Dena Hasan

Associate Principal

Health Management Associates

Washington, DC

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Dena Hasan is a forward-thinking executive with over 20 years of experience in public and private sector healthcare and social services. Dena is passionate about designing and implementing programs that mitigate or remove barriers to well-being and economic mobility, specifically for low-income populations. She leverages her background in Medicaid, public health, homelessness prevention, social services and coalition building to strategically align policy, program design and funding streams to improve the overall health of people receiving publicly administered services and supports.

Before joining Health Management Associates, Dena was the director of policy for the District of Columbia’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHS), where she spearheaded the launch of several notable initiatives. These included DC Flex, a preventative homeless intervention strategy that provides banking and funding for monthly rent gaps; Career Mobility Action Plan, a groundbreaking pilot program designed to remove barriers families confront as they pursue employment that can sustain their families; and increases for Medicaid funding and investments in homeless services. Dena also oversaw DC’s COVID-19 isolation and quarantine program, providing non-congregate shelter for medically vulnerable homeless populations.

Prior to joining DHS, Dena was director of healthcare reform and innovation administration for the DC Department of Healthcare Finance. In this role, she oversaw the design and implementation of programs that integrated behavioral, physical and acute healthcare for Medicaid recipients, specifically focusing on forward-thinking initiatives authorized through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). Dena directed the design of DC’s first State Innovation Model plan, which currently serves as the key roadmap DC uses to improve Medicaid enrollees’ well-being through healthcare delivery and payment reform. She also led the creation of service models, payment methods and health information exchange standards aimed to integrate DC’s healthcare and social services, resulting in new requirements for Medicaid managed care organizations.

Dena developed a breadth and depth of knowledge in health and human services that allows her to communicate fluently and across various points of the care delivery system. Through these roles as well as her early-career positions, serving as the lead project manager for DC’s Department of Healthcare Finance, an associate consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton and a social science research analyst with the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, she worked with hospitals, somatic and behavioral health community-based service providers, long-term care and supports, homeless service entities and the local and federal government agencies that oversee and fund them. Dena also gained a keen understanding of the budgetary, regulatory, political and staff capacity challenges that state and local governments face in administering Medicaid, Medicare and D-SNP programs. She has a demonstrated track record of using this experience to collaboratively identify barriers to integrating healthcare with social supports, design practical programs reflective of end users’ voices and implement these tangible solutions.

Dena earned her Master of Science in public health from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and her bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration from Tennessee State University.

In her free time, Dena enjoys running, gardening and scavenger hunting at garage sales.