Eugene Rich

Eugene Rich is an expert on sources of practice variation in medical care with a focus on the influence of the policy, payment, and practice environments on health professionals’ decision making. As a practicing general internist, he also has a longstanding interest in improving the delivery of primary care and the policies needed to accomplish this.

In addition to his expertise in health services and health policy research, he has deep experience with clinical practice leadership, including roles as medical director, clinical program leader, and medicine department chair. Thus, he has a strong practical understanding of the diverse range of provider organizations—their structure, financing, governance, and motivations—and how they vary across urban, suburban, and rural communities.

Since joining Mathematica in 2010, Rich has led a number of projects, including as project director for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Coordinating Center for Comparative Health System Performance, which supported efforts to enumerate and describe U.S. health systems. For the Alternative Payment Model Program Analysis Contract with the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation, he leads the review and analysis of Physician-Focused Payment Model proposals and other alternative payment models. He is senior advisor and provides quality assurance oversight on a number of other current projects for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and foundations, including the Value-Based Care Learning System contract. For Mathematica’s evaluations of the Comprehensive Primary Care Plus and Primary Care First models, he oversees development of claims-based measures of practices and their performance.

Rich is author of more than 160 peer-reviewed publications. Through his work and publications, he expresses his passion for identifying policies and practice settings that help clinicians provide more patient-centered and evidence-based care. Past recognition includes co-authorship on the 2001 AcademyHealth Article of the Year, a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship working on physician payment reform with the House Committee on Ways and Means, and past presidency of the Society of General Internal Medicine. He holds an M.D. from Washington University in St. Louis.