The Dartmouth MPH Journey for Angela Ramponi Offers Opportunities to Explore Payment Models for Lowering the Cost of Care

Angela, what about Dartmouth's MPH program made you feel like it would be the right fit, right now in the evolution of your career? 

I currently cover healthcare policy for U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. I lead the health finance portfolio focused on, amongst other items, insurance, Medicaid and Medicare, health IT, drug pricing and health workforce issues. I joined the Senator’s team after working in public policy and health policy at both the state and local levels in Alaska. Through these experiences, I had the opportunity to see the impacts, flaws, and complexities in our healthcare system at multiple levels. I am thrilled Dartmouth offers an option that allows me to pursue my master's degree while I continue my work on Capitol Hill. 

What are some of the areas you’re most interested in learning more about/investigating at Dartmouth?I am most interested in healthcare payment systems and rural healthcare. The growing cost of care has reduced our ability – from the household level to the country as a whole - to invest in the myriad other essential items necessary to maintain a healthy society.  At Dartmouth I would like to focus on ways to create an accessible, sustainable, health care system in rural America. 

Where do you want to influence change in public health and healthcare?

The ever-pressing challenges of both high health care costs and limited access to quality care in rural communities push me to continue working in this field. I would like to conceptualize a framework for how to think about, analyze, and help determine what the appropriate level of care in a given community is, and then explore what payments models can help achieve these goals.

POSTED 9/9/2019 AT 01:54 PM IN #mph online