GENERAL SUMMARY OF POSITION:

Under the general direction of the Director of Commonwealth Medicine's Health Law and Policy group, and the direct supervision of a Senior Associate, the Sr. Policy Analyst will be identifying, obtaining, organizing and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data, reviewing academic and professional literature, and gathering information from multiple sources on the costs, utilization, quality and access to health care and human services. This position will be a three year position supporting the MassHealth Office of Behavioral Health (OBH). The successful candidate will provide OBH with research, writing and policy implementation support in conjunction with major Behavioral Health policy reform efforts.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Perform policy and data analyses of complex health care and human services topics and issues, which will typically require an understanding of the project’s goals, the policy context, and the ability to combine and synthesize data and information from multiple sources.
• Prepare written summaries and reports of policy and data analyses and draft written reports and other materials in easily understood formats for both internal and external distribution.
• Obtain data and information from a wide variety of sources, including federal agencies, state agencies, insurers, health care providers, human services providers, academic and professional journals, professional organizations, foundations, news outlets, blogs, consulting project clients and consulting project partners.
• Assess the quality of the data obtained by analyzing the data for missing data and/or inconsistencies and, as needed, develop and implement methods to improve the quality of the data by obtaining missing values, resolving inconsistencies or excluding selected data from analyses.
• Organize data by constructing databases and spreadsheets and organize qualitative information in a manner that facilitates its use for policy analysis.
• Assist in identifying sources of data and information relevant to specific analytic projects on health care and human services topics and issues.
• Perform other duties as required.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master’s degree in relevant discipline (e.g., public policy, public health, health economics, public or business administration with a concentration in health care); or equivalent.
• 3 years of related professional experience.
• Experience in managing projects or project teams, and demonstrated ability to meet project milestones and deadlines.
• Excellent quantitative and qualitative policy research and analytical skills.
• Excellent analytical and writing skills as demonstrated in writing sample of past analytical work.
• Excellent oral communication skills.
• Ability to learn new issues quickly.
• Ability to take initiative on assignments and work independently.
• Demonstrated expertise in computer based tools, including spreadsheets, database management, work processing, and presentation software.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Knowledge of the Massachusetts health care system and current health care policy issues.
• Knowledge of federal and state policymaking
• Experience writing project proposals, grants, vendor contracts and other types of business proposals at the local, state and/or federal level.
• Experience in using statistical software, such as SAS.
• Excellence in work performance, as evidenced by letters of reference or awards for performance or similar indicators.

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