Government Relations

Josh GreenbergJosh Greenberg, JD, Vice President of Government Relations

Josh currently serves as the Vice President of Government Relations at Boston Children’s Hospital. His primary responsibility is the oversight of fiscal and public policy issues, including work on Medicaid/CHIP, pediatric quality of care, child/public health concerns, research, and medical education. Josh has been a member of policy leadership committees for the Children’s Hospital Association and the Massachusetts Hospital Association, and he has served on the boards of several legal aid organizations. Josh is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Northeastern University’s School of Law.

Focus areas: public policy, health care access, Medicaid, consumer issues, health system transformation

Amy Judge DeLongAmy Judge DeLong, Director of Federal & External Relations

Amy DeLong has worked in the Office of Government Relations at Boston Children’s Hospital since February 2009. As the Director of Federal and External Relations, she leads the development and execution of the Boston Children’s federal legislative and regulatory agenda, while ensuring that hospital experts are engaged in the national and local policy landscape. She works to ensure Boston Children’s is a substantive contributor and leader on policy matters related to pediatric quality of care, access, medical research, and academic medicine. She represents Boston Children’s in government and health care communities in New England and beyond.

Amy previously worked in Washington, D.C., as a Senior Legislative Assistant for U.S. Congressman Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), where she handled social policy issues with a focus on health care. Before her work on Capitol Hill, Amy was a member of the government relations staff at the Children’s Defense Fund, a non-profit focused on developing and promoting public policies that support children and families.

Focus areas: federal government, Medicaid, research policy, medical education

John RiordanJohn Riordan, MCRP, Director of Community Relations and Partnerships

John divides his time between the Office of Government Relations and the Office of Community Health as the Director of Community Relations and Partnerships at Boston Children’s. His primary responsibility is the development of strategic partnerships to advance the hospital’s community health agenda and to inform child health policy. John also coordinates the hospital’s work with municipal governments. He previously served as Director of Business and Civic Affairs for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Boston. John is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and holds a Master of City and Regional Planning degree from Harvard University.

Focus areas: city government, community partnerships

Kate LewandowskiKate Lewandowski, MS, Senior Project Manager

Kate is the Senior Project Manager in the Office of Government Relations at Boston Children’s Hospital. She supports projects of strategic importance to the enterprise and tracks the policy and regulatory environment to ensure hospital experts have timely input into regulatory developments and children’s health policy issues at the state and federal level. Before joining Boston Children’s, Kate was the Senior Policy Analyst on the children’s health team at Community Catalyst, where she led the organization’s efforts related to refunding the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Kate earned her bachelor’s degree in history of science and medicine from Yale University and her master’s degree in health policy and management from Harvard School of Public Health.

Focus areas: health care policy, health care management, health services research

Shannon Moore headshotShannon Moore, MPA, Director of State Government Relations

Shannon is the Director of State Government Relations in the Office of Government Relations at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is responsible for advancing the hospital’s legislative and policy agenda at the state level to support child health access and coverage and to promote equity and positive health outcomes. Shannon brings her experience in government from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, where she was Director of Legislative Affairs, as well as previous positions serving the Massachusetts legislature. Shannon earned her bachelor’s degree in public relations from Boston University and her master’s degree in public affairs from the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Focus areas: state government, public policy, Massachusetts Medicaid

Amara AzubuikeAmara Anosike, JD, Director of Behavioral Health Advocacy and Policy

Amara is the Director of Behavioral Health Policy and Advocacy at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is responsible for advancing the hospital’s behavioral health policy agenda at the local, state, and national level to expand access to quality behavioral health care for all children. Amara works in close consultation with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and also provides strategic direction and leadership to further the policy goals of the Children’s Mental Health Campaign. Before joining the Government Relations team, Amara worked in the Office of General Counsel at Boston Children’s Hospital, where she implemented and staffed the hospital’s first MedicalLegal Partnership program. Amara also served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Health Care Division at the Massachusetts Office of Attorney General Maura Healey and as a judicial law clerk for the Delaware Family Court. She is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and George Washington University Law School.

