60 million Americans live in rural areas across the United States and contend with long-standing health-related challenges. What will it take to advance and maintain better health in rural communities? Join host Erika Rogan, a director in the KPMG LLP Federal Advisory Healthcare practice, as she converses with a diverse set of rural health leaders about tackling rural healthcare challenges, bridging gaps between policy and practice, leveraging collaboration in the field, and identifying actionable and innovative approaches to improve health in rural communities.
Unprecedented times have given way to unprecedented challenges: the lingering effects of a global pandemic; ongoing concerns about fraud, waste, and abuse, as well as quality outcomes and rising healthcare costs; and a prominent focus on the adoption of AI to name a few. We’re bringing together experts from research, policy, and practice, and combining with our own insight to build practical, real-world approaches on the most pressing topics of our times.
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Preparing for the Next Crisis
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Nearly six years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, is the US federal government prepared to prevent and mitigate the next public health crisis? Join host Sophie Stern, head of KPMG Federal Healthcare, as she convenes a collection of leaders for a limited discussion series about the government’s capability to respond to the next public health crisis, crisis response case studies from other industries, and the uniquely damaging impact of public health crises on vulnerable populations.
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Learn how KPMG helps Federal Civilian and Healthcare agencies navigate and respond to new regulatory and policy changes, ensuring efficiency, compliance, and effective mission delivery. KPMG is here to advise on mission-critical initiatives, helping agencies implement new programs, modernize processes, and improve healthcare delivery.
Lead the Way in Federal Healthcare
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Sophie Stern Principal, Federal Advisory KPMG US
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Erika Rogan Director, Federal Advisory KPMG US
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Some or all of the services described herein may not be permissible for KPMG audit clients and their affiliates or related entities. The information contained herein is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavor to provide accurate and timely information, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future. No one should act upon such information without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation. KPMG LLP does not provide legal services. The information contained herein is not intended to be “written advice concerning one or more Federal tax matters” subject to the requirements of section 10.37(a)(2) of Treasury Department Circular 230. © 2026 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership, and its subsidiaries are part of the KPMG global organization of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Limited, a private English company limited by guarantee. All rights reserved.
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Learn how KPMG helps Federal Civilian and Healthcare agencies navigate and respond to new regulatory and policy changes, ensuring efficiency, compliance, and effective mission delivery.
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Explore the latest in regulatory, policy, and industry news with our concise, weekly series—under 360 words and complete with source material. Subscribe to the Around the World newsletter.
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A Better Approach to Rural Health
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Learn how KPMG helps advance the nation’s health and human services mission through practical, outcome-driven support for modernization across programs, operations, and technology.
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Erika Rogan Director Federal Advisory KPMG US
Sophie Stern Principal Federal Advisory KPMG US
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Kayla Renals Director, Federal Advisory KPMG US
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Sophie Stern is a Washington, D.C.-based health leader who has spent the majority of her career analyzing and influencing public health policy at the Federal level, such as the Affordable Care Act and No Surprises Act reforms. Sophie is head of KPMG Federal Healthcare and oversees our Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) portfolio, helping clients tackle program transformation stemming from new laws or changes in Federal regulation while focusing on customer experience, scalable systems and processes, and operational integrity. Sophie has nearly 20 years of experience working with stakeholders in nonprofits, think tanks, private industry, and the White House to advance public health solutions and recommendations while navigating Congressional and regulatory impacts on business.
Principal, Federal Advisory, KPMG US
Sophie Stern
Erika Rogan, PhD, is a Director in the KPMG LLP Federal Advisory Healthcare practice. She has worked in federal health policy for nearly two decades as an advisor, researcher, and educator. Her professional and academic career has focused on systems-level approaches to advancing public health—specializing in policy issues pertaining to rural populations, older adults, and health-related social needs. Dr. Rogan supports federal health agencies in advancing regulatory goals through policy analysis, strategy development, and evidence building. She is also an adjunct Assistant Professor at Georgetown University.
Director, Federal Advisory, KPMG US
Erika Rogan
Melissa has more than 20 years of experience in health policy and data and deep knowledge of government and commercial health insurance markets developed through a career in both the private sector and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. At CMS, she oversaw a multi-disciplinary data analytics team in the CCIIO Front Office and advised senior leadership on market dynamics to support policy development and the implementation of multiple transformative healthcare programs. At KPMG, Melissa leverages this background to ensure all elements of client delivery are aligned with agency needs and provides policy and strategy support to numerous CMS engagements focused on the ACA Marketplaces, the No Suprises Act, and Medicare Advantage. Melissa also leads publication of the firm’s widely distributed weekly healthcare policy newsletter, Around the World of U.S. Healthcare in 360 words or less.
