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Sarai McDowell

Enterprise Project Manager

As enterprise project manager, Sarai ensures all client projects are executed with excellence.


Utilizing key objectives, milestones and our project management solution, Sarai oversees delivery of all projects. She maintains overall enterprise project performance while also paying attention to the details of the project.

Working alongside the consultants and partners, she verifies and implements the timeline of the project, has an open line of communication with our project POC and our consultants.

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Sebastion Williams

Advising Health Plan Clients

Sebastion has extensive experience with managed healthcare startups in the government program arena, complex and coordinated care management and behavioral health care delivery.

Focus Areas
  • Medicaid managed care
  • LTSS process design

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Rob Robidou

Advising Health Plan Clients

Rob is a health care executive with expertise managing the startup of managed-care organizations and the ability to develop and implement strategy in a rapidly changing health care environment. He is a skilled operations leader with a record of success managing the various areas of operations within a health plan including network development, provider relations, claims, call center, system configurations and provider information.

Rob has been part of the executive team leading the successful startup of two pediatric managed-care organizations. As Vice President of Operations with Children’s Medical Center Health Plan, he was instrumental in readying the plan to accept members, including developing a strategy and securing a Medicaid contract. He structured and negotiated contracts with vendors to provide vision and behavior health services, pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), and health risk assessment software. He also oversaw Network Development, Provider Relations, Systems Configuration, Credentialing, Network Administration, Claims, Marketing, Outreach, and Call Center operation.

Previously, as Director of Network Development for Cook Children’s Health Plan, Rob was part of the executive team managing the startup, led staff in the implementation of the CHIP and STAR programs, chaired the Delegation Oversight Committee, and served on Process Improvement, Medical Management, Quality, and Corporate Compliance Committees. He was also a founding member of the Texas Association of Community Health Plans (TAHP), a consortium of provider-owned or community-sponsored health plans that jointly contracted with vendors.

Rob also has served as Director, Managed Care Contracting, Network Development for Cook Children’s Health Care System, as one of five initial employees hired for the development of the Children’s Health Care System Managed Care Department. In that capacity, he helped develop a contracting strategy and managing relationships between national and regional managed-care organizations and Cook Children’s Health Care System. He also developed relationships and negotiated contracts for CCHCS’s Bone Marrow to become a Center of Excellence program.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management from Kansas State University.

Rob has served as a Board Member and President of the DFW Alliance for Healthcare Excellence and on the Navitus Client Advisory Board. He is also a recognized national speaker on managed-care contracting and provider-relationship development, presenting at key industry conferences, including the Medicaid Innovations Forum, World Congress, Institute for International Research, and Network Development Congress.

Focus Areas
  • Health plan implementations and operations
  • Pediatric managed care
  • Provider network management
  • PBM contracting

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Steven Hedgepeth

Advising Technology, Health Plan, Provider and Investor Clients

Steven Hedgepeth, MBA has a strong operational and strategy implementation background with over fifteen years of experience working across the Human Service, Physical and Behavioral Health fields at both the local community and state/national levels.  As a founder and senior leader in multiple healthcare organizations, Steven is adept at setting a clear vision and strategy to navigate the challenges of a shifting healthcare landscape.  He has led organizations through significant Medicaid policy and payor changes, acquisitions, merger integrations, and implementation of Financial and EHR information systems.  Steven has experience creating innovative public/private partnerships to adapt to rapidly changing models of care across both for-profit and not for profit organizations.  His ability to quickly assess the needs of an organization and devise a plan for success has been honed advising a myriad of both public and private organizations.

Focus Areas
  • HHS technology
  • Behavioral health
  • Integrated care
  • Data analysis and systems

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Jeff Myers

Advising Rx and Health Plan Clients

Jeff is an expert advisor helping clients understand and formulate successful market access and reimbursement strategies. His experience spans working for Congress, life science innovators, as well as a range of payors and providers. Over his three decades in Washington, he has built and managed communications, government relations and regulatory policy organizations that have successfully addressed complex public policy issues that cross multiple constituencies. His fluency in understanding the big picture as well as the technical expertise in nuanced reimbursement and coverage policy and politics is demonstrated by his often sought out views. He frequently is asked to serve as a keynote speaker and panelist at conferences or is a “go to” opinion leader in the healthcare media space.

