Richard Chambers currently serves as the chief executive officer of CalOptima, a county-organized health system authorized by state and federal law to administer Medi-Cal benefits for approximately 290,000 beneficiaries in Orange County, California. CalOptima’s other business lines include a healthy families program for 29,000 low-income children and a Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plan (OneCare) serving 10,000 members eligible for both Medi-Cal and Medicare. Mr. Chambers also served CalOptima earlier as chief operating officer.
Before joining CalOptima, Mr. Chambers spent over 25 years at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and San Francisco. In his most recent role there, he served as director of the Family and Children’s Health Programs Group, and oversaw the Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Programs, including managed care, waiver programs, eligibility, and payment issues affecting families and children.
In January 2010 Mr. Chambers was appointed by the United States Comptroller General to serve on the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC). He is one of 17 commissioners appointed from a national pool of stakeholders, including physicians, healthcare financing experts, consumers, health professionals and employers, and current or former Medicaid/CHIP officials.
Mr. Chambers received his BA in psychology from the University of Virginia