Specialist Director, Federal Advisory, KPMG US
Melissa Jaffe
Kayla Renals is a Director in KPMG’s Federal Healthcare practice, and brings 15 years of experience in leading large, transformative healthcare projects in the federal sector. She serves as a Deputy Account Lead for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) portfolio, and is leading KPMG’s Defense Health market alignment.
Director, Federal Advisory
Kayla Renals
Medical Supply Chain
Securing Supply at Mission Speed
Modernizing Our Medical Supply Chain
May 2026
The U.S. medical supply chain faces growing challenges, from reliance on foreign manufacturing to aging systems and complex procurement processes. For the Military Health System, these vulnerabilities can affect force readiness, operational resilience and the delivery of care to approximately 9.5 million service members, their families, and retirees (active duty, family, retired). What will it take to build a more resilient, responsive, and secure medical supply chain? Join KPMG as we engage government, healthcare, and industry leaders in conversations about strengthening supply chain resilience, improving visibility, and accelerating decision-making. These conversations will focus on identifying innovative strategies to help ensure critical medical supplies reach warfighters and beneficiaries when and where they are needed most.
A better approach to rural health Today’s rural health landscape: Insights to innovate for the future
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Our purpose
Episode 1
Local Perspectives on Rural Health: Stories from the Field
In this conversation, real-world experiences and data-driven insights provide a powerful lens through which to examine the healthcare realities of rural communities, their impact on individuals, and the most effective ways to begin tackling rural health challenges.
Listen now
Rural Health season 2 episodes Hover to view more
Episode 2
Strength in Collaboration
In this conversation, we take a multi-sector perspective on rural health programs and best practices to create a stronger, more resilient health system that meets the unique needs of rural communities.
Episode 3
Innovative Solutions
In this conversation, we highlight creative and innovative ways organizations and individuals have been addressing rural health challenges, unpacking their successes, and supporting replicability and scalability.
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With authenticity and integrity, KPMG Federal Healthcare collaborates with HHS leaders to think creatively and act boldly to solve complex problems.
Think Creatively. Act Boldly.
Healthcare Reimagined
Building a more resilient medical supply chain for the warfighter
Melissa Jaffe Specialist Director, Federal Advisory KPMG US
Local perspectives on rural health: Stories from the field recap
April 1, 2025 | Duration: 56:14 In this conversation, real-world experiences and data-driven insights provide a powerful lens through which to examine the healthcare realities of rural communities, their impact on individuals, and the most effective ways to begin tackling rural health challenges.
The first step in improving rural health outcomes is deepening our understanding of the distinct context of rural communities. We need unfiltered, firsthand accounts from those on the ground working to provide and support quality healthcare while navigating a complex maze of financial uncertainties, dire workforce shortages, and inconsistent access to care.
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Listen Now
The first step in improving rural health outcomes is deepening our understanding of the distinct context of rural communities. We need unfiltered, first-hand accounts from those on the ground working to provide and support quality healthcare while navigating complex maze of financial uncertainties, dire workforce shortages, and inconsistent access to care.
04.01.2025 | Duration: 56:14 In this conversation, real-world experiences and data-driven insights provide a powerful lens through which to examine the healthcare realities of rural communities, their impact on individuals, and the most effective ways to begin tackling rural health challenges.
Local Perspectives on Rural Health: Stories from the Field Recap
Framing Health's Future: Rural Health
Episode 1 trailer video
LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE
In this conversation, we take a multisector perspective on rural health programs and best practices to create a stronger, more resilient health system that meets the unique needs of rural communities.
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Episode 2 trailer video
It really does take a village. Solving complex challenges requires multifaceted inputs, leveraging insights from the work and collaboration among community leaders, philanthropic organizations, and government agencies. With this knowledge, changemakers can begin to analyze why previous solutions may have failed—and how to ensure future ones succeed.
April 8, 2025 | Duration: 52:51 In this conversation, we take a multisector perspective on rural health programs and best practices to create a stronger, more resilient health system that meets the unique needs of rural communities.
Episode 3 trailer video
For far too long, the general rural health strategy has relied on applying formulaic solutions to disparate and evolving health issues. To achieve the lasting change rural communities deserve, we must stretch our thinking beyond the standard protocols. New and even experimental approaches have the potential to revolutionize our rural health paradigms.
April 15, 2025 | Duration: 60:16 In this conversation, we highlight creative and innovative ways organizations and individuals have been addressing rural health challenges, unpacking their successes, and supporting replicability and scalability.
Innovative solutions
Sophie Stern is a Washington, D.C. – based health leader who has spent the majority of her career analyzing and influencing public health policy at the Federal level, such as the Affordable Care Act and No Surprises Act reforms. Sophie is head of KPMG Federal Healthcare and oversees our Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) portfolio, helping clients tackle program transformation stemming from new laws or changes in Federal regulation while focusing on customer experience, scalable systems and processes, and operational integrity. Sophie has nearly 20 years of experience working with stakeholders in nonprofits, think tanks, private industry, and the White House to advance public health solutions and recommendations while navigating Congressional and regulatory impacts on business.
