STRATEGY SPECIALIST - 80575

Executive Service

STRATEGY SPECIALIST

Division of TennCare

Statewide Promotional

Strategic Planning & Innovation

Nashville, TN, Statewide

Minimum Annual Salary: $61,200.00

Closing Date: 09/07/2026

Background Check:

This position requires a criminal background check. Therefore, you may be required to provide information about your criminal history in order to be considered for this position.

Who We Are and What We Do

TennCare is Tennessee's Medicaid managed care program, serving over 1.4 million Tennesseans, including children, pregnant women, older adults, and individuals with disabilities. With an annual budget exceeding $19.2 billion, TennCare operates under the oversight of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

TennCare's mission is to improve the lives of Tennesseans by providing high-quality cost-effective care. To fulfill that purpose, we equip each employee for active participation and empower teams to communicate and work collaboratively to improve organizational processes in order to make a difference in the lives of our members. Because of the positive impact TennCare has on the lives of the most vulnerable Tennesseans, TennCare employees report that their work provides them with a sense of meaning, purpose, and accomplishment. TennCare leadership understands that employees are our most valuable resource and ensures professional and leadership development are a priority for the agency.

Job Overview:

TennCare compensation is equitable and will be based on education and experience for a qualified candidate in accordance with Department of Human Resources (DOHR) policy.

The Division of TennCare is dedicated to providing our employees with a hybrid work environment. All TennCare positions have a combination of work from home and work in the office, which varies by position, department, and business need. You may review the specific expectations with our hiring team.

TennCare is committed to improving the quality of health care for its members while maximizing the value of every dollar spent. In pursuing this commitment, TennCare continues to be a leader in innovation through delivery system transformation. TennCare's Strategic Planning and Innovation (SPI) Department plays an integral role for the agency in transitioning health care delivery from a fee-for-service payment arrangement to a payment system based on value. SPI consists of two units that drive value-based payment efforts and other strategic initiatives to further TennCare's agency priority of leading innovation through quality and value.

The Strategy Specialist will be joining the Strategy team (5 individuals), working alongside other teams within the Strategic Planning & Innovation division (11 individuals in total).

The Specialist Strategy will support efforts to design and implement new value-based payment efforts as well as evaluate and improve existing value-based programs at TennCare. While supporting these efforts, the Strategy Specialist will collaborate with a diverse set of internal and external stakeholders, such as managed care organizations, contractors, providers and hospital associations, and other stakeholders within TennCare. To support policy and program design decisions for both the existing value-based programs and new initiatives at TennCare, the Strategy Specialist will collaborate with the data analysts on the Innovation team within the Strategic Planning & Innovation division.

This position reports directly to the Assistant Director of Strategic Planning & Innovation.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of value-based initiatives led by SPI.
• Provide contractor oversight and project management of assigned value-based workstreams, inclusive of agenda curation and meeting note-taking.
• Research and monitor health care industry developments on alternative payment model evidence and best practices.
• Develop policy briefings and pitch decks related to the development and implementation of value-based payment strategies, including but not limited to drafting funding proposals, payment design, target populations, and desired outcomes.
• Support evidence-based decision-making by independently forming clear research questions and collaboratively conducting qualitative and quantitative analyses leveraging data from multiple internal and external sources, then summarize and clearly communicate results of analyses.
• Effectively communicate and collaborate with key stakeholders (e.g., various TennCare teams, TennCare's managed care organizations, hospital and provider associations, health care providers, etc.) to develop value-based policy and programs at TennCare.
• Support the Assistant Director with contractor management duties by tracking, evaluating, and summarizing performance of value-based payment supporting contractors, and escalate issues if necessary.
• Collaborate with data analysts on the Innovation team to leverage Episodes of Care program cost and outcomes data to help drive the Strategic Planning & Innovation division's policy decisions.
• Communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders with diverse skill sets and points of view.
• Collaborate with other TennCare departments to collect performance data and develop performance reports related to agency-level reporting
• Integrate stakeholder perspectives into actionable strategy by analyzing feedback and developing aligned recommendations for VBP initiatives.

Minimum Qualifications:

Graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelors degree and experience equivalent to substantial (five or more years of) full-time relevant experience or an equivalent combination of education and work experience may be considered.

Desirable Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and either 1-2 years of work experience or relevant graduate level education. Work experience in health insurance, health care delivery, health policy, or health insurance regulation preferred but not required. Relevant master's degrees include Public Policy, Public Health, Health Policy, Health Care Administration, Business Administration or Economics (with a focus on health care or health insurance).
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office software including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Good presentation, questioning, and listening skills.
• Demonstrated time management skills and proven ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously while completing work within allocated time frames.
• Self-starter attitude with the capacity to work both independently and collaboratively.
• Experience with data visualization tools such as Tableau and data analytics using Excel
• Experience in health care delivery (e.g., hospital, physician practice, etc.)
• Experience with value-based payment systems
• Clinical experience (e.g., nursing, behavioral health, etc.)

Pursuant to the State of Tennessee's Workplace Discrimination and Harassment policy, the State is firmly committed to the principle of fair and equal employment opportunities for its citizens and strives to protect the rights and opportunities of all people to seek, obtain, and hold employment without being subjected to illegal discrimination and harassment in the workplace. It is the State's policy to provide an environment free of discrimination and harassment of an individual because of that person's race, color, national origin, age (40 and over), sex, pregnancy, religion, creed, disability, veteran's status or any other category protected by state and/or federal civil rights laws.