Thriving as the senior vice president of federal public affairs at McGuire Woods Consulting LLC, Stephanie Ann Kennan has led a long and influential career in health care and government policies. She is currently using her background to help clients navigate the legislative and executive branches of federal government to solve a variety of health care policy issues. Her work focuses on the providers, medical device manufacturers, drug manufacturers, and associations concerned about Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. She also represents clients on matters before the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as well as other agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services. Additionally, Ms. Kennan has experience organizing and representing coalitions and working with state health insurance exchanges. She has been advancing the mission of McGuire Woods since 2011.
Ms. Kennan’s first foray into the field came in 1980, when she earned a Bachelor of Arts in American government and foreign affairs from the University of Virginia. Progressing rapidly from there, she held prestigious positions such as legislative assistant to Rep. Larry Smith of Oregon, member of the Montgomery County Commission on Aging, assistant director of education for the Group Health Association of America, and legislative representative for both American Association of Retired Persons and the American College of Emergency Physicians. From there, Ms. Kennan became the director of federal relations for the Maryland Department of Health and the senior health policy advisor for U.S. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. She spent more than 10 years with the politician, during which she managed his health care portfolio, including his budget committee and finance committee health-care related work, and drafted the first Medicare drug benefit proposal and the senator’s signature health care reform legislation, the Healthy American Act. In 2007, Ms. Kennan decided to leave and take a job as a senior policy advisor with Alston & Bird LLP, where she stayed until 2011. During that time, she also served as a member of the board of directors for the Glen Echo Partnership for the Arts.
Some of Ms. Kennan’s most notable victories include ensuring the prosthetics industry was exempt from the medical device tax, achieving increased reimbursement fee for wound care products, and assisting a state in obtaining a Medicaid 1115 waiver in record time. She was particularly proud of her work defending constitutional rights in the State of Oregon and helping to pass the Death with Dignity Act, which allows terminally ill residents of Oregon to end their lives through a voluntary self-administration of lethal medication prescribed by a physician. California, Colorado, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia have subsequently followed in Oregon’s footsteps.
Backed by her vast experience and her numerous successes, Ms. Kennan co-authored “Focus on Health Policy Update” with Dr. George Benjamin, which was published in the “Physicians Executive Magazine,” and “Health Care Playbook.” She is also a contributing author to a chapter in “Public Health Administration: Principles for Population-Based Management.” She continues to contribute articles to various professional journals and often speaks at professional conferences. In recognition of her accomplishment, Ms. Kennan was featured in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, and Who’s Who of American Women.
Ms. Kennan ensured she stayed connected to her peers and any updates in her field by earning a Master of Arts in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University in 1997 and an MBA on the health care track from George Washington University in 2014. Further, she held membership with the National Press Club and the National Democratic Club.
