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NORC at the University Chicago

Mithuna Srinivasan

Principal Research Scientist & Applied Health Economist
Applied Health Economics Program Area
Health Care Evaluation
Health Implementation Science Center
Mithuna is an applied economist and expert in mixed-methods evaluations across various domains of health and human services.

Mithuna has over a decade of experience as a mixed-methods researcher with extensive training in applied econometrics and experimental and quasi-experimental program evaluation methods, qualitative data collection and analysis, instrument development and testing, study design and data analysis, and reporting. During her career, she has played lead roles on a range of health care, human services, and workforce development projects for federal clients such as CMS, AHRQ, ASPE, CDC, BLS, USDOL, and USDA, as well as non-federal clients such as state agencies and county local management boards, foundations, and other non-profit organizations. Mithuna has published research on food and nutrition in several, eminent peer-reviewed journals. Her high-impact research has received media attention as well as requests for discussions from policymakers.

At NORC, Mithuna plays lead roles on several projects for ASPE that (1) evaluate the federal data infrastructure available for PCOR, and (2) deliver quick-turnaround research and analyses for ASPE’s Office of Science and Data Policy. For CMS, she is serving as the quantitative co-lead on the evaluation of the ACO REACH Model. She is also serving as the evaluation lead on a PCORI project involving a Learning Network of small organizations seeking to build capacity in patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research. She is also currently directing evaluations of food as medicine interventions for food bank clients. Previously, Mithuna directed projects for NASEM to support consensus reports on behavioral health and also led a CDC-funded evaluation of telehealth interventions.

Before joining NORC, Mithuna was a senior economist at IMPAQ International. At IMPAQ, she was the Monitoring Domain lead on an evaluation of a CMS Medicare Appeals Demonstration. She was the Finance Co-Domain lead on a Kidney Care Model operations contract for CMS. She also accumulated rich experience in other policy areas through leading multiple workforce development evaluations for USDOL, leading an assessment of state and school food authority management information systems for USDA, and supporting state and local government clients on needs assessments and policy analyses. She also collaborated with non-governmental clients on research and evaluation related to food and nutrition, education, and human services (e.g., Share Our Strength; the West Health, Arnold Ventures, and AARP foundations; and the YMCA of the USA).

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Expertise

Education

PhD

The Ohio State University

MA

Economics

MSc

Madras School of Economics (India)

Appointments & Affiliations

Board of Editors

Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior

Project Contributions

Building Capacity for Small Organizations Engagement Award Learning Network

Building small organizations’ capacity for patient-centered outcomes and clinical effectiveness research

Client:

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)

Health Care Spending Burden of Employer-Sponsored Insurance Beneficiaries by Income

Assessing differences in health care spending among ESI enrollees by income category and spending quintile

Client:

The Commonwealth Fund

Landscape for Telehealth Under COVID-19

A landscape review and expert convenings to inform research into telehealth use and effectiveness

Funder:

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

National Center of Excellence for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Data

A multi-pronged effort to improve data capacity for patient-centered outcomes research

Client:

U.S. Health & Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)

Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC)

Supporting and evaluating physician-generated ideas for improving care and lowering costs

Client:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation

Publications

Research Library & Findings