Associate Director, Center for Benefits Access

at  National Council on Aging

We believe every person deserves to age well. That’s why we’re on a path to improve the lives of 40 million older adults by 2030. Come join an awesome team and learn about the work we do, the people we serve, and why equitable aging matters now more than ever. At NCOA, we represent the interests of the aging population across the nation, while striving to live out our core values of equity, excellence, and innovation. This is meaningful work where we put “people first” and our employees can learn and grow, where work/life balance is prioritized, and have a flexible hybrid work schedule while being part of a dynamic, collaborative team.
We are interested in growing our team with passionate, committed, and innovative individuals. The Associate Director, Center for Benefits Access will join NCOA at a time of dynamic growth.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Associate Director plays a central role in the development and coordination of programmatic activities within the Center for Benefits Access. The Associate Director serves as a subject matter expert on Medicare and Medicaid for the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA) grant programs within the Center for Benefits Access. The MIPPA program allocates federal funding through the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL) for State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs), Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), and Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs) to help low-income Medicare beneficiaries apply for programs that make Medicare affordable. MIPPA legislation also funds a National Center for Benefits Outreach and Enrollment (NCBOE), also known as the MIPPA Resource Center, which provides training, collects data, and disseminates information and best practices to MIPPA grantees.

The Associate Director serves as CBA’s lead technical assistance (TA), capacity building, and support specialist for entities/grantees that receive MIPPA funding and lead MIPPA implementation on behalf of their state, such as SHIPs, AAAs, and ARDCs, and works independently and collaboratively with team members to plan and implement guidance, training, TA, and capacity building to this group of constituents as well as to the CBA network more broadly on MIPPA and Medicare topics as well as relevant Medicaid topics, including:

• MIPPA grant requirements and reporting
• Medicare and Medicaid policy and other relevant policy topics that impact MIPPA programs and consumers (e.g., COVID Public Health Emergency winding down)
• Medicare assistance programs—e.g., Part D Extra Help, Medicare Savings Program
• Implementation of administrative rulemaking and guidance.

The Associate Director keeps up to date regarding the progress of MIPPA program grantees and program services delivery partners across the country; highlights evidence-based and promising practices; and provides information, support, and resources to strengthen and expand an integrated, sustainable service system for MIPPA entities, consultants, and grantees. Further, the Associate Director will work with team members within NCOA and external stakeholders, such as the Administration for Community Living/ Administration on Aging (ACL/AoA), to develop and implement a national strategy to connect seniors with benefits and programs to address economic security. This includes building capacity among current and new grantees by conceptualizing, testing, and rolling out new resources and initiatives. The Associate Director will be responsible for collaborating with NCOA staff and external partners to tell the story of these initiatives, share our findings, and raise up the voices of vulnerable older adults and the organizations that serve them.
This position reports to the Director, Health Coverage and Benefits.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE/QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree or professional degree is preferred, such as an MPP, MPA, or MPH or JD focused on health.
• Minimum of 7 to 10 years of experience and strong familiarity in the following areas: Medicare (ideally all parts—A, B, D, and C), MIPPA, ACL programs, and benefits that improve consumers’ financial security.
• Demonstrable familiarity with Medicaid, national and state policies that affect Medicaid programs and administration, dual-eligible populations, strategies to leverage Medicaid programs to address upstream non-medical, health-related needs of older adults, women, and low-income populations on older adults is strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of public benefits, aging issues, and impact of economic insecurity on older adults.
• Exceptional verbal, written, and online communication and facilitation skills, including the ability to communicate openly, listen well, learn from others, and speak publicly on behalf of NCOA.
• Demonstrated skill in establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with diverse audiences.
• Experience with proposal writing for federal, foundation, and corporate grants preferred.
• Respect for differences of race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, ability, and socio-economic circumstance, and able to work with diverse individuals within the organization and the broader community.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Experience using databases and online tools strongly preferred. Familiarity with webinar technology is a plus.
• Able to travel in-state and out-of-state, with some overnight travel, as requested.
  The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Lead regular meetings and workshops for the MIPPA network. These include various monthly orientations, bimonthly network calls, and quarterly calls with state MIPPA leaders that focus on administrative updates to Medicare, best practices in outreach, and facilitated peer sharing of lessons learned from the field.
• Assist with planning and participation in at least three webinars per year on a variety of Medicare and MIPPA topics.
• Participate in and help organize NCOA’s participation in routine meetings and activities related to the MIPPA program and National Resource Center operations with internal stakeholders, funders, SHIPs, and other ACL Resource Centers.
• Serve as an internal and external subject matter expert (SME) and TA provider on MIPPA/Medicare/Medicaid content. Activities include: Monitoring partner activities; researching and providing prompt and thoughtful responses to requests for information or assistance; resource development (tip sheets, issue briefs, fact sheets, toolkits, etc.); ongoing communication with partners via various channels to support their activities and goals; facilitating and documenting grantee discussions around challenges and promising practices; and communicating learnings about the Center’s work through conference presentations, reports, publications, and other venues.
• Manage the MIPPA Network listserv.
• Foster a spirit of collaboration, coordination, and communication in carrying out your responsibilities, and work closely with NCOA staff to drive continuous quality improvement and contribute to progress toward NCOA’s social impact goals.
• Support development of strategies that build on CBA’s existing programs, products, services, and initiatives, including especially strategies to connect our work with AAAs, SHIPs, ARDCs, food security, and the direct care workforce to Medicaid and Medicare programs, policies, and national and state-level work/initiatives.
• Contribute to and, if requested, lead grant proposal and report writing support.
• Other responsibilities as requested.