Constance Payne

Associate Principal

Health Management Associates

Tallahassee, FL

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Constance Payne is a healthcare subject matter expert who brings highly successful, strategic solutions to an array of value-based care initiatives. Her extensive background includes pharmacy practice, federal healthcare policy, Medicaid, behavioral health services, and management consulting.

Prior to joining HMA, Dr. Payne was a project delivery senior consultant in the Government and Public Services Division at Deloitte. In this role, she created high-quality rules design deliverables used to streamline the development and implementation of a cloud-based long-term services and supports solution. She helped translate designs for developers, walked through complex change requests with clients, and helped develop training materials during a system transition.

As the opioid program director at UnitedHealthcare, Dr. Payne led the Tennessee Community and State Opioid Program. In this role, she managed the successful buildout of a statewide TennCare medication-assisted treatment network involving more than 90 medical and behavioral health providers. As the director of payment reform and transformation, she led the Health Link program, a multi-payer healthcare payment reform initiative for TennCare members with the highest behavioral health needs. In this role, she identified and implemented several key processes that allowed for the program’s smooth transition to a behavioral health matrix partner. She also helped the vice president of payment reform and transformation oversee two additional Tenn Care value-based care programs—Patient-Centered Medical Homes and Episodes of Care.

Before her work with UnitedHealthcare, Constance served in multiple roles at TennCare. As a health policy associate, she served as the primary lead for the design, implementation and operations of Health Link. As a business analyst in the Office of eHealth, she expanded the availability and access of health care information and data to TennCare providers and internal TennCare stakeholders by supporting management of the care coordination tool (CCT), a web-based provider portal. She also served as the primary business point of contact for the chief medical officer, the pharmacy department and behavioral health operations.

Previously Dr. Payne served as a legislative assistant in the office of Senator Thad Cochran, where she conducted extensive research on healthcare, education, labor, and veterans’ issues and policies for Senator Cochran, then-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. She gained in-depth knowledge of the appropriations process by drafting, finalizing, and submitting all priority requests to the appropriate Appropriations Subcommittee and authored talking points, official statements, hearing materials, briefing documents, and speeches for Senator Cochran. She was also a research/staff assistant in the office of Senator Lamar Alexander, where she conducted independent research and prepared health-related policy papers for Senator Alexander, then-ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Prior to her work in the federal government, Dr. Payne spent her early career as a retail pharmacist in Mississippi.

Dr. Payne earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree and a Bachelor of Science in pharmaceutical sciences degree from the University of Mississippi.