Biography - Rachel Block

Rachel Block
Project Director, Quality Strategies Initiative
United Hospital Fund

Rachel Block is the project director for the United Hospital Fund's Quality Strategies Initiative where she has been developing and implementing coordinated efforts to measure, report on and improve health care delivery and outcomes across the health care system in New York since 2003.

Prior to joining the Fund, Rachel was vice president in the Health Services Group at MAXIMUS, where she directed strategic planning and development of products and services to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of state health programs. Rachel also worked from 1994-2002 at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (previously Health Care Financing Administration), where she held several senior management positions directing policy development and operations of Medicaid, State Children's Health Insurance, and Federal Survey and Certification Programs, with particular emphasis on quality improvement, data and systems issues. During this time, she worked closely with CDC and HRSA to improve coordination across Federal and state health programs.

From 1992-94, Rachel worked for then-Governor Howard Dean in the development of a comprehensive health reform plan for the state of Vermont. She also worked for the New York State Legislature from 1978-92 where she concentrated on Medicaid, coverage for the uninsured, public health and professional licensing issues.

Rachel is a member of the eHealth Initiative Foundation Board and currently serves as secretary to the board. She is also a member of the Academy for Health Services Research and Policy, the American Medical Informatics Association, and national advisory committees for two initiatives funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: the Public Health Leaders Initiative and the Depression in Primary Care Initiative.