OUR STAFF

Ross Arnett

Mr. Arnett has more than 30 years of experience related to the economics and analysis of health care issues, including serving in senior management positions at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). He is a widely recognized expert on the U.S. health care system, including issues surrounding spending, utilization, price indexes, payment systems, and private health insurance.

As Director of the Center for Cost and Financing Studies at AHRQ, he was responsible for two vital research tools: the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), to collect data by household, and the Medical Simulation Model (MEDSIM), which not only estimates national levels of insurance coverage and expenditures, but also assists with projecting impacts of policies embedded in current law or proposed reforms. He also managed an extensive grant portfolio, led cost-effectiveness studies, and served on the Department of Health and Human Service’s Data Council.

As Director of the Office of National Health Statistics at CMS, he supervised a team of economists, statisticians, and actuaries that monitored and estimated the price, utilization, and cost of health care, and analyzed the impact on CMS’s programs and the national economy. He was responsible for developing official Government estimates, projections, and analysis of national health expenditures; estimating the financial and enrollment facets of private health organizations; and conducting the nationwide Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey.

While at CMS, Mr. Arnett was also a member of the White House Health Data Strategy Taskforce, a joint workgroup of the Office of Management and Budget and the Council of Economic Advisors established to ensure the availability of health care information for policy analysis and monitoring. Mr. Arnett completed postgraduate studies in Economics and holds a B.S. in Economics, with honors, from the University of Maryland.