Looking to innovate, grow, and make a positive impact on the lives of others? Join a nonprofit service and advocacy organization whose mission is to improve the lives of older adults, especially those who are struggling.

We Are NCOA and 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. The National Council on Aging, a national voice for every American’s right to age well, has an exciting opportunity for a Senior Specialist, MIPPA, Medicare and Medicaid in its Arlington, VA/Crystal City office.

The Senior Specialist, MIPPA, Medicare and Medicaid plays a central role in the development and coordination of programmatic activities within the Center for Benefits Access. The Senior Specialist 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 (CBA). 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 Senior Specialist 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 PHE winding down).
• Medicare assistance programs—e.g., Part D Extra Help, Medicare Savings Program.
• Implementation of administrative rulemaking and guidance.

The Senior Specialist 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 Senior Specialist works 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. Reporting to the Director, Health Coverage and Benefits, the Senior Specialist is 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.

Key responsibilities include the following:

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  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 3 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 through the following activities:
  • Monitoring partner activities
  • Researching and providing prompt and thoughtful responses to requests for information or assistance
  • Developing resources (tip sheets, issue briefs, fact sheets, toolkits, etc.)
  • Maintaining ongoing communication with partners via various channels to support their activities and goals
  • Facilitating and documenting grantee discussions around challenges and promising practices
  • 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, especially including 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 assigned.

Professional Experience/Qualifications:

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  Bachelor’s degree required; master’s degree or professional degree such as an MPP, MPA, MPH, or JD focused on health preferred.
• 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 time management skills, experience with project management platforms (Asana preferred), data and reporting technology, and consulting is strongly desired.
• Exceptional verbal, written, and online communication and facilitation skills, including the ability to communicate openly, listen well, learn from others, and lead through persuasion to support a workload primarily done via email or over the phone.
• Demonstrated skill in establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with diverse audiences.
• Experience with proposal writing for federal, foundation, and corporate grants.
• Respect for differences of race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, ability, and socio-economic circumstance, and ability 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.
• Ability to travel in-state and out-of-state, with some overnight travel, as requested.

NCOA is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to a work environment that supports, inspires, and respects all individuals and in which personnel processes are merit-based and applied without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age, disability, national or ethnic origin, military service status, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. NCOA believes that diversity and inclusion among our teammates is critical to our success, and we seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool.