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NORC at the University Chicago

Kathleen Rowan

Pronouns: She/Her

Principal Research Scientist
Health Care Evaluation
Kathleen is a quantitative researcher with survey and mixed methods experience.

Kathleen is a principal research scientist who also serves as a project director and senior analyst. She helps clients design evaluations, including developing research priorities and questions, data collection approaches and instruments, and analytic designs. Her primary interest is conducting research to understand the impacts of programs aimed to strengthen and improve behavioral and mental health services.

Kathleen’s work at NORC has focused on federal and state evaluations, including multi-site evaluations of payment and delivery models developed by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), health workforce programs funded by the Health Resource and Services Administration, and grant evaluations funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Her roles include Project Director for HRSA’s Bureau of Substance Use Disorder Workforce Evaluation and the NORC’s SUPPORT Act Survey of Providers and Senior Data Analyst for other state and federal evaluations. In these roles, she works across quantitative and qualitative teams to conduct analyses, implement surveys, and develop reports for multiple audiences.

Prior to joining NORC, Kathleen analyzed survey data and conducted other research at the Minnesota Population Institute, and prior to that, worked for a contract to support the Bureau for Global Health at the United States Agency for International Development.

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Expertise

Education

PhD

University of Minnesota

MPH

Boston University

BS

University of Illinois

Project Contributions

Enhancing Maine’s All-Payer Claims Database

New and improved processes for collecting and using Maine’s health care claims data

Client:

Human Services Research Institute (HSRI)

Alaska Healthcare Transformation Project

Producing a roadmap to reduce health care costs and improve health outcomes

Client:

Alaska Healthcare Transformation Project

Medicaid Section 1115 Demonstration Management and Evaluation

Ensuring states’ evaluations are scientifically valid and inform progress in meeting CMS goals

Client:

Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)

Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program: Value-Based Payment & Financial Simulations

Technical support in designing, developing and implementing Medicaid value-based payment approaches

Client:

Center for Medicaid & CHIP Services, Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Evaluating Rhode Island’s Medicaid Section 1115 Demonstration

Evaluation of programs implemented under Rhode Island’s Medicaid section 1115 demonstration

Client:

Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services

Provider Resiliency Evaluation

Rigorous evaluation of three programs addressing health care workforce burnout and mental health

Client:

Health Resources & Services Administration

Supporting a Workforce to Treat Substance Use Disorders

Examining the effects HRSA’s Bureau of Health Workforce NHSC and behavioral health grant programs

Client:

HRSA Bureau of Health Workforce

Evaluation of the Next Generation Accountable Care Organization Model

Assessing CMS’s innovative ACO model to improve outcomes and reduce costs for Medicare beneficiaries

Client:

Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

SUPPORT Act Provider Survey

Implementing a survey of providers who prescribe buprenorphine and Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs)

Client:

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Publications

Research Library & Findings