Cindy Ward

Cindy Ward provides strategic consulting and thought leadership on public health programs, which is enriched by her background as a clinician and a quality improvement professional. She has more than 20 years of experience in government health programs, has consulted nationally with Medicaid State programs and is an expert in Medicaid Managed Care requirements and Managed Care Plan operations.

Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Ms. Ward was a Senior Principal Consultant with Mercer’s Government practice. In this role, she developed Medicaid care management programs, population health strategies and designed value-based payment models, including full scale Medicaid alternative payment models for primary care medical homes. Her experience includes full-service support of the Medicaid managed care procurement process, including consensus scoring and readiness reviews, program design and request for information drafting. Her experience includes specialized Medicaid Managed Care operational reviews and compliance audits. In addition, she worked closely with Medicaid actuaries to develop rate setting for program and service changes, as well as design clinical algorithms that quantify preventable Emergency Department 30-Day Readmissions and preventable hospitalizations.

Past roles include clinical compliance and quality leadership roles within national managed care organizations, including Optum (part of UnitedHealthcare) and Amerigroup and American Psychological Services (“APS”). Additionally, she supported Medicaid and Medicare Advantage lines of business and all populations including behavioral health and Long-Term Services and Support (“LTSS”). In those roles, Ms. Ward successfully improved health quality performance of the plans and trained Medicaid providers. She also supported clinical compliance and health plan accreditation, such as, the National Committee for Quality Assurance, Utilization Review Accreditation Commission and Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care. Ms. Ward’s clinical nursing experience spans home health care and behavioral health programs across a wide continuum of care, such as behavioral health outpatient services, residential treatment and residential detox.

Ms. Ward holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Kennesaw State University and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Georgia Southern University. She is a licensed registered nurse in Florida and Georgia