Carmela Coyle is the President & CEO of the Maryland Hospital Association (MHA), a position she has held since July 2008. MHA is the advocate for Maryland hospitals, health systems, and the communities and patients they serve. In her role, Carmela is sharpening the association’s focus on advocacy and public policy. Quality and patient safety is a priority, where she is helping hospitals make health care in Maryland the safest in the nation. She is currently leading an effort to rethink the future of payment in Maryland and to both preserve and modernize Maryland’s Medicare waiver for the next 30 years. In addition to her post at MHA, Carmela also serves on the Board of the Maryland Patient Safety Center, the Maryland Healthcare Education Institute, and PRIME, MHA’s shared services organization.

Previously, she spent 20 years with the American Hospital Association (AHA). As a member of AHA’s executive management team, Carmela was responsible for developing AHA’s policy positions on behalf of the hospital and health system field. She managed AHA's team responsible for analysis of legislation and regulation, policy issues, data collection, and trend analysis. Carmela also served as a national media spokesperson for the AHA and represented the organization in various health care and other forums.

Before joining AHA, Carmela spent six years as an analyst for the Congressional Budget Office in Washington, D.C.