Mathematica’s Carol Irvin Receives Inaugural Medicaid Data Impact Award

Mathematica Senior Fellow Carol Irvin received AcademyHealth's inaugural Medicaid Data Learning Network Data Impact Award in recognition of her work to meaningfully advance Medicaid leaders’ use of data to inform policy, improve programs, and make decisions about care access, quality, and cost.

“Medicaid data has enormous potential to improve health outcomes and strengthen programs, but realizing that potential requires collaboration across agencies, researchers, and technical experts to continue to improve the data and to support shared, action-ready knowledge,” said Irvin. “AcademyHealth’s Medicaid Data Learning Network makes space to learn from and connect with others dedicated to using data to make Medicaid work better for the people it serves, and I’m honored to be recognized by this community.”

Irvin was selected to receive this award for her role in fostering peer learning across the network by sharing technical expertise, advancing best practices, and helping to elevate the collective work of the network. She focuses on using data to assess and inform decision making on policies and programs related to healthcare quality and access, with one example being her leadership in Mathematica’s development and maintenance of the Data Quality Atlas and the Medicaid and CHIP Scorecard.

“Carol’s recognition reflects both her technical depth and her commitment to making Medicaid data useful for real program decisions,” said Carey Appold, senior vice president and managing director of Mathematica’s federal Medicaid practice. “Her work helps agencies and researchers get important insights about quality, access, and program performance.”

Across Medicaid programs, leaders are increasingly expected to use data for oversight, quality improvement, and policy decisions. Mathematica supports federal and state agencies by helping them assess data quality, interpret program trends, and translate complex Medicaid data into evidence they can use to improve performance and outcomes.

Explore Mathematica’s Medicaid data portfolio here.