Research Scientist Health Services Research

Research Scientist 3

The Research Scientist 3 will work as the Senior Researcher within the Bureau of Medicaid Data Reporting and Analysis and will assist in a broad range of research, analysis, reporting, and evaluation activities within the Division of Data Strategy and Technology Management (DSTM), as well as supervising a team that will provide operational support to the Research Agenda and Peer Review process.

The incumbent will work under the direction of the Assistant Bureau Director.

Specific duties may include, but are not limited to:

• Supervise a team that will extract, clean, merge, recode, and/or analyze administrative data sets available in OPWDD including those for quality measurement, billing, external survey projects, service enrollment, Medicaid utilization, and other routine or ad-hoc reporting as assigned.
• Use a wide range of research methods and data sources to conduct descriptive and inferential analyses to support agency-wide initiatives related to Medicaid utilization, public health, service quality, and outcomes. Data sources may include, but are not limited to, Medicaid data, enrollment data, case management records, survey data and data from other agencies and organizations.
• Supervise a team that will compile data to support policy briefs for senior staff on key programmatic areas.
• Identify metrics that measure progress in outcome achievement and assist in program management and evaluation of OPWDD policy.
• Assist in creating presentations, visualizations, statistical briefs, develop research ideas, draft research manuscripts and reports based on assigned projects and tasks.
• Respond to routine and ad hoc data requests.
• Develop data visualizations showing statistics and trends for public consumption, using software such as Tableau.
• Work with Research Director to assist in implementation and support of Research Agenda.
• Work with Deputy Director to assist in implementation and support of Peer Review process for Research Scientist titles within OPWDD.
• Assist in identifying and implementing automation of workflow.
• Assist in planning, designing, and executing research projects, including developing research questions, formulating hypotheses, identifying an appropriate research design and methodology, and interpreting findings.
• Assist in developing and executing new and/or highly complex algorithms and statistical predictive models and determining analytical approaches and modeling techniques to evaluate potential future outcomes.
• Establish and model analytical rigor and effective use of statistical methods to analyze a large amount of data, including using advanced statistical techniques and mathematical analyses.
• Collaborate with other research scientists and analytical staff on all phases of research and contribute to healthcare policy recommendations based on applied research findings.

The incumbent will be expected to perform these duties under general supervision.

Preferred Qualifications:

Strong analytic, statistical, and data management skills. Experience with analyzing, extracting, merging, and linking large relational health care datasets, including Medicaid data. Proficient in the use of SAS or SQL, Microsoft Excel, Word and Power Point. Knowledge of statistical methods and their application for predictive analytics. Experience with data visualization tools such as Tableau and/or Power BI is desired. Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

The ability to work independently, as well as in a team environment.

Remote Work:
Current OPWDD policy requires half-time in office. This policy is subject to annual review and renewal.

Non-Competitive:
Bachelor's degree and four years of professional research experience in an appropriate field. Substitutions:
Master's degree in an appropriate field may substitute for one year of experience, and Ph.D. in an appropriate field may substitute for an additional year of experience.