Diane Cardwell has worked with healthcare systems and practices as a change advocate or as a provider in a primary care setting during her entire professional career. In her role as Senior Practice Facilitator, Ms. Cardwell works with primary care practices across the country to optimize and validate their contributions to high-quality care for patients, emphasizing success in Primary Care First (PCF), ACO, and capitated payment models.  

In her role as a transformational leader, she has promoted a change in how healthcare is delivered at the system/physician/provider/team level and how healthcare is experienced at the patient level. Her work has emphasized the engagement of primary care to have a stronger voice and impact on healthcare delivery change with a focus on primary care sustainability through improved payment models and physician/provider/staff satisfaction. In her work with healthcare systems, practices, payers, and other entities, Ms. Cardwell promotes healthcare delivery that utilizes effective teams, care management resources, and quality improvement processes, as well as practice-owned data, effective technology use, and strategic population health work to improve the quality of health/life for individuals.  

Ms. Cardwell has worked at a national level with CMS/CMMI on initiatives such as Primary Care First (PCF) and  Comprehensive Primary Care Classic (CPC). She has worked with the CMMI Transforming Primary Care Initiative (TCPi), with numerous healthcare systems across the nation, with commercial and Medicaid payers, and with technology vendors to advocate for aligned change that promotes meaningful improvement and outcomes for healthcare consumers.

Ms. Cardwell received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from Fort Hays State University, her Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant Certificate from the University of North Dakota, and her Master of Public Administration with an emphasis in Health Care Management from Drake University.