2026 Signature Series Summit on Health Care Payment

July 22, 2026

9:00 am-

3:00 pm

In Person Event

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2026 Signature Series Summit on Health Care Payment: Where We Are, Where We Are Going

How we pay for health care shapes what care gets delivered, to whom, and at what cost. Yet the payment conversation in Washington often moves faster than the understanding behind it.

The 2026 Signature Series Summit on Health Care Payment offered a front-row seat to the critical conversations shaping the future of payment policy. This daylong, expert-led event brought together leading voices in health policy, research, and health care delivery.

The 2026 Signature Series Summit took place on July 22, 2026 at the Barbara Jordan Conference Center in Washington, D.C.

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Here’s what past attendees had to say:

“The event brought together people with different perspectives and viewpoints and that was appreciated.”

“I always walk away with newfound knowledge and excitement around the health policy topics the Alliance chooses to discuss.”

“It was such an interesting, unique and fun event.”

“A great day with meaningful connections and highly enjoyable.”

Panel Details

In Person Event

Panel 1 – Think Again: What We Get Wrong About Health Care Payment and Why It Matters

Misconceptions about how payment works don’t just confuse the conversation, they can impede constructive policy conversation. At the Alliance’s 2026 Thought Leader Workshop, experts kept returning to the same blind spots, the ones that quietly steer debates off course before they begin. This panel brings together voices from insurance and...
In Person Event

Panel 2 – What We Learned: CMMI Leaders Reflect on 15+ Years of Payment Policy

For more than 15 years, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) has served as the country’s primary testing ground for new payment models. The results have been instructive, complicated, and sometimes surprising. Leaders who designed and ran these models sit down to talk candidly about what worked, what...
In Person Event

Panel 4 – Bright Spots: Payment Innovation That is Working Beyond Washington

Some of the most promising ideas in payment aren’t waiting on federal action; they’re already delivering results across states, employer markets, and delivery systems. Throughout the Alliance’s listening process, experts kept coming back to the same point: concrete examples of what’s working sharpen the policy conversation. Panelists will spotlight what...

Agenda

8:45am – Registration

 

9:10am – Welcome Remarks

 

9:20am – Keynote: Transformational Change: “Transforming Care Delivery: Steady Progress to Achieve Bold Goals”

Speaker:

  • Jaewon Ryu, M.D., J.D., CEO, Risant Health

 

9:40am – “Think Again: What We Got Wrong About Health Care Payment and Why It Matters”

Speakers:

  • Moderator: Julie Rovner, Chief Washington Correspondent, KFF Health News
  • Aisha Pittman, MPH, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, National Association of ACOs (NAACOS)
  • Alex Brill, M.A., Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
  • Richard L. Gundling, FHFMA, CMA, Senior Vice President, Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA)
  • Stephen Parente, Ph.D., M.S., MPH, Associate Dean, Carlson Global Institute, Professor of Finance and Minnesota Insurance Industry Chair of Health Finance, University of Minnesota

10:30am – “What We Learned: CMMI Leaders Reflect on 15+ Years of Payment Policy” 

Speakers:

    • Moderator: Mara McDermott, J.D., Chief Executive Officer, Accountable for Health
    • Pauline Lapin, MHS, Former Director, Seamless Care Models Group, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
    • Gita Deo, MPH, Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation
    • Amy Bassano, M.A., Senior Advisor, Medicare, Health Management Associates

11:20am – Break

 

11:30am – “Executive Insights: The Practical Impacts of Payment Policy on Incentives, Timing, and Outcomes

Speakers:

  • Moderator: Claire Sheahan, M.Sc., President and CEO, Alliance for Health Policy
  • Erin Richardson, J.D., M.A., Senior Vice President, Policy & Regulatory Affairs, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.
  • Amanda Bartelme, Executive Director, Policy, Eisai Inc.

 

12:05 pm – Lunch

 

1:05pm – “Whose Experience? Centering Patients in Payment Policy”

Speakers:

  • Moderator: Claire Sheahan, M.Sc., President and CEO, Alliance for Health Policy
  • Sarah Coombs, MPH, Director for Health System Transformation, National Partnership for Women & Families

 

1:35pm – “Bright Spots: Payment Innovation That is Working Beyond Washington”

Speakers:

  • Moderator: Melinda Buntin, Ph.D., Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  • Meena Seshamani, M.D., Ph.D., Maryland Secretary of Health, Maryland Department of Health
  • Blaire Bryant, MPH, Vice President, Policy and Advocacy, National Alliance for Caregiving
  • Darren Fogarty, M.S., Associate Director of Purchaser Value and Policy, Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH)
  • *Due to inclement weather, Maureen Hensley-Quinn, MPA, is unable to moderate this panel, and Melinda Bundtin, Ph.D. will serve as moderator.

2:25pm – Closing Keynote: Incremental Change – “The Case for Incremental but Meaningful Change”

Speaker:

  • Dan Mendelson, MPP, Chief Executive Officer, Morgan Health (JPMorganChase)

 

2:45pm – Closing Remarks

  • Moderator: Claire Sheahan, M.Sc., President and CEO, Alliance for Health Policy
  • Erin Richardson, J.D., M.A., Senior Vice President, Policy & Regulatory Affairs, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.
  • Amanda Bartelme, Executive Director, Policy, Eisai Inc.

 

12:05 pm – Lunch

 

1:05pm – “Whose Experience? Centering Patients in Payment Policy”

Speakers:

  • Moderator: Claire Sheahan, M.Sc., President and CEO, Alliance for Health Policy
  • Sarah Coombs, MPH, Director for Health System Transformation, National Partnership for Women & Families

 

1:35pm – “Bright Spots: Payment Innovation That is Working Beyond Washington”

Speakers:

  • Moderator: Melinda Buntin, Ph.D., Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  • Meena Seshamani, M.D., Ph.D., Maryland Secretary of Health, Maryland Department of Health
  • Blaire Bryant, MPH, Vice President, Policy and Advocacy, National Alliance for Caregiving
  • Darren Fogarty, M.S., Associate Director of Purchaser Value and Policy, Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH)
  • *Due to inclement weather, Maureen Hensley-Quinn, MPA, is unable to moderate this panel, and Melinda Bundtin, Ph.D. will serve as moderator.

2:25pm – Closing Keynote: Incremental Change – “The Case for Incremental but Meaningful Change”

Speaker:

  • Dan Mendelson, MPP, Chief Executive Officer, Morgan Health (JPMorganChase)

 

2:45pm – Closing Remarks

Presentation: 2026 Signature Series Summit Slide Deck

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