Michael Barna

Michael Barna collaborates with life sciences and federal partners to transform real-world data into actionable insights that advance healthcare strategy and policy.

Since joining Mathematica in 2009, Michael Barna has led multidisciplinary teams on a range of health economics and outcomes research and program evaluation topics, drawing on his deep expertise in real-world data and methods. His recent work has examined the relationships between social determinants of health, vaccine uptake, and infectious disease incidence; the comparative effectiveness of vaccines on healthcare utilization and costs; and state-level trends in Medicaid enrollees’ demographics, chronic conditions, healthcare utilization, and prescribing patterns. These projects have provided evidence to advisory bodies such as the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, informed value and reimbursement strategies, and enhanced clients communication efforts.

Barna has also contributed to a wide range of large-scale evaluations of federal models and initiatives supported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and other agencies. His expertise in claims processing and analysis ranges from beneficiary attribution, comparison group selection, and impact analysis to survey analysis, literature reviews, and production of rapid-cycle feedback reports and public use files.

Before his current role, Barna contributed to evaluations of charter management organizations, including the Knowledge Is Power Program, and served as a What Works Clearinghouse coordinator for the early mathematics and adolescent literacy topic areas. He also evaluated enrollment and outcome trends among college students in engineering programs.

Barna has an M.A. in applied economics from Eastern Michigan University. His work has appeared in journals such as JAMA Cardiology, American Journal of Public Health, Vaccine, Communications Medicine, and Health Services Research.