Focus areas: behavioral health policy, patient advocacy, Children’s Mental Health Campaign

Alexia Edwards headshotAlexia Edwards, MPH, Government Relations Specialist

Alexia (she/hers) is a Government Relations Specialist in the Office of Government Relations at Boston Children’s Hospital, where she supports the team in advocating for equitable health policy changes to improve the overall health of all children in the commonwealth. The primary focus of her work is equitable access to pediatric behavioral health care; as part of this work, she collaborates with the Children’s Mental Health Campaign. Prior to joining the Government Relations team, Alexia was an administrative associate in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences for three years. Alexia received her Bachelor of Science in Behavior and Health from Boston University and her Master of Public Health from Boston University School of Public Health.

Focus areas: behavioral health policy, health equity, health care access, Children’s Mental Health Campaign

Sarah MillsSarah Mills, MPH, Government Relations Specialist

Sarah (she/hers) is a Government Relations Specialist in the Office of Government Relations at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is responsible for advancing state legislation that would improve children’s health outcomes and address social determinants of health. She also works with the Children’s Advocacy Network (CAN) to help members contribute to the hospital’s policy and legislative advocacy efforts. Previously Sarah worked for the Massachusetts Legislature for a State Representative. She is a graduate of Syracuse University and Simmons University.

Focus areas: state government, health equity, social determinants of health

Alyce NorcrossAlyce Norcross, MPH, Government Relations Specialist

Alyce is a Government Relations Specialist at Boston Children’s Hospital. She supports the execution of Boston Children’s Hospital’s federal legislative and regulatory agenda through coordination with the New England congressional delegation. She also supports the Payer Relation team’s work by monitoring and facilitating the enterprise’s response to regional and national Medicaid policies affecting children’s access to care. Alyce previously worked at the Lowell Community Health Center as a Community Health Worker and Project Manager for their Pediatric Behavioral Health Integration initiative in collaboration with TEAM UP for Children. Alyce earned her bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences from Gettysburg College and her Master of Public Health in Health Policy from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Focus areas: Medicaid policy, federal government, state payor relations, health care access

Amanda StewartAmanda Stewart, MD, MPH, Lead Physician for Clinician Advocacy

Amanda (she/her) serves as a liaison between clinicians within Boston Children’s Hospital and the Office of Government Relations, providing education and facilitating advocacy involvement for clinicians. Her research is focused on children seen in the emergency department for homelessness, screening for and addressing social determinants of health, and other health equity and policy-based projects. She has been involved in legislative advocacy to improve access to shelter for families experiencing homelessness, along with various other child health topics. Amanda received her Bachelor of Sciences from the University of California, Los Angeles, her Master’s in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed residency training in the Urban Health and Advocacy Track of the Boston Combined Residency Program (Boston Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital) and completed fellowship training in pediatric emergency medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, followed by an Advocacy and Public Policy fellowship in the Office of Government Relations.

Focus areas: public health, state government, social determinants of health, housing instability, health equity

Rebeckah OrsattiRebeckah Orsatti, Business Operations Administrator

Rebeckah is the Business and Operations Administrator in the Office of Government Relations and the Office of Community Health at Boston Children’s Hospital. She handles the back-end operations for both offices, specifically focusing on budget, finance, personnel, regulatory compliance, and process improvement. An alumna of Dartmouth College, Rebeckah spent time working in the private and non-profit sectors before transitioning to healthcare; she joined Boston Children’s in 2014. She is proud to advocate side by side with such a dedicated team to improve the quality of life for children and families in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Focus areas: operations, community partnerships, PILOT

Faceless woman iconJean Junior, MD, MPhil, Advocacy and Public Policy Fellow

Jean is an Advocacy and Public Policy Fellow in the Office of Government Relations and a Fellow in Emergency Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. Her interests include voter mobilization interventions, tax policy, and global health. She has done local-, state-, and national-level advocacy work with the American Academy of Pediatrics. Jean received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Harvard College, a Master of Philosophy in Evidence-Based Social Intervention from Oxford University in England, and a Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Medical School. She completed residency in pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, as part of the Pediatric Leadership for the Underserved (PLUS) Program.

