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Ascension is seeking a Senior Program Integrity and Compliance Subject Matter Expert to provide specialized advisory support for CMS enterprise operations, with emphasis on program integrity, internal controls, fraud/waste/abuse risk, compliance frameworks, and corrective action planning. This role is intended for a senior consultant who can help CMS strengthen transparency, accountability, risk-informed decision-making, and compliance execution across complex federal healthcare operations.

The ideal candidate understands how federal agencies design, assess, and improve compliance programs, internal control environments, risk mitigation strategies, monitoring processes, and executive reporting. This position is especially important because CMS requires contractor support that can help prevent, detect, and respond to fraud, waste, and abuse while ensuring alignment with statutory, regulatory, and policy requirements. The CMS requirement also calls for support in data collection and analysis, fraud and forensic analysis, risk and internal control mitigation, and continuous monitoring.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Senior Program Integrity and Compliance SME will serve as a part-time specialist advisor supporting task orders under the CMS Enterprise Operations & Efficiency BPA. The contractor will provide expertise in compliance strategy, governance structures, internal controls, program integrity models, fraud risk assessment, risk indicators, compliance metrics, audit readiness, corrective action planning, and executive-level reporting.

This role requires a self-driven, detail-oriented professional who can work in an ambiguous federal consulting environment, quickly understand CMS priorities, assess operational and compliance risks, and provide practical recommendations that can be implemented by program teams. The SME should be comfortable advising project managers, analysts, and client stakeholders; reviewing data, policies, processes, and controls; identifying gaps; and developing actionable products such as SOPs, risk assessments, compliance dashboards, issue papers, briefing materials, corrective action trackers, and implementation roadmaps.

The customer will likely need tools and processes such as risk registers, internal control matrices, fraud risk assessment templates, compliance monitoring dashboards, corrective action plans, KPI/risk indicator trackers, SOPs, governance charters, executive briefing decks, and structured data collection processes. Ascension’s relevant past performance includes subject matter expertise, program management, compliance analysis, data analytics, KPI development, dashboards, process improvement, policy support, SharePoint/Power Platform solutions, and executive reporting support.

Expected Day-to-Day / Periodic Activities

• Advise CMS stakeholders on program integrity, compliance, fraud risk, internal controls, and risk mitigation strategies.

• Assess existing processes, policies, governance structures, and controls to identify gaps, risks, and improvement opportunities.

• Develop program integrity frameworks, compliance models, SOPs, implementation roadmaps, and governance artifacts.

• Conduct fraud risk assessments and support forensic-style analysis using data mining, pattern recognition, trend analysis, and anomaly identification.

• Review program data, reports, and dashboards to identify potential risk indicators, compliance issues, and corrective action needs.

• Document findings, prepare issue papers, and support development of audit-ready analytical products.

• Recommend preventive and detective controls to reduce program integrity, compliance, and operational risk.

• Develop and track KPIs, risk indicators, compliance metrics, corrective action plans, and remediation status.

• Support leadership briefings by preparing executive summaries, PowerPoint decks, talking points, decision memos, and status updates.

• Facilitate working sessions with program offices, analysts, project managers, and other stakeholders to validate findings and obtain input.

• Coordinate with data analysts and business intelligence staff to ensure dashboards and reporting tools reflect meaningful compliance and risk indicators.

• Support continuous monitoring activities and recommend improvements based on observed trends, deficiencies, and remediation outcomes.

• Contribute to after-action reviews, lessons learned, and continuous improvement recommendations when CMS identifies operational or compliance issues.