One of the largest growth areas in healthcare has been in the public payor space – specifically Medicaid and Medicare. As the former CEO and President of the Medicaid Health Plans of America (MHPA), Jeff was at ground zero during the massive expansion of this program and the overwhelming shift to managed care organizations (MCOs) and the resulting federal and state regulations. During his five-year tenure, his efforts with MHPA propelled the trade association to become a top influencer with government regulators, Congress and the media while representing companies taking full risk in populations as diverse as children, the working poor, and intellectually and physically disabled citizens.

He has an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, and a BA in International Relations and Psychology from Rhodes College.

Focus Areas
  • Medicaid managed care
  • Pharmaceutical market access strategy
  • Pharmaceutical regulatory analysis

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Clay Farris

Founder and Practice Lead, Client Solutions

Clay has advised CMS administrators, state Medicaid Directors, health plan CEOs, technology COOs and a wide range of other clients in the healthcare industry.  His unique blend of management consulting, project management, policy making and analytics help deliver on-time, actionable results for a wide array of business challenges. His Weekly Medicaid Roundup is read and loved by more than 10,000 professionals in the Medicaid industry.

His experience includes policy making at both the federal (CMS) and state levels (State of Georgia), management consulting for large organizational change initiatives, big data solution sales and implementation and cutting-edge analytics.

He currently leads key project components related to consultation design, Medicaid subject matter expertise and project management. He has a masters in Health Policy from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg of School of Public Health and is a Certified Internal Auditor.

Focus Areas
  • HHS technology (various)
  • Integrated care
  • Data analysis and systems

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Mary Doherty

Advising Health Plan Clients (LTSS focus)

RN, MSN, DNP

With more than 25 years experience as a clinician and operations expert in the healthcare space, Mary brings critical insights for clients working on health home and MLTSS programs. She has a strong industry knowledge of health insurance, managed care, Medicare, and Medicaid.  She helps clients develop strategies to increase quality, improve operational efficiencies and optimize revenue opportunities.  

Focus Areas
  • Health home program design and evaluation
  • Quality management

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Cindy Becker

Advising Government and Health Plan Clients

Cindy Becker is a health professional with more than 25 years of progressive leadership experience in Medicaid funding and delivery systems.  She has a demonstrated record of achieving results with a strong focus on collaboration, communications, and customer service.

Cindy has significant experience in health systems in both the public and private sectors.  She is well versed in health transformation – as a founding member of Oregon’s largest Coordinated Care Organization (CCO) now serving more than 230,000 members and a senior executive at the second largest CCO serving 125,000 members.  She has also held executive positions with state and local governments, serving as deputy director of the state’s health and human services agency and director of health for one of the large metropolitan counties.

Cindy is adept at bringing groups together to plan and accomplish strategic priorities.  Her passion is getting systems, policies, and resources aligned to achieve positive outcomes for individuals, families, and communities. Her experience in the private and government sectors, combined with her consulting work, uniquely positions her as a go-to person with the skills, abilities, and insights to provide exceptional services to clients.

Focus Areas
  • Coordinated Care Organizations
  • HHS policy development
  • Process improvement and measurement

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Kris Vilamaa

Partner & Chief Growth Officer

Kris has twenty years of behavioral health, health information technology and health policy experience.  Clients include information technology and pharmaceutical companies, state health and behavioral health departments, state Medicaid agencies, managed care organizations, federally qualified health centers, safety net hospitals, large health systems and community health providers to enact meaningful initiatives. 

His past governmental experience includes state system transformation projects, planning for Medicaid Transformation, development of new behavioral health treatment standards, service definitions and leading large information technology system implementations. Prior to joining Mostly Medicaid, he was Director of Behavioral Health for Germane Solutions and the first Chief Information Officer for the Alabama Department of Mental Health.

Currently, as Partner and Chief Growth Officer for Mostly Medicaid, Kris leads the consulting and product sales team, serves as a senior project manager for key client engagements and a thought leader for behavioral health and health policy in the Medicaid space.

Focus Areas
  • HHS technology (various)
  • Integrated care
  • Data analysis and systems
Career Highlights
  • State Mental Health CIO
  • Consulting practice leadership