Tara McMulen, Ph.D., MPH

Tara McMullen serves as Deputy Director of the Division of Quality Measurement at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), while also contributing as Adjunct Professor in Georgetown University's Master of Science in Aging & Health program. With over 15 years of experience in gerontology, she has established herself as a leading authority in healthcare quality measurement and policy development. Her work focuses on standardizing post-acute care quality measures and developing new payment models for Medicare services. As Technical Advisor at CMS, she led the implementation of the IMPACT Act of 2014, focusing on standardizing assessment data across healthcare settings. Her research contributions include over 50 peer-reviewed publications on topics ranging from quality improvement to opioid risk mitigation strategies. Her achievements have been recognized with multiple awards, including the Carroll L. Estes Rising Star Award from the Gerontological Society of America and the Health Equity Ambassador award from CMS's Office of Minority Health. She holds both a PhD and MPH, combining academic expertise with practical policy implementation in her role overseeing quality measurement strategy for 19 CMS programs.