Staff

Christine Bechtel, Advisor

Christine Bechtel is an advisor with the National Partnership for Women & Families, where she oversees the organization's groundbreaking and multi-faceted health policy work, managing projects funded by the nation's largest foundations, partnerships with key business consortiums, and leading broad-based consumer coalitions that address issues ranging from health IT to patient-centered care to access.

Bechtel was previously vice president of the eHealth Initiative (eHI), a Washington D.C.-based non- profit organization dedicated to improving the quality, safety and efficiency of health care through information and information technology.  As vice president, Bechtel headed the organization’s membership, public policy and government relations work.  In this role, she led numerous initiatives to achieve consensus across the multiple stakeholders in health care on how to accelerate the adoption and effective use of health IT in a way that is responsible, sustainable, and builds and maintains the public's trust.

Prior to joining eHI, Bechtel worked with American Health Quality Association where she helped Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) and professionals improve the quality of health care in communities across America, focusing on the ambulatory setting, health disparities, and effective use of health IT.  She also served as senior research advisor at AARP where she conducted public opinion studies and advised AARP’s leadership on public attitudes surrounding national political issues including Medicare prescription drugs, generic drugs, Social Security and elections issues.

Bechtel’s experience also includes community-based quality improvement activities.  She was director of community development for Louisiana's Medicare Quality Improvement Organization, Louisiana Health Care Review, where she was responsible for designing, implementing and overseeing innovative projects to improve health care quality for Medicare beneficiaries in Louisiana.

Bechtel served as a legislative associate for United States Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD), focusing on legislative issues ranging from women’s health and stem cell research to Medicare and Social Security.  She holds a bachelor's degree in politics and public policy from Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland and a master's degree in political management from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.