Mary Russell
Mary Russell
Principal
Mary Russell, MPH, serves as Principal of Medicaid Policy and Programs at Aurrera Health Group. Mary is passionate about delivering high quality, integrated care to vulnerable patients and specializes in Medicare and Medicaid policy, program implementation and operations, and strategic communications.
Mary currently works closely with California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) on the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative and supports efforts to improve and expand integrated programs for dually eligible beneficiaries. This includes developing stakeholder engagement strategies, policy, and strategic project management. She also advises on policy and provides technical assistance for Aurrera Health’s federal, foundation, and association clients.
Prior to joining Aurrera Health, Mary was a Senior Consultant at Health Management Associates (HMA) where she supported health plan clients with new product implementation and overall program operations for complex populations. Mary focuses on the connection between program and clinical operations and has developed and reviewed several models of care for special needs plans. As a clinical project manager at L.A. Care Health Plan, the largest publicly operated health plan in the nation, Mary implemented and evaluated programs for dual eligible beneficiaries and led initiatives to integrate product and clinical operations for California’s Duals Demonstration Pilot, Cal MediConnect.
Prior to working with health plans, Mary worked in public relations and collaborated with public health and pharmaceutical organizations to develop and implement disease education and awareness programs. This work included stakeholder engagement, partnership development, media strategy, and evaluation. Mary has worked on oncology, mental health, heart disease, and violence prevention initiatives.
Mary holds a master’s degree in public health from University of California, Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree from Villanova University. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she enjoys cheering on the Dodgers and hiking in Griffith Park with her husband and two daughters.
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Education
MPH, University of California, Berkeley
BA, Communication, Villanova University
