Cristen Bates serves as the Office Director for Colorado Medicaid and CHP+ Behavioral Health Initiatives and Coverage, and the Deputy Medicaid Director at HCPF. In this role, she implements statewide transformative initiatives to improve the behavioral health access, quality, equity and service provided to over 1.7 million Coloradans.
Cristen has focused her public service efforts on improving health care policy, expanding access to behavioral health, and fighting stigma and systemic barriers to health. In previous roles, she has led statewide behavioral health policy reforms, the state’s opioid response, community health and benefit strategy for hospitals and safety net health programs, and nationally recognized anti-stigma and public health marketing campaigns. Cristen worked in a community mental health center early in her career, and spent almost a decade in Washington D.C. working on federal policy and strategic communication in public health.
Cristen earned a Master of Public Health degree from George Washington University and an undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Kansas. Cristen is also a proud Returned Peace Corps Volunteer.