Marsha Lillie-Blanton

Adjunct Professor

School: Milken Institute School of Public Health

Department: Health Policy and Management

Contact:

2175 K Street 2175 K Street, NW Washington DC 20052

Marsha Lillie-Blanton is a public health professional with more than 30 years of experience working on health and health care access issues facing vulnerable populations. She has worked in government, a national health foundation, and academia, with a focus on measuring and improving access to quality care. Her professional career has woven together opportunities to pursue scholarship and teaching in academia with efforts as a practitioner grounded in the realities that confront marginalized communities.

Lillie-Blanton currently is an Adjunct Professor of Health Policy and Management with the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She previously served as the Chief Quality Officer and Director of the Division of Quality and Health Outcomes at the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). With a budget of $500 million over 6 years, she had responsibility for establishing a health care quality measurement and reporting program for Medicaid and CHIP, oversight of state contracts for annual external quality reviews of Medicaid managed care organizations, developing the state-federal partnership in quality improvement activities, and conducting the first-ever nationwide survey of Medicaid beneficiaries’ experiences of care.

Prior to Lillie-Blanton’s position with CMS, she held senior-level positions with the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). As a vice-president with the Kaiser Family Foundation, she supported the efforts of policy analysts, provider organizations and communities in reducing racial/ethnic disparities in health care access and managed three health policy leadership development programs for students of color. In her role as an Associate Director of Quality and Public Health at GAO, she managed health policy research and evaluation teams to support the Congress in its oversight of federal government agencies.

Lillie-Blanton is active in her professional and civic community. She was a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Guidance for Designing a National Healthcare Disparities Report, served on the National Advisory Council for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, chaired the D.C. Medicaid Medical Care Advisory Committee for several years, and was a member of the D.C. Health Coverage Advisory Panel. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Northern Virginia Health Foundation. She has authored and co-authored numerous articles, book chapters, and reports.

Lillie-Blanton holds a bachelor's degree from Howard University and a master of health science and doctorate degree from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is a resident of the District of Columbia and has three adult children and five grandchildren.

Expertise

Access to Health Care

Health Disparities

Medicaid and SCHIP

Social Determinants of Health

Education

Doctor of Public Health (DrPH), 1988. The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management

Master of Health Science (MHS), 1982. The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Mental Hygiene

Bachelor of Science (BS), 1975. Howard University, College of Liberal Arts

Publications

Journal Articles

Miller W, Sadegh-Nobari T, Lillie-Blanton M. Healthy Starts For All: Policy Prescriptions. Am J Prev Med 40 (Suppl 1):S19-37, Jan 2011.

Snow Jones A, Lillie-Blanton M, Stone VE, et al. “Multi-Dimensional Risk Factor Patterns Associated with Non-use of HAART among HIV-Infected Women." Women's Health Issues. 20 (5):335-42, 2010.

Lillie-Blanton M, Stone VE, Snow Jones A, et al. “Association of Race, Substance Abuse, and Health Insurance in Use of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy Among HIV-Infected Women, 2005.” AJPH. Nov 2009.

Lillie-Blanton M, Maleque S, Miller W. “Reducing Racial, Ethnic, and Socioeconomic Disparities in Health Care: Opportunities in National Health Reform.”J Law Med Ethics. Vol 36 (4) 693-702, 2008.

Lillie-Blanton M. and Hoffman C. “The Role of Health Insurance Coverage in Reducing Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health Care.” Health Affairs. Vol.4 No.2. March/April 2005.

Lillie-Blanton M, Maddox T, Rushing O, Mensah G., “Disparities in Cardiac Care: Rising to the Challenge of Healthy People 2010.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Vol. 44 No. 3 August 2004.

Zuckerman S, Haley J, Roubideaux Y, Lillie-Blanton M. “Health Service Access, Use, and Insurance Coverage Among American Indians/Alaska Natives and Whites: What Role Does the Indian Health Service Play?” AJPH 94 (1): 53-59, 2004.

Lillie-Blanton M., Martinez R., Salganicoff A. “Site of Medical Care: Do Racial and Ethnic Differences Persist?” Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics Volume I:15-32, 2001.

Friday J., Lee D., Lillie-Blanton M., Weinstock B., Kates J. “A Survey of Black Elected Officials on HIV/AIDS in the African-American Community.” Minority Health Today April Supplement: 6-14, 2001.

