April 28, 2025 – National healthcare lobbying and policy consulting firm McDermott+ welcomes Marla Kugel as senior director. Marla has more than 20 years of experience in healthcare payment and quality policy, and is a nationally recognized authority on Medicare Inpatient and Outpatient Hospital Payment Systems.
“Marla’s deep understanding of healthcare payment systems and her proven track record in policy and reimbursement analytics will be a valuable resource to our clients and our team,” said Eric Zimmerman, managing principal of M+. “We’re thrilled to welcome her to McDermott+.”
Marla’s experience includes advising stakeholders on complex reimbursement impact models, quality performance evaluation, and using large-scale administrative claims databases for both descriptive analysis and publishable research. She has aided scores of medical device, pharmaceutical, and diagnostic manufacturers in maximizing reimbursement for their products.
“I am thrilled to join the robust and nimble team at McDermott+ at an important time for federal healthcare policy. I’m looking forward to using data-driven tactics and my understanding of the inner-workings of Medicare payment policy to help clients navigate a dynamic environment,” added Marla.
Prior to joining McDermott+, Marla held pivotal roles at multiple healthcare consulting firms, where she led policy and reimbursement analytics. When she served as a principal research scientist at Premier Inc., a group purchasing and healthcare solutions company, she integrated qualitative input from the hospital community with quantitative analyses to shape payment and quality policy.
Marla holds a BS in biology and society from Cornell University and a Master of Public Health from Yale School of Public Health.
ABOUT McDERMOTT+
M+ is a wholly owned subsidiary of McDermott Will & Emery that exclusively serves health industry clients with unmatched market access, policy, and lobbying services supported by advanced data analytics capabilities and backed by one of the country’s largest and strongest health law practices. The M+ team comprises seasoned policy professionals and strategists with experience working on Capitol Hill and in relevant government agencies, with specific industry, subject matter, stakeholder, and policy knowledge.
Through customized engagement strategies, M+ supports organizations in interactions with US Congress, executive branch political and career personnel, and broadly within Washington, DC’s health policy environment.
Media Contact
Hannah Boss
+1 (408) 761-7288
hboss@mwe.com
