Director
Margaret E. Johnson, M.B.A., is a Director at L&M Policy Research. She brings over 25 years of experience in federal and state health care policy, research, and management. She brings extensive experience conducting primary research data collection, having led and analyzed hundreds of key informant interviews and focus groups with state health officials, providers, payers, consumers, and employers about the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Ms. Johnson is experienced in analyzing and reporting findings using qualitative methods, designing and writing case studies, leading site visits, and conducting environmental scans. Her policy areas of expertise include a range of topics including the intersection of public benefits in the U.S. – especially for older adults; social determinants of health and equity issues experienced by vulnerable Medicare, Medicaid and Marketplace populations; and innovations in Medicare and Medicaid payment policy.
Ms. Johnson has successfully managed and directed numerous projects for the Federal Government and private clients. Recently, she led efforts on a feasibility study to determine ways policymakers can improve and automate the public benefits enrollment process for older adults on behalf of the National Council on Aging. She currently serves as a subject matter expert on health disparities and equity issues for the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation’s (CMMI) Value Based Care Learning System Contract, bringing expertise in the topic of social determinants of health. In addition, she is the project manager for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of Minority Health, supporting efforts to build the business case for health systems, payers, states, and territories to advance health equity. She also leads a team in assessing the Improvement Activities in the current portfolio of CMS Alternative Payment Models based on the statutory and regulatory definitions and criteria for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) performance.
Prior to joining L&M, she held senior management positions in a national home care and infusion/specialty pharmacy company where she worked extensively in health care operations and management; just prior to that, she spent several years working in health policy research, focused primarily on federal health programs.
Ms. Johnson holds a Master of Business Administration in health administration from the University of Colorado.