Focus areas: social determinants of health, voter registration, tax policy, global health

Amrit Misra headshotAmrit Misra, MD, Advocacy and Public Policy Fellow

Amrit is an Advocacy and Public Policy Fellow in the Office of Government Relations and a second-year adult congenital cardiology fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital. His interests include gun safety, improving access to care for adolescents and young adults with special healthcare needs, and educating communities regarding improving cardiovascular health. He received in Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Medicine Degree from the University of Michigan. He completed an internal medicine-pediatrics residency, chief pediatric year, and pediatric cardiology fellowship from Children’s Hospital of Michigan.

Focus areas: health equity/access, gun safety, mental health

Payor Relations

Faceless woman iconJeanine Downie, Payor Relations Operations Manager

Jeanine is the Payor Relations Operations Manager and came to Boston Children’s Hospital in April 2022 with the newly developed Payor Relations Team. She started her career on the payor side of the business, working in Provider Relations for BCBSMA and Kaiser Permanante. Through that experience, she became acutely aware of the intricacies, nuances, and challenges providers faced through the healthcare delivery system. Jeanine has a long history of recognizing the payor obstacles and administrative burdens encountered by providers. Her work is focused in payor policy and reimbursement advocacy, as well as identifying the root cause and tackling areas for process improvement. Her efforts for breaking down barriers and reaching favorable outcomes are rooted in payor/provider engagement, collaboration, and transparency.

Focus areas: payor payment policy interpretation and advocacy, provider education, reimbursement escalation/resolution, process improvement

Faceless woman iconAnn Talarico, MBA, Senior Advisor of Payment Policy and Advocacy

Ann is the Senior Advisor of Payment Policy and Advocacy on the Payor Relations team in the Office of Government Relations. She is responsible for supporting out-of-state Medicaid policy and managing emerging public policy and budget issues at the regional level. Before rejoining Boston Children’s Hospital, Ann was director of operations for a 22-practice multispecialty medical group. She previously worked in the Finance Department at Boston Children’s Hospital. Ann earned her bachelor’s degree in finance and management from Simmons University and her MBA in healthcare from the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Focus areas: Medicaid policy, patient advocacy, health care management

Faceless woman iconJoanne Duross, Senior Payor Relations Specialist

Joanne is a seasoned healthcare professional who started her career as a licensed registered respiratory therapist in critical care and trauma. Over the years, she joined forces with the business side of healthcare to add a clearer understanding of how the health plans see and interpret the clinical world and make change. She joined Boston Children’s Hospital in June 2007.

Her personal mission statement: Problems are opportunities; solve the problem and create all the opportunities you can handle and share.

Focus areas: commercial payor payment policy, reimbursement escalation/resolution

Faceless woman iconKaren LaCross, Senior Payor Relations Specialist

Karen LaCross is a Senior Payor Relations Specialist, with a focus on Massachusetts Medicaid, managed care entities, and behavioral health. She works as a liaison to help align payor policies with payments and organizational workflows. Karen joined Boston Children’s Hospital in November 2022 with a background in professional revenue cycle management and credentialing. She has many years of experience working in different aspects of healthcare and is a Certified Professional Coder.

Focus areas: MassHealth payment policy, behavioral Health payment policy, reimbursement escalation/resolution

Faceless woman iconErika Beaucage, Payor Relations Specialist

Erika Beaucage started at Boston Children’s in 2013, working for the Ophthalmology and Neurology foundations as a professional claims biller. In 2016, she started working for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as a facility biller and then moved to Brigham & Women’s Hospital in a payor relations role for the Brigham and Women’s Physicians Organization. Erika returned to Boston Children’s in 2018 in a new role, as a payor relations specialist for regional out-of-state Medicaid products.

Focus areas: Out-of-state/regional Medicaid payor payment policy, reimbursement escalation/resolution