HillCo Health Announces New Team Members

Nov. 29, 2009 - PRLog -- HillCo Health—www.hillcohealth.com—recently added two new members to its seasoned healthcare policy team and bolstered its healthcare reform, regulatory/strategy implementation, and diverse-client base portfolio, including a former Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) special assistant and a former TRICARE expert.  

Joining HillCo Health’s team is Danielle Pambianco and Caleb DesRosiers.  “We are delighted to add Danielle and Caleb to our team and look forward to utilizing their wealth of experience,” said Marc Samuels, founder of HillCo Health.  “Over the past nine years, HillCo Health has built itself as a go-to boutique firm for solid, evidence-based, policy and business analysis with deep expertise and experience in both the public and private healthcare sectors.”

Danielle Pambianco joins HillCo Health from Altarum Institute, a nonprofit health systems research and consulting organization serving government and private-sector clients. At Altarum, Danielle was a Healthcare Analyst, providing support mainly for TRICARE Management Activity, Department of Defense. Danielle covered a range of issues, including mental health and PTSD in the military, US health reform, and patient satisfaction reports for TRICARE. Danielle also conducted primary IRB review of research protocols to determine exemption status by applying human subjects’ research laws and regulations.

Danielle completed her Masters in Public Health at the George Washington University, specializing in health policy. Her coursework included health policy analysis, health finance and economics, and her culminating thesis was on privacy protections for the genetic testing of breast cancer. While studying, Danielle interned for Lehman Brothers Washington Research Group, where she produced summaries and briefings researching: state health reform proposals for the uninsured, SCHIP, long term care pharmacies, mental health parity, and the inpatient hospital, inpatient rehab and physician fee payment systems. She also developed in-depth knowledge of federal payor issues, focusing on CMS coverage and reimbursement policies.  Danielle received her Bachelor’s from the University of Virginia in Psychology and Biomedical Ethics.

Caleb DesRosiers joins HillCo Health from the bio-pharmaceutical industry—Hoffmann-La Roche, Pfizer—and has extensive public policy management and leadership experience in nearly every sector of the $2 Trillion U.S. healthcare market. Prior to working in the bio-pharmaceutical sector, Caleb was a Special Assistant at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services where he advised the Administrator’s Office and the Office of Strategic Operations and Regulatory Affairs – in Washington, DC.  Under Tom Scully and Mark McClellan’s leadership, CMS’ biggest accomplishment was the timely implementation of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003.

Caleb’s additional public sector experience includes serving as an Assistant General Counsel to the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine focused on regulations, legislation, and policy.  Caleb also worked as a policy advisor to the Massachusetts Speaker’s Office, where he drafted major healthcare legislation including the nation’s first health insurance based State Pharmaceutical Assistance Program (PrescriptionAdvantage).  Thereafter, Caleb worked at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts as a registered lobbyist and Senior Advisor to the VP of Government Affairs.  While at BCBSMA, Caleb managed the policy issues of the $400M Uncompensated Care Pool that provided free-care to uninsured individuals, and which the company contributed $33M/per year to.  The Pool was the funding stream that allowed for passage of the 2007 Massachusetts Health Reform initiative being followed nationally as the Obama Administration and U.S. Congress debates National Healthcare Reform.

Caleb serves on the health advisory board of the Executive Council of New York, the Primary Development Corporation, and is a trustee of the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health.  Caleb served for many years on the boards of Central Boston Elder Services – a major homecare agency with a multi-million dollar operation – and the HEW Federal Credit Union.  A graduate of Suffolk University’s School of Law, School of Management, and College of Liberal Arts, Caleb is licensed to practice law in Massachusetts.    

About HillCo Health

HillCo Health has a number of former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services staffers with extensive experience at and working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Food and Drug Administration, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and state health programs.

HillCo Health Team

Grant Bagley, M.D., J.D.
Former Director, Coverage and Analysis Group, CMS
Former Medical Officer, Office of the Commissioner, FDA

Marc Samuels, J.D., M.P.H.
Former White House Office of Domestic Policy Aide,
Former Gubernatorial Health Policy Advisor, TX Health and Human Services Commission

Michael Beebe
Former Director, AMA CPT and RUC

Doran Edwards, M.D.
Former Medical Director, Palmetto G.B.A. and PDAC (Pricing, Data, Analysis Coding) Contractor Chief Medical Officer

Caleb DesRosiers, J.D., M.P.A.
Former HHS/CMS Special Assistant,
Former Policy Director, Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., Pfizer Inc.
Former Health Policy Advisor, Massachusetts Speaker’s Office

Alissa Williams Pereira, M.P.H.
Former Legislative Analyst, Schering Plough Corporation

Danielle Pambianco, M.P.H
Former Healthcare Analyst, Altarum Institute

HillCo Health is a division of HillCo Partners—www.hillcopartners—a government relations firm located in Austin, Texas.