Understanding the New Beneficiary Notification Requirements in MSSP Speaker Bios
June 29, 2023

Alyssa Neumann, MPH
Senior Analyst, Regulatory Affairs, NAACOS

As senior analyst for regulatory affairs with NAACOS, Alyssa works on a variety of issues related to ACOs and value-based care including primary care, patient engagement, and care management. Prior to NAACOS, Alyssa worked with the Primary Care Collaborative on primary care transformation and payment reform efforts and earned her MPH in Health Policy and Management at George Washington University.

John Pilotte
Director, Performance-Based Payment Policy Group (P3), Center for Medicare, CMS

John Pilotte is the Director of the Performance-based Payment Policy Group (P3) in the Center for Medicare at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. John manages policy development and operations for the Medicare Shared Savings Program, Medicare’s national Accountable Care Organization program with 500 ACOs and 11 million Medicare beneficiaries, oversees compliance and enforcement of new hospital price transparency regulations, and supports policy development and operations of value based payment programs and models including Medicare’s Physician Value Modifier and resource use measurement for physicians, hospitals and post-acute care providers. Prior to P3, John served as the Director of the Division of Payment Policy Demonstrations in the predecessor to the CMS Innovation Center where he managed the development and implementation of the Physician Group Practice Demonstrations and care coordination demonstrations. Prior to joining CMS, John was a senior health care consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers and an associate on the government relations team at the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions. John has a Masters in Health Policy and Management from the Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelors of Science from Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

Cathy LaRuffa
Director, Division of ACO Management & Compliance, P3, Center for Medicare, CMS

Cathy LaRuffa is the Director of the Division of ACO Management & Compliance (DAMC) in the Performance-based Payment Policy Group (P3) in the Center for Medicare at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Cathy manages policy development and operations implementation for various subject matter areas of the Medicare Shared Savings Program, Medicare’s national Accountable Care Organization program with 500+ ACOs accountable for over 10.9 million Medicare beneficiaries. Prior to P3, Cathy served as the Director of the Division of Medicare Advantage Operations in the Medicare Drug & Health Plan Contract Administration Group (MCAG) where she managed the policy development and operations implementation for various subject matter areas of the Medicare Advantage program. Prior to joining MCAG, Cathy was the Director of the Division of Eastern Medicare Administrative Contracts in the Office of Acquisition & Grants Management. In addition to being a Director, Cathy served as a Contracting Officer in OAGM. Prior to joining CMS, Cathy was a member of the Defense Acquisition Workforce Intern Program where she started her government career with the Department of the Navy. Cathy has a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from Frostburg State University.

Jessica Walradt
Director, Performance Based Reimbursement, Value-Based Care, Northwestern Medicine

Jessica leads advocacy, implementation, and performance management for Northwestern Medicine’s Value-Based Care portfolio including all governmental and commercial VBC programs and contracts. Prior to this, she led the Association of American Medical Colleges’ policy, advocacy, and data analytic efforts surrounding alternative payment models. Jessica holds an MS in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health and a BA in Political Science from the University of Richmond.

Jessa Prieskorn
Program Manager, Value-Based Care, Northwestern Medicine

Jessa oversees the Government Value-Based Care portfolio at Northwestern Memorial HealthCare. NM currently in the Medicare Shared Savings Program, with over 81k attributed beneficiaries, and has historically participated in Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced and the Oncology Care Model. Prior to NM, Jessa completed an Administrative Fellowship at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. She received her Masters of Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan and Bachelors of Science from Michigan State University.

Kimberly Busenbark
CEO, Wilems Resource Group

After beginning her career in Medicare Advantage compliance, Kimberly began working with ACOs during the first wave of the Medicare Shared Savings Program and spent the first three years of the program as the ACO Compliance Officer for Collaborative Health Systems’ 35 Shared Savings Program ACOs. During this time, she was responsible for the implementation and oversight of the compliance program for each of the ACOs. Kimberly started Wilems Resource Group in 2015. Since then, WRG has continued to grow, and has helped ACOs across the country remain compliant and be successful within CMS value-based models and programs.

Kimberly is a graduate of Texas A&M University, where she received a Bachelor’s of Business Administration in Marketing and Management, and of The University of Houston Law Center, where she received her Juris Doctorate before being admitted to the State Bar of Texas.