Improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of publicly financed health care
Melanie Bella, MBA
Melanie Bella is senior vice president for policy and operations at the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS). She leads the organization's efforts to develop and spread state strategies to integrate care for complex populations, including people with multiple chronic conditions, disabilities, serious mental illness, and those who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. In addition, she directs a unique leadership training institute to help Medicaid directors enhance the skills they need to transform their state programs into national models for high-quality, cost effective care.
Prior to joining CHCS, Ms. Bella served as Medicaid director for the state of Indiana from 2001 through 2005, overseeing an annual operating budget of over $4.7 billion for a program serving more than 844,000 low-income and disabled Hoosiers. During her tenure, one of Ms. Bella's most notable accomplishments was spearheading the creation of the Indiana Chronic Disease Management Program.
Ms. Bella serves as a health care advisor to the Kennedy School of Government's Innovations in American Government Awards program and is a member of the National Committee for Quality Assurance's Geriatrics Measurement Advisory Panel and its Medicaid Accreditation Advisory Committee. She was a voting member of the Medicaid Commission established by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2005, and has served as a member of the National Academy of State Health Policy and on the executive committee of the National Association of State Medicaid Directors.
Ms. Bella earned a master's degree in business administration from Harvard University and a bachelor's degree in political science from DePauw University.