Ellen Bouchery

Ellen Bouchery has more than 30 years of experience in health services research. Her work has focused on behavioral health, the Medicaid and Medicare programs, and the healthcare workforce.

In the area of behavioral health, Bouchery conducts analysis of the Medicaid 1115 Substance Use Disorder (SUD) demonstrations. These demonstrations combat the opioid epidemic and all SUDs by increasing access to and use of clinically appropriate and evidence-based treatment. She also recently evaluated 10 innovative care models and assessed Medicaid coverage and spending for substance abuse treatment by state. She further assessed the effect of substance use and mental health disorders on health care treatment costs, productivity, and the criminal justice system. In the area of the Medicaid and Medicare programs, Bouchery has developed and assessed payment models and reform initiatives. For the Medicaid program, she has evaluated new initiatives and developed Medicaid managed care payment rates, including risk adjustment methods and analysis of cost and quality-of-care implications. For the Medicare program, she recently led development of analytic measures for the evaluation 0f the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative, a primary care medical home model. Her work on health care workforce issues includes a recent assessment of the capacity of the substance abuse treatment workforce to meet increased demand for services.

Bouchery’s technical areas of expertise include data management and analysis, cost of illness, program evaluation, and simulation modeling. She is skilled in analysis of Medicaid and Medicare administrative data, complex data from federal surveys, data from electronic medical record systems, and an expert on program cost and cost-of-illness study methods. She has conducted cost-of-illness studies for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Bouchery publishes in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment and Health Services Research. She has been lead author on 20 and a substantial contributor to more than 40 peer-reviewed publications, targeted briefs, or major reports. She has served on the National Quality Forum’s Expert Panel on the SUD Treatment Progress Rating System and the Government Accountability Office’s Expert Panel on Addressing Untreated Behavioral Health Conditions in Adults. She holds an M.S. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her previous experience includes positions at the Lewin Group and the Urban Institute.