Dr. Gertrude “Trudi” Carter brings a deep commitment to her work by putting the welfare of patients first and working with physicians and patients to fulfill the Triple Aim.

Dr. Carter has over 25 years of experience in medical affairs and healthcare administration. Prior to joining HMA, she was the chief medical officer at L.A. Care Health Plan, the largest public health plan in the nation. Dr. Carter worked closely with the leadership team to implement strategies to ensure quality healthcare delivery to L.A. Care’s nearly two million members – some of the most vulnerable in the county. She oversaw medical leadership and focused on enhancing access and quality of care, especially for seniors and special needs populations. Dr. Carter gained significant experience with the plan’s individual products, as well as the integration and management of services across multiples lines of business, including Medi-Cal, Medicare D-SNP, and small commercial plan.

During her tenure with L.A. Care, Dr. Carter oversaw utilization review, case management, pharmacy, quality, and medical informatics. She provided critical leadership in the development of new service programs including transgender, autism, and palliative care services. As California shifted from the traditional carve out of behavioral health benefits, Dr. Carter introduced a new integrative behavioral health service for the health plan – establishing a behavioral health department in close partnership with Los Angeles County, which was awarded several grants for innovative care models to support improved integration of behavioral health within primary care and the development of primary care practice tools.

Dr. Carter incorporates the Triple Aim into her work – striving to achieve maximum efficiency and effectiveness and drive optimal provider performance and patient satisfaction. With extensive knowledge of the California-delegated model, she has worked with physician provider groups, ancillary providers, and hospital providers on care delivery and health services. From provider relations to operational oversight of partnerships, Dr. Carter knows how to leverage the strengths of both health plans and providers through shared responsibility services. She monitors intended outcomes and creates revolving incentive programs that contribute to evolving new relationships with a variety of stakeholders.

Prior to L.A. Care, Dr. Carter was CMO at CalOptima, a public health plan and second largest insurer in Orange County. In addition to her traditional CMO responsibilities, she led quality efforts that resulted in achieving four-star performance for the CalOptima special needs plan, top quality performance for the CalOptima Medi-Cal plan, and outstanding quality performance for the Healthy Families program.

Early in her career, Dr. Carter held positions with Catholic Healthcare West, Schaller Anderson, MedPartners Practice Management, and Mullikin Medical Group. She practiced for 12 years as a board-certified pediatrician at Hawthorne Community Medical Group.

Dr. Carter earned her MD at Johns Hopkins Medical School and completed her internship and residency in pediatrics at Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital. She received her bachelor’s degree from Howard University.

Trudi enjoys sewing and designs that are simple yet avant-garde. She values great outcomes, satisfaction, and high efficiency and effectiveness when working with limited resources – “the triple aim of sewing.”