Su Liu

Su Liu’s research focuses on access, cost, and quality issues for programs that serve vulnerable populations, such as people with low income, older adults, people with disabilities, and the uninsured in the United States.

Since joining Mathematica in 2003, Liu has played key roles in state- and federally funded projects, including monitoring and evaluation of the Medicaid 1115 demonstration, development of data analytics for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Business Information Solutions, risk adjustment for quality measure development, and technical assistance for states’ coverage expansion initiatives and spending projections. Several of Liu’s current projects involve efforts to strengthen CMS and state oversight of Medicaid financing and identify data-driven insights that inform policymaking. She led the task to design and conduct a second national evaluation of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)’ Money Follows the Person demonstration. More recently, she helped the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services conduct a statewide access and provider capacity assessment of services needed to enable people with disabilities and behavioral health needs to have a meaningful choice to live and receive services in their communities.

Liu’s data and analytic expertise stems from more than 20 years of experience integrating and using program and survey data to address policy questions. Her work constructing program monitoring and evaluation measures using the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System Analytic File is just one recent example. Past projects include Mathematica’s large-scale evaluation of the Ticket to Work initiatives and the Medicaid Buy-In program.

Liu has published work in peer-reviewed journals such as Inquiry, Health Policy and Planning, and the Journal of Disability Policy Studies. She has presented at professional conferences sponsored by AcademyHealth, the American Public Health Association, and the International Health Economics Association. Before rejoining Mathematica in 2015, Liu was also a faculty member at the School of Public Health and Primary Care at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford’s Health Economics Research Centre. She has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Irvine.