Chatterji P., Caffray C., Jones AS., Lillie-Blanton M., Werthamer L. “Applying Cost Analysis Methods to School-Based Prevention Programs.” Prevention Science 2 (1):45-55, 2001.

Lillie-Blanton M., Brodie M., Rowland D., Altman D., McIntosh M. “Race, Ethnicity, and the Health Care System: Public Perceptions and Experiences.” Medical Care Research and Review 57: 218-235, 2000.

Leigh W, Lillie-Blanton M, Martinez R, Collins K. “Managed Care and Low-income Populations: Recent State Experiences. Inquiry. Fall; 36(3):318-31, 1999.

Lillie-Blanton M. and Lyons B. “Managed Care in Three States: Experiences of Low-income African Americans and Hispanics.” Health Affairs. 17, no.3 (1998):238-247, 1998

Crump R., Lillie-Blanton M., Anthony J. “The Influence of Self-Esteem on Smoking Among African American School Children. J of Drug Education. 27(3):277-291, 1997.

Lillie-Blanton M., Parsons P.E., Gayle H., Dievler A. “Racial Differences in Health: Not Just Black and White, But Shades of Gray.” Annual Review Public Health 17:411-48, 1996.

Lillie-Blanton M. and LaVeist T. "Race/Ethnicity, the Social Environment, and Health." Social Science and Medicine Vol 43 (1):83-91, 1996.

Lillie-Blanton M. and Hoffman S. "Conducting an Assessment of Health Needs and Resources in a Racial/Ethnic Minority Community." HSR: Health Services Research 30:1 226-236, April, 1995.

Lillie-Blanton M., Anthony J.C., Schuster C.R. "Probing the Meaning of Racial/Ethnic Group Comparisons in Crack-Cocaine Smoking." JAMA Vol. 269, No. 8, February 1993.

Lillie-Blanton M., Martinez R., Kidd-Taylor A., Robinson B. G. "Latina and African American Women: Continuing Disparities in Health." International Journal of Health Services. Vol.23, No. 3, 1993.

Lillie-Blanton M, Felt S, Redmon P, Renn S, Machlin S, Wennar E. Rural and Urban Hospital Closures, 1985-1988: Operating and Environmental Characteristics that Affect Risk. Inquiry Fall; 29(3):332-44, 1992.

Jones C., LaVeist T., Lillie-Blanton M. "Race in the Epidemiologic Literature: An Examination of the American Journal of Epidemiology, 1921-1990." American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol 134, No 10, 1991.

Lillie-Blanton M., MacKenzie E., Anthony J. "Black-White Differences in Alcohol Use By Women: Baltimore Survey Findings." Public Health Reports, Vol.106, No 2, March-April 1991.

Davis K., Lillie-Blanton M., Lyons B., Mullan F., Powe N., Rowland D., "Health Care for Black Americans: The Public Sector Role." The Milbank Quarterly, Vol.65, Suppl. 1, 1987.

Books and Book Chapters

Lillie-Blanton M., Martinez R., Lyons B., Rowland D. (eds) Access to Health Care: Promises and Prospects for Low-Income Americans. Wash, D.C.: The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, 1999.

Lillie-Blanton M, Leigh W, Alfaro-Correa A. (eds) Achieving Equitable Access: Studies of Health Care Issues Affecting Hispanics and African Americans. Lanham: University Press of America, 1996.

Lillie-Blanton M, Bowie J, Ro M. African American Women: Social Factors and the Use of Preventive Health Services. IN Falik M and Collins K (eds). Women’s Health and Care-Seeking Behavior: Dimensions and Implications. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1996.

McCaul M., Lillie-Blanton M., Svikis D. “Drug Use, HIV Status and Reproduction.” IN Faden R and Kass N (eds). HIV, AIDS & Childbearing: Public Policies and Private Lives. Oxford Press, 1996.

Lillie-Blanton M and Lillie C. “Assuring Equitable Access to Health Care: Reexamining Federal and State Roles.” IN Lillie-Blanton, Leigh, Alfaro-Correa (eds). Achieving Equitable Access: Studies of Health Care Issues Affecting Hispanics and African Americans. Lanham: University Press of America, 1996.