Barbara Markham Smith

Barbara Markham Smith, J.D., is a principal in the Washington, D.C., office of Health Management Associates (HMA). Prior to joining HMA, she was the founding director of the CO-OP Program Division at the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Under her leadership, new nonprofit, consumer-governed health insurance companies have become operational in almost half of the country. Ms. Smith is an expert on health insurance coverage and coverage expansion, financing, delivery system reforms, and the impact of chronic disease management on costs. She is the author of numerous articles and published studies on the effects of policy changes on government health programs and access to care. While at the Institute of Medicine as a senior program officer, she analyzed quality initiatives in federal health programs. She is a graduate of Harvard College and Boston University Law School where she studied in a joint curriculum at the Harvard School of Public Health.