Erin Weir Lakhmani

Erin Weir Lakhmani has more than 15 years of experience in Medicare, Medicaid, and state health policy and is an expert in the design and oversight of integrated care programs for individuals who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. Her areas of expertise also include Medicare Savings Program eligibility and enrollment, Medicaid managed care program design and oversight, and long-term services and supports. In all of her work, Weir Lakhmani maintains a passion and focus for advancing health equity among populations disproportionately affected by oppression, disinvestment and social risk factors.

Since July 2019, Weir Lakhmani has directed Mathematica’s Integrated Care Resource Center (ICRC) project, through which Mathematica and a team of subcontractors provide technical assistance to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office (MMCO) and states on the development and oversight of integrated care programs for dually eligible individuals. She also serves as a quality assurance reviewer and senior advisor for another project for CMS MMCO through which Mathematica conducts qualitative interviews with dually eligible individuals regarding their experiences in integrated care programs. Weir Lakhmani has also directed and supported several other projects for the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), and Arnold Ventures regarding factors influencing enrollment in and disenrollment from these integrated care programs, factors influencing states’ decisions about using particular policies when contracting with Medicare Advantage D-SNPs, trends in Medicare Savings Program enrollment over time, and the extent to which D-SNP enrollment may offer value for partial-benefit dually eligible individuals.

Weir Lakhmani has also contributed to work at Mathematica that focuses on federal and state oversight of Medicaid managed care programs and continuous improvement of LTSS delivery, including leading the development of a toolkit for states on Medicaid encounter data validation, leading the development and pilot-testing of a new CMS reporting tool that will collect data from states on Medicaid managed care plan appeals and grievances in the first year after readiness review, supporting the development of the Medicaid managed care report required by 42 CFR 438.66(e), conducting quality assurance reviews of state Medicaid managed care enrollment data, and supporting the development of a roadmap for CMS on LTSS quality measurement.

Weir Lakhmani served as an appointed member of the Illinois state Medicaid Advisory Committee’s Public Education Subcommittee for 10 years and an adjunct lecturer at the University of Chicago for 3 years, teaching health policy and aging to master’s degree students in the university’s School of Social Service Administration. She holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Michigan and is a licensed social worker in the state of Illinois. Weir Lakhmani has published work in Health Affairs and Health Affairs Forefront and an issue brief with the Milbank Memorial Fund, in addition to publishing several research reports and technical assistance tools that are available online.