Jeff Ballou

Jeff Ballou’s research focuses on health care payment reform. His work informs efforts to lower costs and improve health care quality through performance measurement and the use of alternative payment strategies.

Ballou regularly advises clients on issues relating to the design, implementation, and assessment of a wide range of alternative payment models (APMs), including shared savings, bundled payment, and pay-for-performance arrangements. From his research and consulting support for the development and implementation of Medicare payment policy—including leading the implementation of a nationwide physician incentive program and advising the federal government on assessments of alternative payment models (APMs), physician-focused payment models, and clinician participation in APMs—he has gained a deep understanding of Medicare policy and regulation, particularly as it applies to clinicians.

In addition to his work on incentives, Ballou has analyzed a wide range of other health care issues, including the effects of Part B drug payment reform; reform of health insurance markets; assessment of methods for conducting comparative effectiveness research; provision of home and community-based services for low-income elderly people and people with disabilities; and competition, market power, and product differentiation in health care markets.

Before joining Mathematica, Ballou held faculty positions in the Northeastern University Department of Economics and Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Northwestern University.