Mary Ella Payne
Vice President, System Legislative Leadership
Ascension Health

Mary Ella Payne serves as Vice President, System Legislative Leadership, for Ascension Health. Prior to working for Ascension Health, Ms. Payne was senior legislative aide to Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) for 10 years. She advised Senator Rockefeller on a wide variety of healthcare issues, including comprehensive healthcare reform, Medicare and Medicaid policies, and creation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Ms. Payne staffed him both as Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee's subcommittee on health that has jurisdiction over the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

During her tenure in the Senator's office, Ms. Payne worked on the following successful legislative initiatives: improved flexibility for rural health clinics; improved coverage of primary and preventive care services provided by nurse midwives under the Medicaid program; expanded Medicaid coverage of home and community care services for the frail elderly; expanded Medicare coverage for oral anti-cancer drugs and the "off-label" use of prescription drugs proven to be medically effective; new Medicare coverage for seniors participating in clinical research trials; expanded Medicare managed care options with the inclusion of a new managed care plan organized and run by hospitals (PSOs); new designation of, and special reimbursement policies for, Critical Access Hospitals under the Medicare program, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Ms. Payne also was a member of President Clinton's White House Task Force on Health Care Reform, focusing on purchasing alliances, coverage expansions and insurance reforms.

Prior to working on Capitol Hill, Ms. Payne was selected a Presidential Management Intern and worked as a policy analyst for the Medicare program at the Health Care Financing Administration (now known as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS]). During a 3-month internship at the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, she authored five booklets on ways to monitor and evaluate the quality and appropriateness of healthcare in a variety of hospital settings.

Early in her career, Ms. Payne was a staff nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit and a member of the neonatal transport team at Kosair-Children's Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Masters of Science in Public Health, and graduated with honors from the University of Louisville with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

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