Preparing for the Next Crisis Public health preparedness: Insights to innovate for the future
Nearly four years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, is the US Federal government prepared to prevent and mitigate the next public health crisis? Join host Sophie Stern, Head of KPMG Federal Health Strategy, as she convenes a collection of leaders for a limited discussion series about the government’s capability to respond to the next public health crisis, crisis response case studies from other industries, and the uniquely damaging impact of public health crises on vulnerable populations.
The Cost of Inaction
In this conversation, we consider the groups most at risk in a public health emergency, their needs, and the necessary structural reforms needed from government to serve all Americans.
Listen to the episodes Hover to view more
Lessons from the Intelligence Community
In this conversation, we explore the tools and strategies essential for anticipating and responding to public health crises, drawing on best practices from the intelligence community for enhanced insights.
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April 1, 2025 | Duration: 50:41 In this conversation, we consider the groups most at risk in a public health emergency, their needs, and the necessary structural reforms needed from government to serve all Americans.
When the public health system is caught off guard by an emergency, the consequences for Americans are dire—but much more so for certain populations. The COVID-19 pandemic brought into stark relief how crises can deepen and extend existing disparities in health outcomes for vulnerable populations. In this conversation, we consider the groups most at risk in a public health emergency, their particular needs, and the structural reforms necessary for government to fulfill its responsibility to serve and protect all Americans.
Episode 1 trailer videos
The cost of inaction
Are we prepared for the next health crisis?
Break the cycle
Listen to season 1 trailer
View the white paper
Explore healthcare news in brief
Explore KPMG’s perspective
Engaging federal leaders by bridging the gap
Unlocking creativity
Episode 2 trailer videos
Institutional reform in public health, though daunting, can benefit greatly from sectors like defense, which have evolved post-crises—from world wars to 9/11. This conversation draws on lessons from defense to quicken reform, examining the path from insights to action. We explore how defense-inspired tools and tactics for threat anticipation and response can enhance public health strategies, providing sharper insight, strategic planning, and adaptability, thus improving outcomes for all Americans.
September 5, 2024 | Duration: 58:14 In this conversation, we explore the tools and strategies essential for anticipating and responding to public health crises, drawing on best practices from the intelligence community for enhanced insights.
Ceros SDK Instructions https://educate.ceros.com/en/articles/12005548-audio-extension-plugin Ceros audio extension example https://view.ceros.com/ceros-educate/audioextensiondemo/p/1
The cost of Inaction
Caitlin Morris Director, Federal Advisory KPMG US
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Caitlin Morris is a Director in KPMG’s Federal Healthcare Practice with over 15 years of experience at the intersection of federal health policy and healthcare program delivery. She helps HHS partners navigate complex program design and mission-critical modernization efforts, connecting federal mandates, policy directives, and administration priorities to actionable operational strategies. A trusted advisor to federal health leaders, she leads multidisciplinary teams to deliver high-impact solutions that strengthen care delivery and drive better health outcomes.
Director, Federal AdvisoryKPMG US
Caitlin Morris
Some or all of the services described herein may not be permissible for KPMG audit clients and their affiliates or related entities. The information contained herein is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavor to provide accurate and timely information, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future. No one should act upon such information without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation. KPMG LLP does not provide legal services. The information contained herein is not intended to be “written advice concerning one or more Federal tax matters” subject to the requirements of section 10.37(a)(2) of Treasury Department Circular 230. © 2026 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership, and its subsidiaries are part of the KPMG global organization of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Limited, a private English company limited by guarantee. All rights reserved. For more detail about the structure of the KPMG global organization please visit https://home.kpmg/governance.
Meet our team Ready to connect? So are we. let’s get started.
Sophie Stern Principal, Head of Federal Mission Services KPMG LLP
Tom Frame Principal Head of Federal Technology Modernization KPMG LLP
Fred Hensel Principal Head of Federal Supply Chain Transformation KPMG LLP
Drew Corrigan Partner U.S. Healthcare and Audit Sector Leader KPMG LLP
Kristin Ciriello Pothier Life Sciences Sector Leader and Global and U.S. Life Sciences Deal Advisory and Strategy Leader KPMG LLP
From integrating new technologies and modernizing communications and management processes to developing the tools that facilitate private-public sector collaboration, KPMG can deliver tailored solutions to meet the government’s unique supply chain challenges and transform its operations for the future.
