Dr. Anna Sommers has over 20 years of experience conducting health services research for foundations, states, and the federal government on the Medicaid and CHIP programs, including 14 years of experience conducting policy analyses, mixed mode studies, and publishing briefs explaining complex issues to policy makers and lay audiences. Throughout her career she has designed and managed analyses of Medicaid administrative data and survey data in the service of decision makers.
At RTI, she has focused on the synthesis of state experiences pursuing primary care transformation and value-based payment in the State Innovation Model (SIM) Test Initiative Round 2 (view the Final Evaluation Report) and the transformation of Medicaid delivery systems for the treatment of substance use disorders (SUD) in 32 states participating in the Medicaid Section 1115 SUD Demonstrations. In 2017-2018 she collaborated with five foundations to design a bi-state survey of Missouri and Kansas residents about access to care and coverage and presented findings at a public symposium. In addition to her project work, Anna advises RTI management and staff at all levels on state trends and perspectives and business and proposal development related to meeting the needs of state Medicaid programs through RTI’s research priorities.
Prior to joining RTI, Dr. Sommers’ early career focused on the accessibility of health insurance and health care for populations served by the Medicaid and CHIP programs. Her work dispelling myths about use of emergency departments by Medicaid beneficiaries was featured in the Washington Post. For four years she worked collaboratively with state government leaders in Maryland and New Mexico to answer high priority policy questions through design and execution of a range of analytic approaches and written and presentation deliverables. Dr. Sommers has presented her work in private briefings to U.S. Congressional Committee and Senate staff, in Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) public meetings, and has contributed to reports to Congress.
