Hybrid Health Economist; Research Scientist - Health Affairs Institute

Overview

The Health Affairs Institute at West Virginia University is currently accepting applications for a (Hybrid) Health Economist. The Health Affairs Institute within the WVU Health Sciences Center provides organizational leadership for collaborative activities involving the Health Sciences Center, the West Virginia Department of Health Services (DOHS) and other partners. These include, among others, providing data analytic support, program evaluation expertise, technical assistance, and project management support for the DOHS and other partners.

With office locations in both Morgantown and Charleston, the Health Affairs Institute (HAI) employs over 80 full‑time staff and engages numerous faculty and staff from other units of the University to fulfill its service mission to the state.

The Research Scientist in Health Economics is a key participant in the State‑University partnership between the WVU Health Sciences Center and the WV Department of Health Services. Overarching responsibilities include working with the state to leverage their data and support analytic and policy needs, conducting relevant policy and evaluation research, participating in interdisciplinary research and evaluation teams, and providing oversight of associated data analysts.

The health Economist is expected to design and conduct economic analysis of state programs and interventions, provide guidance to the teams on evaluations and support policy development efforts of DoHS. The successful Research Scientist in Health Economics will be data‑driven with strong analytical skills and a proven record of finding insights in disparate data and effectively communicating that information to drive decision making.

• 37.5‑hour work week
• 13 paid holidays (staff holiday calendar)
• 24 annual leave (vacation) days per year (employee leave)
• 18 sick days per year
• Health insurance and other benefits
• 401(a) retirement savings with 6 % employee contribution match and other retiree perks
• Wellness programs

• This position conducts and oversees economic modeling, using claims data to assess economic outcomes and health system performance evaluations. The incumbent is expected to support data‑driven decision making for state health programs and policies. This role is expected to perform hands‑on data work and produce insights that drive operational improvements, translate complex data into clear, actionable insights for government and industry partners.
  • Develop economic models to determine the efficient allocation of resources available to healthcare payers and providers, and develop appropriate communications for a variety of stakeholders.
  • Work under the guidance of the Director of the Center for Measurement and Health Data Analytics to maintain sophisticated models to forecast the financial impact of health policies and policy changes.
  • Conduct sensitivity analyses and stress testing on models to develop robust understanding of the range of potential outcomes under multiple scenarios.
  • Develop a knowledge repository of industry best practices and innovations.
  • Proactively provide analytic guidance for financial and economic outcomes of policies and policy changes using conventional and predictive study designs.
  • Accomplish comparative evaluations and retrospective studies to measure the actual economic outcomes against initial projections.
  • Build repeatable and scalable analytic processes.
  • Generate executive presentations for stakeholders.
  • Promote and shape HAI best practices concerning automation and documentation.
  • Contribute to department initiatives around automation, machine learning, AI use, and tooling improvements.
  • Maintain compliance with all applicable laws and regulations governing the responsible conduct of research and data security.
  • Execute Health Economic Outcomes Research (HEOR) evidence generation including cost‑benefit analysis, cost‑effectiveness analysis and budget impact models.
  • Analyze Medicaid and commercial claims data using SQL, SAS, R, or Python to identify trends, cost drivers, and utilization patterns.
  • Collaborate with cross‑functional teams including data scientists, policy analysts, and state partners.
  • Support grant…