Allison Wishon

Allison Wishon’s research centers on the delivery and quality of health care for people with mental illnesses and disabilities. Much of her work has focused on evaluating strategies to expand access to and coordination of Medicaid behavioral health services.

Wishon currently directs the national evaluation of the extension to the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) Demonstration and development of an evaluation design for the CCBHC Expansion Grant program for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. She also leads a team conducting cross-state analysis of Medicaid Section 1115 Demonstrations for beneficiaries with serious mental illness and serious emotional disturbance for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Previously, she led the design and implementation of a national study and report to Congress for CMS regarding payments to Medicaid managed care plans on behalf of certain enrollees receiving services in institutions for mental diseases. She also led key tasks for the evaluation of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Primary and Behavioral Health Care Integration program and provided qualitative leadership on the evaluations of the Health Care Innovation Awards behavioral health awardees and the Medicaid Emergency Psychiatric Demonstration for CMS.

Wishon has published in peer-reviewed journals, including Psychiatric Services and the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. Before joining Mathematica in 2013, she served on the policy team at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, where she analyzed and researched policy, provided technical assistance, and represented the interests of those with serious mental illnesses. She holds an M.H.S. from the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.