Julia Baller

Julia Baller is a Medicaid policy expert specializing in the use of data to inform programs, policy development, and decision making.

Her work primarily supports the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), including the Center for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program Services (CMCS) and the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO). She uses data from Medicaid, Medicare, the Federally Facilitated Marketplace, and commercial insurers to drive insights and improve outcomes.

Baller leads complex, data-driven projects under tight timelines, ensuring accuracy and alignment with federal policy goals. She manages cross-functional teams through the full software development lifecycle, often during high-intensity periods. For example, her teams were responsible for the ongoing monitoring of the COVID-19 public health emergency for the Medicaid program and tracking health insurance coverage transitions during the unwinding of Medicaid’s continuous enrollment provision.

She has extensive experience using Medicaid administrative data to support quality measurement and program evaluation. Baller directed a multistate project testing the feasibility of using data from the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) Analytic Files (TAF) to calculate behavioral health quality measures at the clinic level among Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Expansion grantees. She also led an impact evaluation of Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment programs under Section 1115 waivers and advised CMS on the design and implementation of evaluation and monitoring plans for state Medicaid demonstrations.

Baller’s research has been published in peer-reviewed journals including BMC Psychiatry, Psychiatric Services, Schizophrenia Bulletin, and Autism. She holds a PhD in health services research and policy from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.