The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania is staffed by DeBrunner & Associates,  Pennsylvania’s leading health care policy and advocacy consulting firm.  Supported by a staff of professionals with extensive experience in the health care industry and public sector, the firm specializes in consulting with providers on a variety of government health policy issues, especially Medicaid and Medicare.  In addition to an extensive health policy consulting practice in Harrisburg, DeBrunner & Associates works with clients throughout the country and in Washington, D.C.

Michael Chirieleison is SNAP’s president. He is responsible for evaluating SNAP’s public policy needs and direction, monitoring the status of state legislative and administrative actions that affect hospitals, managing the association’s political agenda, and directing strategic communication with state officials.

Mike is a respected source of information and expertise on the state’s Medicaid program and has 15 years of policy development and consulting experience. He began his career in public affairs on the staff of Pennsylvania state Senator Michael O’Pake (D-Berks), an author of various historic pieces of health care legislation. He then joined the Pennsylvania Treasury Department as a legislative liaison, developing strong relationships with key Senate and House members and staff and a keen understanding of the dynamics of the state legislative process. He also was awarded a fellowship by a major Pennsylvania health insurer to perform an organizational analysis of various financial and provider-related operations. Currently a partner with DeBrunner & Associates, Mike earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Franklin & Marshall College.

Chris Beck is SNAP’s legislative director.  He is responsible for understanding the legislative and political environment, assessing how they affect SNAP members, and developing and implementing strategies to achieve SNAP’s public policy and legislative goals.  He monitors the introduction and progress of legislation and closely follows legislative activity, including committee proceedings, the annual budget process, and other legislative activity.

A consultant with DeBrunner & Associates, Chris has an extensive background in government relations and health care policy.  Prior to joining DeBrunner & Associates he spent nearly a decade developing, managing, and executing government relations strategies for Vertex, a biopharmaceutical company, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.  Most recently he served as director of public affairs for the University of Pennsylvania Health System.  Before working in government relations, Chris was an aide to U.S. Senator Arlen Specter.  Chris graduated from Drexel University with a bachelor’s degree in history and political science.

Ben DeBrunner is SNAP’s director of policy analysis, focusing on state legislative, policy, and regulatory changes with potential implications for SNAP and its members. In this role Ben is responsible for understanding the state Medicaid and health care policy environment; analyzing new and emerging policy directions and assessing how they will affect SNAP members; identifying the potential problems, opportunities, and options those new policy directions pose; and developing a policy foundation for SNAP’s strategic responses to those changes on behalf of its members. He serves in a similar capacity for DeBrunner & Associates. Ben graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts.

Kate Finkelstein serves as the association’s eyes and ears in Washington, D.C., monitoring federal legislative and regulatory developments of potential interest to Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals and serving as the group’s liaison to its congressional delegation. A consultant with DeBrunner & Associates, she is an effective advocate of the association’s interests before Congress and the administration.

Kate has an extensive background in the health care field and has worked for a number of health care organizations, including the Georgetown University Medical Center, the George Washington University Medical Center, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Lamar University and earned a master’s degree in library and information science from Louisiana State University.

Janel Gleeson serves as SNAP’s research and policy associate. In this role she monitors legislation and regulations, attends public meetings and hearings, and researches and analyzes issues of potential importance to Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals. She also participates in the collection, organization, and analysis of the health care data used to guide SNAP’s policy initiatives. She serves in a similar capacity for DeBrunner & Associates. Janel is a graduate of Dickinson College and Penn State Dickinson Law.

Ellen Kugler is SNAP’s director of federal policy and is responsible for monitoring health policy developments in Washington, D.C. with a potential impact on SNAP hospitals and representing the interests of those hospitals before Congress and the administration. She is an expert in government health care policy, especially Medicaid and Medicare, as well as a skilled lobbyist with an extensive network of relationships on Capitol Hill.

Ellen’s career in the public policy arena began in the public sector in the 1980s when she worked for various state legislative leaders and presidential candidates. She then came to Washington, D.C. and served on the staffs of prominent members of the health subcommittees of both the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In 1992, Ellen moved into the private sector as a lobbyist and health care policy consultant. Today, as a partner in DeBrunner & Associates, she represents health care clients on a variety of policy issues before Congress and the administration and advises those clients on complex Medicaid and Medicare policy issues. A lawyer by training, Ellen is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, where she concentrated on health care and government law. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and urban planning from the University of California at Berkeley.

Joseph Steinbock is SNAP’s writer, responsible for preparing policy documents, position papers, proposals, press materials, and correspondence. He also contributes to the development of communication strategies.

Joe has worked as a public policy writer for nearly 30 years and currently does so for DeBrunner & Associates. After serving as research director of the Committee of Seventy, a non-profit civic group in Philadelphia, he worked as a grant writer for the American Red Cross and Hahnemann University. For the past 20 years he has worked as a writer for Pennsylvania’s largest government relations consulting firm, where he focused on health policy issues, and for a human resources and government relations consulting firm. Joe earned a bachelor’s degree in urban studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

James Tomkins directs SNAP’s data analysis and policy development activities, managing the development of data needed to analyze the impact of proposed state Medicaid legislation and regulations on Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals. He also oversees the development of data used to drive SNAP’s own policy development and advocacy efforts.

A consultant with DeBrunner & Associates, Jim previously spent more than seven years with the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4). He also has worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Hamot Medical Center, in Erie. Jim has bachelor’s degrees in statistics and economics from the State University of New York at Buffalo, a master’s degree in health services administration from Gannon University, and a master’s degree in business administration from Pennsylvania State University.