Christine Bechtel, MA

Christine Bechtel is a long time consumer advocate and the President of Bechtel Health, a mission-driven organization focused on making health care better for patients and families in both policy and practice. Her clients range from primary care leaders and Quality Improvement Organizations to Medicaid Health Home programs and SMARTCare, a federally funded project testing innovative tools and methods for cardiologists and patients to improve decision-making and reduce costs.

Christine spent 18 months embedded in a primary care practice where she helped its leaders establish a culture of patient- and family-centered care and professional satisfaction. She currently co-chairs the Center for Patients, Families and Consumers at the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC), and is a board member of the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute (HCI3). She also co-founded and coordinated the first year of the GetMyHealthData campaign, an innovative initiative designed to help consumers across the country get their health data in electronic formats, based on public policies she helped shape during her time on the federal Health IT Policy Committee. GetMyHealthData is a project of the National Partnership for Women & Families, a non-profit consumer organization where she was Vice President for five years.

Bechtel’s previous positions included leadership and advisory roles at the eHealth Initiative (eHI), the American Health Quality Association, AARP and Louisiana’s Medicare Quality Improvement Organization, eQHealth Solutions. Bechtel began her career as a legislative associate for United States Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD). She holds a bachelor’s degree in politics and public policy from Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland and a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. An avid golfer, she lives in Olney, Maryland.