Health Policy& Financing Strategies
Bender Health Strategies specializes in public policy and financing for health care and homeless services. The firm provides strategic guidance to help clients expand access to health care and housing services, achieve sustainability, and improve the quality of public services.
About Jackie Bender, MPP
Jackie is a seasoned policy expert based in San Francisco, CA, with nearly 20 years of experience in federal, state, and local health policy. Her state and local work has focused on Medicaid waivers, public hospital and county financing, Medicaid DSH, cross-county collaboration, managed care contracting, and the impact of social services and housing interventions for marginalized communities. She has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to bring thoughtful policy analysis and collaborative problem solving to create breakthrough solutions for her clients.
San Francisco, CA
Jackie’s policy successes
She developed models to forecast costs for uninsured services under H.R. 1, shaping the decision making on county uninsured programs.
She created a novel, data-driven solution that permitted Los Angeles County departments to reach agreement on the long-term financial structure and responsibility for permanent supportive housing.
She was pivotal in the creation of a $3 billion Whole Person Care Medicaid 1115 waiver program in California and supported multiple counties in the implementation of this six-year initiative.
Under the successor Whole Person Care structure called “CalAIM,” Jackie was the chief financial strategist supporting Los Angeles County’s implementation of Medicaid managed care housing supports within its existing homelessness infrastructure, including developing and negotiating managed care rates for multiple newly covered services.
She led the creation of a proposal and financial modeling for a new $950 million/year Medi-Cal Graduate Medical Education payment stream for California public hospitals, and collaborated with the state Medicaid agency to obtain CMS approval (State Plan Amendment 17-009).
Prior to working in California, Jackie served as a Congressional aide to a senior member of the U.S. House Ways and Means and House Budget Committees, with an emphasis on Medicare policy for low-income populations.
Jackie received her Master of Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and her B.A. in Political Science from George Washington University.
Services
Policy Analysis
Help clients achieve their policy objectives through up-to-date expertise in Medicaid coverage for health and housing services
Financial Modeling
Develop client capacity to create financial modeling tools for decision support and long-term strategic planning around health care and supportive housing services
Managed Care Contracting
Advise clients on reimbursement strategies for health care and health related social needs
Qualitative Research
Conduct landscape assessments on attitudes, best practices, user experience, and policy implementation, to inform clients’ policy and advocacy needs
Government Relations
Support engagement with government agencies, developing relationships with key officials, and influencing the policy making process
Education & Training
Support clients’ internal knowledge and capacity on technical topics including Medicaid coverage and services, Medicaid supplemental payments, and Medicaid waivers
Areas of Expertise
Medicaid Financing
- H.R. 1 implementation
- National waiver policy trends
- Braiding funding
Medicaid Housing Supports
- Trends in national policymaking around health care coverage of housing supports
- State trends in Medicaid housing supports implementation
- Medi-Cal “CalAIM”, including program rules, funding, managed care contracting, risks and opportunities, and strategies for collaboration and implementation
Federal & State Policymaking
- Legislative, regulatory, and sub-regulatory policymaking processes at the federal and state levels
What Clients Say
Bender Health Strategies supported our team to scope a landscape assessment and interview series to help better understand opportunities to improve behavioral health integration financing. Their team’s unique, deep understanding of California’s byzantine health care financing helped us ask important questions about current state, opportunities for improvement and long-term strategic planning. Their strategic recommendations were not only forward-thinking but also practical and actionable. I’d recommend their consultation for organizations looking to improve reimbursement strategies and be proactive about finance policy.
Kristina Mody
Director, Practice Transformation
California Quality Collaborative / Purchaser Business Group on Health
Our work has benefited significantly from Jackie’s expertise and thoughtful approach to each and every task along the way. Jackie is a true rock star consultant and any organization would be lucky to work with her!
Ben Bradley
Strategy Lead, Research + External Evaluation
Community Solutions