Karla Silverman, MS, RN, CNM, is the associate director for women’s health and clinical innovation at the Center for Health Care Strategies. She leads CHCS’ women’s health portfolio, bringing expertise in clinical redesign and collaboration with cross-system and cross-sector stakeholders to design more coordinated approaches to care delivery. She has successfully run numerous large-scale learning collaboratives and peer-to-peer convenings. Examples of her work include leading a MACPAC initiative on doula coverage under Medicaid across five states, a national scan of innovative models addressing maternal mental health and substance use disorder treatment, a learning collaborative for MassHealth supporting care planning in their Medicaid accountable care organizations, and a national, multi-year learning collaborative that supported eight health systems in implementing integrated care models, including the integration of community health workers into primary care.

Karla began her career as a certified nurse-midwife at Community Healthcare Network, a federally qualified health center in New York City. Later, she served as clinical director at Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic where she oversaw clinical operations and training for twelve health centers. At Primary Care Development Corporation, she led a team that created a nationally respected training and technical assistance program in care coordination and care management. She is an adjunct professor at the New York University School of Global Public Health where she teaches a graduate course on value-based health care.

Karla holds a master of science in midwifery and a bachelor’s of science of nursing, both from Columbia University. She also earned a bachelor’s degree in theater arts and history from Brown University.

In her free time, you can find Karla hanging with her teenage daughters, running along the Hudson River, cooking and reading memoirs.