April 12, 2022 – The Partnership to Advance Virtual Care (PAVC), an advocacy coalition committed to advancing telehealth policy, announces that Rachel Stauffer has returned to the organization as executive director. Stauffer cofounded PAVC in January 2021 and is now returning to lead the coalition’s efforts to advocate for the permanent extension of Medicare coverage and payment for telehealth services expanded during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Stauffer is a highly experienced government relations and legislative affairs strategist and advocate who has worked as a leading health policy aide on Capitol Hill and in the Executive Branch for years. For the past year, she served as director of government affairs for a leading virtual care company. Her previous positions include director of policy and government relations for a health IT contractor and lead legislative liaison at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. In this role, Stauffer was instrumental in providing research, analysis, and feedback to members of Congress and staff on the 21st Century Cures legislation, among other relevant policies.
Earlier in her career, she served in several senior health legislative roles in the personal offices of Members of Congress, including most notably Congresswoman Diana DeGette. She was the primary staff for a variety of health policy issues, including diabetes, medical research, drug and medical device development, data sharing and privacy, mental health and health IT policy, and was a lead staff person creating and driving the 21st Century Cures Act.
“The virtual care space offers many extremely innovative and unique solutions to help patients and providers with challenges around access, quality, and affordability,” says Stauffer. “We have leaned into the fast-moving legislative and regulatory environment over the last two years and I’m excited to continue those advancements through the ongoing work of the Partnership to Advance Virtual Care.”
Stauffer is a graduate of New York University and holds a Master of Public Policy from George Washington University.
