Deborah Bachrach

Deborah Bachrach is Senior Counsel for Manatt Health Solutions. She has more than 20 years of experience in health policy and financing in both the public and private sectors and an extensive background in Medicaid policy and healthcare reform.  Her practice focuses on developing strategies to respond to the requirements and opportunities of federal health reform, particularly in balancing coverage, quality and cost containment.

Deborah has served as an advisor to the Center for Health Care Strategies, the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), and the Kaiser Family Foundation as well as state Medicaid agencies, foundations, healthcare providers and other healthcare organizations.  She is currently a member of the electronic enrollment workgroup at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Value Incentives Learning Collaborative at the Institute of Medicine.  She is an adjunct professor of law at the New York University School of Law, where she teaches a seminar on federal health reform.

Most recently, Deborah was the Medicaid Director and Deputy Commissioner of Health for the New York State Department of Health, Office of Health Insurance Programs.  In this capacity, she was responsible for coverage, care and payment policies for over 4 million children and adults enrolled in New York’s Medicaid and Child Health Insurance Programs. 

Deborah was a partner at Manatt from 1992 to 2006, serving as co-chair of the Healthcare Practice Group.  She provided legislative, regulatory and strategic counsel to academic medical centers, safety net hospitals, community health centers, health plans and other healthcare companies.

Prior to this, she served as Vice President, External Affairs, at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center.  She also worked for four years as New York State Chief Assistant Attorney General and for three years as Chief of the Civil Rights Bureau in the Office of the New York State Attorney General.