Richard Topping, Chief Legal Officer

Richard Topping

As Chief Legal Officer, Richard Topping leads CareSource’s assurance and advocacy teams including legal, internal audit, compliance and risk, program integrity, policy, and government relations. He also serves as President of CareSource Military & Veterans™, which focuses on strategies and opportunities to improve the health and wellness of veterans, active military service members and their families.  As a former US Army infantry officer and then JAG officer, specializing in TRICARE, health finance and hospitals, Richard knows firsthand the issues active military service members and veterans face when navigating health care.

Richard focuses on highly politicized, new health care delivery systems— with experiences including the implementation of TRICARE portability, the introduction of Medicaid managed care into a fee-for-service state, and advocating for the passage of the MISSION Act to allow veterans better access to health care. His experience as an attorney and a health plan executive coupled with his Medicaid, Veterans Administration and TRICARE expertise affords him a unique perspective when working to build out new government health care programs.

Before coming to CareSource, Richard was a member of Mintz’ health care practice in Washington D.C. He also served as the CEO of Shao, Inc., a technology partnership between health plans and telecom carriers that provided plans and their members with tools to align incentives and improve health. Prior to Shao, Richard served as an appointee to North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory and as the CEO of Cardinal Innovations Healthcare, which was the country’s first managed care plan to provide capitated IDD and mental health services.

Richard served as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice during President George W. Bush’s administration. There he represented the Secretary of Health and Human Services during the height of clinical disputes over the relationship between vaccines and autism in children. He also served as counsel at the Center for Bioethics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

He has Bachelor of Arts from the College of the Holy Cross, a Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University with a concentration in health law and policy. Richard is a member the Conference Board’s CLO Council, AHIP’s Policy & Regulatory Affairs Committee, and the National Association of Corporate Directors. He is a member of AMVETS and an active supporter of Special Olympics.