Solution areas
Season 1
60 million Americans live in rural areas across the United States, and contend with long standing health-related challenges. What will it take to advance and maintain better health in rural communities? Join host Erika Rogan, a Director in the KPMG LLP Federal Advisory Healthcare practice, as she converses with a diverse set of rural health leaders about tackling rural healthcare challenges, bridging gaps between policy and practice, leveraging collaboration in the field, and identifying actionable and innovative solutions to improve health in rural communities.
Season 2
Prepositioning strategies can help manage inventory levels across the Department of War and partner installations, as well as optimize the distribution of medical material into theater during conflicts or disasters.
Strategic pre-positioning
Moving from just-in-time manufacturing to continuous flow manufacturing can keep production constant and encourage the efficient movement of goods across entire supply chains to avoid depleting safety stock in a crisis.
Continuous flow manufacturing
Advanced data science can enable more proactive planning by modeling complex medical supply chains, identifying and addressing weaknesses, eliminating bottlenecks, optimizing routing between suppliers, and forecasting disruptions.
Predictive analytics
New digital warehouse technologies can provide logistics command with real-time insight into the location and status of essential medical materials to better manage shelf life, track expiration dates, and plan demand and deployment requirements.
Digital warehousing
Why KPMG
Many essential medications and their ingredients, including acetaminophen, come from China.3
KSMs
APIs
20
45
Upwards of 95 percent of generic sterile injectable drugs used in US acute care rely on KSMs from China and India.2
95
58 percent of drug manufacturers1 and nearly 80 percent of API manufacturing facilities are located outside the US.2
58
The magnitude of the vulnerability
Download here
The US medical supply chain is dangerously fragile. Overreliance on foreign suppliers, lagging technology, and bureaucratic red tape have resulted in vulnerabilities not only from conflict or great shocks, but from routine disruptions and market fluctuations. These structural issues can have particularly dire consequences for the military health system, threatening the readiness of current warfighters and reservists and the well-being of all its approximately 9.5 million beneficiaries. We must transition from a reactive to a predictive posture, ensuring the nation’s capacity to deliver critical supplies whenever and wherever they are needed. KPMG is examining the structural factors that underpin challenges to our medical supply chain and proposing solutions for the Department of War.
From the suppliers to the battle space: Modernizing our medical supply chain
Building a more resilient medical supply chain for the warfighter Persistent and emerging issues threaten our military readiness.
The Magnitude of the vulnerability
Modernizing supply chains
Read our full white paper
Securing America’s medical supply chains Strengthening military mission readiness and civilian safety
Kayla Renals Director, Federal Advisory KPMG LLP
Tom Frame Principal, Head of Federal Technology Modernization KPMG LLP
Fred Hensel Principal, Head of Federal Supply Chain Transformation KPMG LLP
Drew Corrigan Partner, U.S. Healthcare and Audit Sector Leader KPMG LLP
Kristin Ciriello Pothier Life Sciences Sector Leader and Global and U.S. Life Sciences Deal Advisory and Strategy Leader
%
1 "Letter to the US Department of Defense Regarding Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Risks," Elizabeth Warren et al. to Lloyd J. Austin III, US Senate, March 18, 2024 2 "Short Supply: The Health and National Security Risks of Drug Shortages," United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, March 2023 3 "Treating Medicine as Ammunition: Enhancing Medical Logistics for Large-Scale Combat Operations," Maj. Gen. Paula C. Lodi, U.S. Army, et al., Army University Press, July 2025
A Better Approach to Rural Health Today's rural health landscape: Insights to innovate for the future
60 million Americans live in rural areas across the United States, and contend with long standing health-related challenges. What will it take to advance and maintain better health in rural communities? Join host Erika Rogan, a Director in the KPMG LLP Federal Advisory Healthcare practice, as she converses with a diverse set of rural health leaders about tackling rural healthcare challenges, bridging gaps between policy and practice, leveraging collaboration in the field, and identifying actionable and innovative solutions to improve health in rural communities
Listen to the Episodes Click to learn more
It really does take a village. Solving complex challenges requires multi-faceted inputs, leveraging insights from the work and collaboration among community leaders, philanthropic organizations, and government agencies. With this knowledge, changemakers can begin to analyze why previous solutions may have failed - and how to ensure future ones succeed.
04.08.2025 | Duration: 52:51 In this conversation, we take a multi-sector perspective on rural health programs and best practices to create a stronger, more resilient health system that meets the unique needs of rural communities.
For far too long the general rural health strategy has relied on applying formulaic solutions to disparate and evolving health issues. To achieve the lasting change rural communities deserve, we must stretch our thinking beyond the standard protocols. New and even experimental approaches have the potential to revolutionize our rural health paradigms.
04.15.2025 | Duration: 60:16 In this conversation, we highlight creative and innovative ways organizations and individuals have been addressing rural health challenges, unpacking their successes, and supporting replicability and scalability.
Download the White Paper
