a healthcare economist with over 20 years’ experience in the public and private sectors. As President of KNG Health Consulting, Dr. Koenig has overall responsibility for the quality and direction of KNG Health’s research and policy analyses. Since 2015, he has served as the Director of Policy and Research for the National Association of Long Term Hospitals. Prior to founding KNG Health in 2007, Dr. Koenig was the senior economist in the Office of Policy at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Dr. Koenig has led over 100 quantitative and qualitative health policy and health economic studies and has published over 20 peer-reviewed studies in journals, such as Health Affairs, Health Services Research, and Medical Care. He graduated with Honors from the University of Florida, Gainesville and earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Kristen O'Brien, JD, Vice President, McDermott+, AMRPA Washington Counsel
Kristen O’Brien is an accomplished healthcare executive with a deep understanding of regulatory advocacy and healthcare policy efforts. She offers a strong background and a keen eye for solutions to barriers and challenges impacting healthcare clients. With more than 10 years of experience, her work focuses on implementing new laws through the rulemaking process, as well as working with relevant agency officials to develop and improve agency guidance.
Kristen recently served as Principal of the Health Industry Policy and Regulatory Practice Group at a law and lobbying firm where she provided representation for hospital systems, physician practices, medical device companies, digital health companies and trade associations. She has extensive experience in providing analysis and counsel related to government healthcare payment programs under Medicare and Medicaid. She also has extensive knowledge of navigating the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and others.
Previously, Kristen provided legislative and regulatory legal analysis as a senior attorney for the American Medical Association. Additionally, Kristen served on the staff of former Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), focusing on health and environmental issues, as well as financial reform.
Meg Gilley, MPH, Director, McDermott+ Consulting, AMRPA Legislative Counsel
Meg Gilley is an experienced health policy advisor with a deep understanding of policy and advocacy. She has a strong background in developing and implementing strategic advocacy plans to advance health regulatory and policy objectives. With over 10 years of experience, Meg supports clients’ strategic objectives through federal lobbying, strategic planning, and implementing regulatory strategies. She regularly works with clients to cultivate recommendations and analyze policy.
Meg recently served as a public policy advisor at a global law firm where she represented health industry clients including hospitals, biomedical companies, a health IT vendor, and academic medical centers before Congress and the executive branch. She also provided strategic guidance to clients during the Appropriations process, including drafting report language and tracking its implementation.
Previously, Meg served as a congressional lobbyist for a large professional physician society where she focused on developing and executing federal advocacy strategies around health policy issues, including MACRA, Medicare/Medicaid, health information technology, and the Affordable Care Act.
Kate Beller, EVP for Government Relations and Policy Development, AMRPA
Kate Beller, JD, has served as the American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association (AMRPA) Executive Vice President for Policy Development and Government Relations since February 2019. In her current role, Beller helps AMRPA identify current and emerging policy issues affecting the rehabilitation industry, including patient access issues, regulatory burdens, IMPACT Act implementation, and the inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) prospective payment system and Quality Reporting Program, among many other issues.
Prior to joining AMRPA, Ms. Beller served as a principal at a healthcare-focused consulting/lobbying firm, where she developed and helped lead the legislative and regulatory strategies for post-acute care providers and other entities across the health policy spectrum. She also held positions at AARP and the Center for Excellence in Assisted Living working on long-term care and post-acute care payment and payment access issues. She received her Juris Doctorate at Georgetown University Law Center and her undergraduate degree at Duke University.
Sam Fleming, President, Fleming AOD/eRehabData®
Sam Fleming has worked with the rehabilitation industry since 1990 providing services to both individual rehabilitation facilities and the various incarnations of the national trade association for inpatient rehabilitation facilities. His work with providers includes reimbursement policy interpretation and hospital performance optimization.
Sam designs and builds industry-wide econometric models of Medicare policy and performs industry-wide data analysis and outcomes interpretation for the American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association. As the President of Fleming-AOD, Inc. his responsibilities include policy analysis, advocacy and education, as well as the design, construction, maintenance and development of the AMRPA’s outcomes systems: eRehabData®.