Navigant Strengthens Healthcare Payment Transformation, Medicare Advantage and State Government Solutions

CHICAGO, Illinois, Feb. 12 -- Navigant Consulting, a professional services firm, issued the following news release:

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- Total of six new hires deepen capabilities in rate setting, actuarial services, managed care, population health, and long-range financial planning

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Navigant (NYSE: NCI) today announced a series of new hires to enhance its investments in its payment transformation, payer, and government healthcare solutions.

"The continued growth in Medicare Advantage, managed Medicaid, and alternative payment models requires a combination of clinical, operational, financial, actuarial, and public health expertise," said Rich Bajner, managing director and leader of Navigant's healthcare value transformation practice. "These additions strengthen Navigant's ability to offer integrated solutions to payers, providers, and government agencies to help them better manage new payment models and improve the health of the communities they serve."

Russell Ackerman has joined Navigant as a managing director, where he will oversee the healthcare actuarial consulting service line. Ackerman brings more than 25 years of consulting and health plan experience across the public and private sectors. He previously served as national practice leader at Aon, where he led Medicaid actuarial service offerings including assisting states with program development, rate setting, public exchange, and accountable care organization (ACO) strategies. Ackerman also was a principal in Mercer's Government Human Services consulting practice and a chief actuary in a large Midwestern health plan.

Colby Schaeffer has joined Navigant as a director. He is a credentialed actuary who recently served as a vice president at Aon, where his responsibilities included Medicaid capitation rate development, reserve analysis, and health reform modeling for state agencies. Schaeffer has additional actuarial consulting experience with such value-based purchasing arrangements as ACOs and patient-centered medical homes. He also held actuarial-related positions working with several different state programs and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at both The Lewin Group and Coventry Health Care, an Aetna Company.

Bill Van Antwerp has joined Navigant as a managing director. Van Antwerp is an accomplished senior executive with significant experience advising health plans and provider networks on digital, operational, and transformational initiatives. Most recently he worked at Accenture where he managed and led the growth and development of its go-to-market strategy for health plans, with specific focus on consumerism, member engagement, operations, technology, and digital health. Prior to that, he served in leadership positions at HP Enterprise Services and American Express.

Eric Cahow has joined Navigant as a director, where he leads risk adjustment, quality improvement, and revenue optimization solutions for health plans, including provider-sponsored plans. Cahow supports clients through development and implementation of population health management programs aimed at improving revenues for Medicare Advantage and Medicaid managed care organizations through risk adjustment programs, Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Sets (HEDIS), Medicare Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS), and Pharmacy Quality Alliance measures. Cahow has more than 25 years of experience, most recently serving as the national leader of Medicare revenue at Anthem and previously leading Aetna's Medicare Stars efforts. He also worked at WellCare as vice president of product management.

J.T. Lane has joined Navigant as a director, bringing extensive experience in health policy innovation and implementation. He previously served as the chief state public health official for Louisiana, where he led state public health and Medicaid program collaboration to create quality improvement and payment reform projects for Medicaid managed care. He also launched the Center for Population Health Informatics and a statewide program aimed at improving the health of Louisiana residents. In addition, Lane held various roles at Alvarez & Marsal and Health Management Associates advising local, state, national, and global government and private sector health organizations.

Scott Simerly, PhD, has joined Navigant as a director. He spent more than two decades with Myers and Stauffer, where he led hospital and physician reimbursement system design, development, and implementation. His depth of expertise includes the development of hospital rates and other system parameters to manage payment model outcomes, Medicaid supplemental finance strategies and determinations, and the construction of physician fee schedules and various fiscal impact models.

Navigant's Healthcare segment is comprised of consultants, former provider administrators, clinicians, and other experts with decades of strategy, operational/clinical consulting, managed services, revenue cycle management, and outsourcing experience. Professionals collaborate with hospitals and health systems, physician enterprises, payers, government, and life sciences entities, providing performance improvement and business process management solutions that help them meet quality and financial goals.