Barbara M. Smith JD

Barbara Markham Smith, J.D., is a Principal in the Washington, DC office of Health Management Associates. Prior to joining HMA, she was the founding Director of the CO-OP Program Division at the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the Department of Health and Human Services. Under her leadership, new nonprofit, consumer-governed health insurance companies have become operational in almost half of the country. She previously served as Policy Coordinator for Exchanges and as a Senior Advisor in the Office of Health Reform during the Congressional debate leading to the passage of the Affordable Care Act. In her capacity as a consultant prior to her government service, she worked with Health Management Associates, the Economic and Social Research Institute, and the Institute of Medicine. Ms. Smith is an expert on health insurance coverage and coverage expansion, financing, delivery system reforms, and the impact of health r eform on government budgets, institutions, and programs. She is the author of numerous articles and published studies on health reform and the effects of policy changes on government health programs and access to care. While at the Institute of Medicine as a senior program officer, she analyzed quality initiatives in federal health programs. While at George Washington University School of Public Health as a Senior Research Scientist, she conducted research and analysis on Medicaid managed care implementation and the effects of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 on Medicare. During health care reform in 1993-94, she was a senior health policy aide in Congress to Representative Jim McDermott who served on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health. She is a graduate of Harvard College and Boston University Law School studying in a joint curriculum with the Harvard School of Public Health.