Asta Sorensen

Asta Sorensen is a medical anthropologist focusing on health systems transformation, health care quality and safety, and maternal health. She uses qualitative research methods to evaluate and translate research to meaningful applications in practice.

Sorensen has been part of the qualitative implementation evaluations of two primary care transformation initiatives launched by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): Comprehensive Primary Care Plus and Primary Care First. These initiatives entail several thousand primary care practices. She also leads the 21st Century Learning Community evaluation that is part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Transforming Health and Health Care Systems initiative.

Before joining Mathematica, Sorensen led qualitative evaluations for several other CMS primary care initiatives, such as Multi-Payer Advanced Primary Care Practice and Medicare Health Care Quality demonstrations. She also served as principal investigator of an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality initiative called Accelerating Change and Transformation in Organizations and Networks. In that role, she oversaw the development, implementation, and evaluation of projects such as targeted injury detection systems for adverse drug events and pressure ulcers, checklists to prevent diagnostic errors, and a safety program for perinatal care that sought to improve culture, quality, and safety across labor and delivery units. In addition, she co-led a study on international diffusion of global health care innovations that sought to identify factors that accelerate the spread of innovation and guide policymakers and practitioners in facilitating systemwide changes. She has published her work in BMJ Quality & Safety, Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, Journal of General Internal Medicine, BMJ Innovations, Journal of Healthcare Management, and other journals.