Wenjia Zhu

Wenjia Zhu, a health economist at Mathematica, has more than 10 years of experience in quantitative health policy research, with deep expertise in impact evaluation, state Medicaid policies, and data analytics.

Zhu specializes in designing and conducting impact evaluations to ensure that assessments of healthcare initiatives are accurate and provide evidence-based insights for policymakers. She has applied rigorous methods such as interrupted time series and difference-in-differences designs to assess the effects of state policy changes, including Medicare Savings Programs and opioid–naloxone co-prescribing mandates. Her work also includes major impact evaluations for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) initiatives such as Comprehensive Primary Care Plus and the Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative, leveraging quantitative methodologies for meaningful policy insights.

Zhu has expertise in state Medicaid policies, particularly section 1115 demonstrations and long-term care. As a deputy task lead for CMS’s section 1115 demonstrations project, she supports states in evaluating innovative Medicaid policies related to eligibility and coverage, behavioral health, criminal justice, and health-related social needs. Her work in long-term care includes leading studies for the Administration for Community Living and Arnold Ventures, focusing on older Medicaid enrollees and policies that enhance access to home and community-based services, including policy flexibilities during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Zhu has extensive experience working with Medicaid data to develop insights that inform health policy. She has contributed to several projects analyzing substance use disorder patterns among enrollees of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Her expertise in designing data-driven measures and visualizing complex findings through analytics platforms has supported public reporting efforts, including opioid prescribing trends illustrated via a QuickSight dashboard on CMS’s Medicaid and CHIP Business Information Solution project.

Zhu has published in peer-reviewed journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Family Medicine, Journal of Health Economics, American Journal of Health Economics, and AIDS. She holds a PhD in economics from Boston University.