Stephen Cha* (CMS) Dr. Stephen Cha is the director for the State Innovations Group at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. The State Innovations Group includes the State Innovations Model and the state all-payer models. These models support the transformation of the preponderance of care in partner states, which represent over two-thirds of the nation’s population.
Most recently, he was the chief medical officer for the Center on Medicaid and CHIP Services and collaborated closely with states on major Medicaid delivery and payment reforms. Previously, he served as senior professional staff for the Committee on Energy and Commerce under Chairman Henry A. Waxman and was responsible for a broad set of health issues including quality, delivery system reform, workforce, comparative effectiveness research, drug and device regulation, and public health. During his tenure with Mr. Waxman, Stephen oversaw the drafting of multiple pieces of legislation, including sections of the Affordable Care Act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007.
Stephen was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the Yale University School of Medicine and earned a master’s degree in health sciences research there. During this time, he authored papers on quality of care and the impact of regulatory policies on health care delivery. He earned his medical degree from Brown University and completed his internal medicine residency at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, where he also served as chief resident. Stephen is board certified in internal medicine and is a practicing primary care clinician.