Alan Balch (PAF)
Alan Balch, MD, is a member of the Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network’s Guiding Committee. Since 2013, he is Chief Executive Officer of the National Patient Advocate Foundation where he is responsible for its day-to-day management and onsite leadership. Dr. Balch has extensive experience working with boards and senior executive staff to identify strategic priorities and then coordinate implementation of mission-critical activities across multiple staff and departments, including advocacy, policy, finance, development, legal, health promotions, science, and field operations. Dr. Balch has led numerous federal advocacy efforts on a range of issues both at the legislative and regulatory level; for example, he helped to organize and lead a coalition that successfully fought for improvements in the regulatory process for the review of cancer drugs at the Food and Drug Administration. He also contributed key concepts and statutory language to important provisions in the Affordable Care Act. Dr. Balch also negotiated and helped to oversee a formal partnership among the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, and American Heart Association on a multi-million dollar quality improvement program known as The Guideline Advantage, which is designed to improve patient care by providing performance feedback to physicians and their practices across various quality of care measures. Dr. Balch is currently a member of the Board of Directors and serves as Treasurer for the Center for a New American Dream. He is also Vice Chair of Fight Colorectal Cancer and serves on the Executive Board of the Patient Advocate Foundation and National Patient Advocate Foundation. Dr. Balch is a member of the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Wellness and Health Promotion Advisory Committee and serves on the Advisory Board for both the Patient Resource Cancer Guides and the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease. He earned his PhD in environmental studies from the University of California in Santa Cruz, his master’s degree in environmental sciences from the University of Texas in San Antonio, and his bachelor’s degree in biology from Trinity University in San Antonio.