Catherine Hersey, MPH

Catherine Hersey, a senior associate, is a seasoned health services researcher and project manager with over 15 years of experience in both Medicare and Medicaid. Her research areas include the implementation and evaluation of accountable care organizations and other alternative payment models, maternal health, substance use disorder, meaningful use of electronic health records, and hospital-acquired infections. Hersey also has experience in quality measurement and improvement. In addition, she has experience in both quantitative and qualitative analyses and managing large and complex projects.

In her current role, Hersey leads the evaluation for the Reducing Maternal Health Disparities in Underserved and Vulnerable Populations project for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). She worked with HRSA to develop a core set of evaluation measures, worked with health centers to develop individualized measures, and is responsible for collecting and analyzing data across the project. She is also the deputy project director of the Maternal Opioid Misuse (MOM) Evaluation for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), where she provides overall project support and direction to ensure success in Abt’s role as a subcontractor and leads qualitative data collection.

Before coming to Abt, Hersey was a research public health analyst at Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International supporting the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality with quality measurement initiatives and alternative payment models. She held lead roles supporting the Medicare Shared Savings Programs in areas such as quality reporting, participation management, and quality assurance; and led the Minnesota state team as part of the first State Innovations Models Evaluation. Prior to her research career Hersey held positions at a Medicaid managed care organization and at community-based organizations supporting patients with mental health disorders and physical disabilities.

Expertise

• Alternative payment models
• Data collection and analysis (qualitative and quantitative)
• Quality measurement and improvement
• Medicare and Medicaid payment and policy
• Maternal health

Key Projects

• Reducing Maternal Health Disparities in Underserved and Vulnerable Populations
• Paraprofessional Apprenticeship Technical Assistance Program, HRSA
• MOM Evaluation, CMS 
• Bundled Payment for Care Improvement Advanced Evaluation, CMS
• Hospice Quality Reporting Program, CMS

Publications

• Factors That Affect Opioid Quality Improvement Initiatives in Primary Care: Insights from Ten Health Systems
• Medicaid ACOs and Managed Care: A Tale of 2 States
• An Analysis of Medicare Accountable Care Organization Expense Reports
• Moving from quality measurement to quality improvement: Applying Meaningful Use lessons to the Quality Payment Program
• Medicaid accountable care organizations in four states: Implementation and early impacts