T A Y L O R
P A Y N E
&
A L E X I S T A Y L O R
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Long before Alexis Taylor advised health systems, Medicaid departments, and national agencies on improving care, she experienced the limits of a system that too often asks people to navigate their hardest moments alone.
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She watched her mother live with depression, substance use disorder, and chronic illness before ultimately losing her battle with end-stage renal disease. Years later, at just 24 years old, while nine weeks pregnant, Alexis was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer as a Medicaid beneficiary. What followed was months of chemotherapy, an amniocentesis to assess her unborn daughter's lung development, an emergency cesarean delivery, a bilateral mastectomy, oophorectomy, emergency cholecystectomy, and total hysterectomy—all while navigating a healthcare system where multiple single-point failures nearly cost them both their lives. Those experiences forever changed the way she sees healthcare.​ For Alexis, policy has never been abstract. Every regulation, funding decision, workflow, and implementation plan ultimately reaches someone's kitchen table, hospital room, or family. It is why lived experience sits at the center of her work—not as a talking point, but as a source of expertise.
Determined to help build systems that heal rather than harm, Alexis returned to school to earn a Master of Public Administration before earning a second graduate degree from the USC Gould School of Law. Over the past twelve years, she has partnered with government agencies, health plans, healthcare providers, and community-based organizations to redesign systems that improve health outcomes while reducing unnecessary strain across the broader healthcare ecosystem.
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Her work has supported the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in developing health equity toolkits, guided implementation of California's 1115 Medicaid Waiver, and directed multi-county quality improvement initiatives for the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). She has helped health systems, managed care plans, counties, and community-based organizations deploy learning and impact strategies, and translate complex policy into practical action—strengthening care coordination, advancing system integration, and improving outcomes for the communities they serve.
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Before founding Taylor & Payne, Alexis led training initiatives supporting international disaster response teams, managed rapid response contracts for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), supported statewide electorate expansion efforts for a United States Senator, and oversaw health and human services contracting, including equitable contracting for community-based organizations at the City of Pasadena.
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Throughout her career, Alexis has served in numerous advisory capacities, including supporting the Los Angeles Reentry Collaborative, where she helped advance cross-sector partnerships, care coordination, data exchange, and systems alignment to improve outcomes for individuals returning home from incarceration. She is regularly invited to present at conferences, leadership forums, and national convenings on health equity, Medicaid transformation, implementation strategy, and the integration of lived experience into systems change.
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As Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Taylor & Payne, Alexis is deeply proud to partner with organizations committed to building healthcare systems that are more connected, more accountable, and more human.
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"Remember: there are lives attached to this work. May our every decision honor that responsibility." — Alexis Taylor
Subject Matter Expertise
Select Clients & Partners
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Social Care Integration
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Beneficiary Voice​
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MCO Capacity Building
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Program Implementation
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Medicaid Policy
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Health Equity Strategy
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Participatory Governance
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Instructional Design
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Outreach & Enrollment ​
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Workforce Development
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Blue Shield of California
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Full Circle Health Network
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Connected Care
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Camden Coalition
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Tomeka Powell Consulting
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California Health Care Foundation
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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
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California Department of Health Care Services
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Los Angeles Department of Public Health
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Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS)
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Public Consulting Group (PCG)
Fun Fact: Don't let the consultant title fool you—Alexis is an unapologetic anime fanatic with a soft spot for morally complex stories. She's also a self-proclaimed thalassophile and devoted lover of film.
C O N N E C T
© 2023 Taylor & Payne LLC. All rights reserved.
Resonance as practice. Lived experience as expertise.