Judith Steinberg is a Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Health, and the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP). This Office, which is part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, coordinates the Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America initiative and the development and implementation of our national strategic plans for HIV, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections, vaccines and vector- borne diseases. As the CMO, Dr. Steinberg serves as a senior subject matter expert, providing medical and scientific expert advice and counsel across the broad infectious disease portfolio of the Office. Dr. Steinberg serves on the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices COVID-19 vaccine safety technical subgroup. She also served as the safety CMO for the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Command Center that oversees and steers the COVID 19 deployments of our public health officers.
Prior to joining the OIDP, Dr. Steinberg was the CMO of the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC), part of the Health Resources and Services Administration, which funds and administers the health center program. Dr. Steinberg was an associate professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Medical School and an assistant professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. She has more than 25 years of experience in primary care and infectious disease, including caring for patients at community health centers and safety net hospitals in Massachusetts. At UMass Medical School, she provided clinical expertise and leadership in the design and implementation of new healthcare delivery and value-based payment models.
Dr. Steinberg earned her medical degree from the University of Texas, and completed a residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, as well as an infectious disease fellowship at Beth Israel/Brigham and Women’s Hospitals in Boston. She was a Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellow in Minority Health Policy and received a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University.
Judith Steinberg, MD, MPH
Chief Medical Officer, Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy, Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Health, Office of Assistant Secretary Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C.
UMass Medical School, in partnership with UConn, was awarded funding to develop and implement a Practice Transformation Network for Massachusetts and Connecticut. Congratulations to Judith Steinberg, CFMF Fellow (2007-08) who is the Co-PI of this project
Promoting Quality Improvement: Aligning Performance Measurements and Incentives in Massachusetts
Building on health reform legislation passed in 2006, The HealthyMassCompact was formed to improve health care in Massachusetts (MA). The compact is a collaborative of 9 state agencies. This project involves the work of one of the HealthyMass Compact initiatives, “Aligning Performance Measures and Incentives.” Purchasers and payers use performance measurement and financial incentives, such as pay for performance (P4P), to improve health care quality but current programs suffer from administrative inefficiency, contradictory results, small sample sizes and payments, and lack of attention to racial and ethnic health disparities.
To develop a taskforce that will address alignment of performance measures and incentives across public and private payers. Specifically, to work with state officials to define and implement a strategy and to serve as a content expert and member of the taskforce.
Literature review, interviews with health policy and economics experts, interviews with directors of health quality organizations from other states. Methods also included defining taskforce members, setting meeting agendas and determining learning content for strategy development and meetings.
Using lessons learned from other states’ health care quality initiatives, a strategy was developed and implemented. A state taskforce will be expanded to a state/external partner taskforce. A neutral leader and external partners, such as private payers and providers, were identified. Learning components that were developed include a grid of current performance measures used by 6 MA payers, and PowerPoint presentations on models of performance measurement alignment in other states and the effect of P4P on health disparities. California’s Integrated Healthcare Association’s P4P program was determined most applicable. P4P can have adverse effects on health disparities and access to care.
By aligning health care performance measures and incentives across public and private payers, efficiency, validity and incentives can be increased. Applying lessons learned from other states’ initiatives and from the literature, this effort will require a neutral convener of diverse stakeholders, leadership, collaboration, and incorporation of design strategies to monitor and reduce health disparities.
Sarah Iselin, Massachusetts Commissioner of Health Care Finance and Policy