Jennifer is a senior research director with almost 20 years of experience in data analytics, data processing, policy analysis, and project management. Jennifer conducts and leads both quantitative and qualitative analyses, including managing the creation of databases and analytical files, analyzing hospital administrative and claims data, conducting outreach to Medicaid agencies, and analyzing prescription drug abuse policy to enhance research and support healthcare agencies on various health policy issues, such as outcomes of treatments and access to healthcare programs. 

At NORC, Jennifer leads the development of databases, analytical files, environmental scans, and policy analyses on various projects for the Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation. She also manages the process and completion of financial management reviews for the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services. 

Prior to NORC, Jennifer spent six years at IBM/Watson Health overseeing the creation, quality control review process, and standardization of state and nationwide hospital administrative databases as part of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). She also managed the creation of several online query tools that use visual displays to compare national and State-level statistics on a range of healthcare topics, such as opioid-related hospital use and severe maternal morbidity, and she provided technical assistance to researchers using the HCUP databases. Before IBM, Jennifer worked at the Pew Charitable Trusts advocating for legislation that would allow the use of drug management programs that require individuals to use a designated pharmacy or physician to obtain prescriptions for controlled substances in Medicare. Jennifer managed the development of a 50-state survey and report to publish characteristics of Medicaid drug management programs and worked with Medicaid agencies to implement best practices for them. Jennifer also worked at Booz Allen Hamilton where she led the CMS Division of Medicare Advantage Operations State Resource Center (SRC) task. Specifically, she recommended and implemented updates to SRC and Special Needs Plan (SNP) webpages, developed SNP FAQs, and conducted stakeholder outreach with Medicaid agencies to gain their feedback on SRC-related resources.

Welch has a range of research publications, including analyzing changes in hospitalizations and in-hospital deaths during the initial period of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-December 2020) across 38 states and DC (2022); examining statistical methods used to meet fraud and abuse compliance requirements (2008); and studying the impact of prior exposure to chronic stress on MDMA-potentiated mesoaccumbens dopamine release (2007).