Coffee with a Colleague: Child and Family Well-Being and Medicaid Waivers

Coffee with a Colleague series 2025
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In this episode of Coffee with a Colleague, Managing Director Katie Renner Olse sits down with Director Julie Cannariato to discuss the critical role Medicaid waivers play in improving child and family well-being. 

Medicaid waivers give states the flexibility to customize programs, test innovative solutions, and implement funding strategies that address long-standing challenges. States have used waivers to launch impactful initiatives such as mobile crisis response, school-based services, and short-term home-based support for families. 

As national policy continues to evolve, waivers remain a powerful tool for improving quality, access, and outcomes. At Sellers Dorsey, our team brings deep expertise in waiver design and implementation across the country, helping states achieve meaningful results.

Watch the full conversation to learn how waivers can drive change—and contact us to explore how we can help you make an impact.

Interested in staying informed with the latest in child welfare news? Subscribe to our new weekly newsletter Child and Family Well-Being at a Glance.
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Katie Renner Olse
Katie Renner Olse

Katie Renner Olse’s impactful leadership in child and family well-being for both the public and private sector has left an indelible mark on communities across the country. Before joining Sellers Dorsey, Katie served as the CEO of the Texas Alliance of Child and Family Services (TACFS) where she supported the work of community organizations serving children and families in the child welfare system. There, she spearheaded critical initiatives and championed system reform efforts including oversight of the nation’s largest state network of child, youth, and family-serving provider organizations. Under her leadership, she launched the Texas Center of Child and Family Studies (TCCFS), which has become a model for supporting private child and youth-serving providers in other states and has grown to support hundreds of providers within the mental health, juvenile justice, and child welfare arena.

Katie also served as the President of the National Organization of State Associations for Children (NOSAC) where she worked with top leaders in state child welfare, juvenile justice, and mental health associations. Prior to her experience at NOSAC, Katie served as Deputy Commissioner for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), a state-based agency with over 12,000 employees responsible for protecting Texas children from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. DFPS operates five major programs including Child and Adult Protective Services, Child Protective Investigations, Prevention and Early Intervention, and Statewide Intake.

Additionally, Katie was the Chief of Staff for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (THHSC), an agency within the Texas Health and Human Services System that has hundreds of programs helping more than 7.5 million Texans each month live healthier lives. THHSC provides a wide range of services to Texans including assistance with aging, finances, food, mental health, substance use, and more. Before her tenure at THHSC, Katie was the Senior Policy Advisor to the Executive Commissioner for DFPS, and the former Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services.


Current Responsibility

Katie serves as Senior Director within the Firm’s National Consulting Practice. Katie utilizes her leadership experience across the full continuum of child and family well-being to offer innovative solutions to clients and increase impact on children and families nationwide. Her expertise resides at the intersection of child welfare and healthcare as she provides a wide range of insights to support clients including drivers of child protection involvement, community-based services and approaches to serving families, key state and federal child and family well-being initiatives, implementation of complex, cross-system initiatives, and more. She has a strong track record of forging, maintaining, and strengthening relationships with critical child welfare stakeholders including legislatures, providers, state associations, advocates, and public sector professionals. Her critical connections in this space help open doors for clients and support them in fulfilling their unique missions.

Education

    • Indiana University Bloomington
Julie Cannariato
Prior to joining Sellers Dorsey, Julie worked for the New Jersey Department of Human Services’ Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (DMAHS), which oversees the state’s Medicaid program. She most recently served as the Policy Director of DMAHS, where she worked directly with the Medicaid Director on planning, operationalizing, and implementing program initiatives including value-based purchasing and payment strategy policies, overseeing quality measurement and performance improvement activities under the Medicaid Quality Strategy and Value-Based Payment reforms. During her tenure at the state, Julie was also a Senior Policy Advisor with DMAHS, serving as the principal architect of New Jersey’s technical assistance opportunities under the Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program (IAP). Her role was to assist in building capacity in key functional areas – data analytics, quality measurement, payment modeling and financial simulations, and performance improvement. Julie also assisted in planning strategies to expand Medicaid services and identify gaps in the Medicaid program to create new models for delivery system services.

Current Responsibility

Julie is an experienced health care and policy professional who provides technical assistance, strategic guidance, and relationship support to Sellers Dorsey’s clients including state Medicaid agencies, managed care organizations, and solutions partners. Julie’s expertise includes Medicaid policy and programming, the development and implementation of 1115 waivers, alternative funding models, and managed care procurements.

Education

  • University of Massachusetts, MS, Gerontology – Management of Aging Services
  • Cornell University Industrial and Labor Relations School, Certificate – Management and Labor Relations
  • Milano The New School of Management and Urban Policy, MS, Health Services Management and Policy
  • Long Island University, BFA, Communications – Advertising and Public Relations

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