AP-NORC Center Experts

Micah Sjoblom is an Associate Director in the Health Care department at NORC. He has responsibilities for collaborating with department leadership regarding administrative needs including staffing, business development and financial management. In addition to his department level administrative role, he directs and coordinates large complex data collection projects for various Federal clients. He is also a member of NORC’s Institutional Review Board.

Sjoblom has more than 19 years of experience working in research and survey management, with particular expertise in the management of large-scale cross-sectional and panel surveys utilizing multiple-mode technical solutions for data collection. Sjoblom’s responsibilities include the development and implementation of project management tools and indicators, training and oversight programs for large data collection teams (> 150 staff), and the utilization of measurement techniques pertaining to the implementation and assessment of quality controls, process improvement and deliverables.

At NORC, Sjoblom has led activities on several national surveys including data collection efforts for programs funded by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Agency for Children and Families, and the U.S. Census Bureau. He currently serves as the Associate Project Director for Field Data Collection on the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, a continuous, multipurpose survey of a nationally representative sample of the Medicare population conducted for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Sjoblom also serves as the Associate Project Director for the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances which collects detailed information on the assets, liabilities and demographic characteristics of U.S. households sponsored by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Sjoblom also plays a critical role in the development of effective teams and promotion of knowledge-sharing across operations management and functional teams within NORC.

Adil Moiduddin is a Vice President working on issues at the intersection of health care and public health. Moiduddin works closely with NORC’s Executive Vice President for Research on business development and strategic initiatives related to health data, programs and policy. Moiduddin has 18 years of experience in health services research, consulting and program evaluation. He has extensive knowledge of federal and state programs to support health care financing and delivery with particular expertise in the health care safety net and health IT programs.

He also directs a multi-million dollar evaluation of 18 Health Care Innovation Awards (HCIAs) funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. These are projects led by community providers and other stakeholders aiming to improve health care quality, control health care costs and raise overall health. The interventions foster integration and communication across health care settings and help patients access health education, behavioral health and social support resources. Each project focuses on a population with conditions (e.g., diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease) that drive morbidity, mortality and health care costs in the United States.

The evaluation includes analysis of Medicare, Medicaid and private sector administrative data documenting cost and health care utilization. These analyses use a difference-in-difference or two cohort longitudinal design depending on availability of data, sample size and comparison group options. Moiduddin is also leading dozens of in-person structured interviews and focus groups with HCIA providers, community-based stakeholders, administrators, patients and caregivers.

Moiduddin directs smaller projects assessing population health interventions involving collaboration between health care providers, public health agencies and community-based organizations. He recently completed an evaluation of the Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Program (SHARP) for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and a Congressionally-mandated report on the use of health IT to address the needs of communities experience health disparities for the same office. He also recently completed a project using data from the National Center for Health Statistics to assess differences in primary care visits between federally funded health centers and other providers. The study also looks at variation between primary care visits led by nurse practitioners and physician assistants compared to those led by physicians.

In addition to the funders mentioned above, during his career at NORC, Moiduddin has directed projects for the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the Congressional Research Service and many Agencies and offices within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) including the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Prior to coming to NORC, Moiduddin was a consultant for the Lewin Group. At Lewin, he conducted strategic planning, program evaluation and market analysis projects for government Agencies, biotechnology firms, and health care associations. He also served as an Analyst at ASPE’s Division of Health Policy. At ASPE he helped coordinate research activities across HHS and design the first ever national evaluation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Moiduddin regularly presents his work at academic conferences including those sponsored by AcademyHealth, the American Public Health Association the American Medical Informatics Association, the Health Information Management Systems Society, and others. He has authored dozens of reports, white papers, peer reviewed articles, and book chapters. He is a member of AcademyHealth, the American Public Health Association and the American Evaluation Association. He serves as a peer-reviewer for the American Journal of Managed Care, the Journal of Ambulatory Care Management and Health Services Research.

Kristina Hanson Lowell is a vice president and senior fellow in the Health Care Department at NORC.

She has more than 18 years of experience and policy expertise in the areas of Medicare and Medicaid, health information technology (IT), payment reform, chronic care improvement, and disability issues. Lowell has directed many large-scale quantitative and qualitative studies on behalf of state and federal government agencies, not-for-profit and consumer organizations, academic researchers, foundations, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and professional associations. These studies have included surveys, focus groups, structured interviews, and site visits with a focus on the general population, individuals with chronic conditions and disabilities, elderly and low-income populations, health-care providers, federal and state legislators, and other key policymakers. Among her ongoing projects at NORC, Lowell is serving as the Project Director of the evaluations of the Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program and the Information Technology (IT) Professionals in Health Care (“Workforce”) Program for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Prior to joining NORC, Lowell was a Research Director at the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution, where she focused on health IT, payment and delivery-system reform, and long-term care. Lowell directed a two-year project for the Markle Foundation designed to build an infrastructure for the development of better evidence on how payment reforms and health IT can be used to improve care and health outcomes for people with chronic conditions. While at Brookings, Lowell also helped coordinate the formation and launch of the Long-Term Quality Alliance, a multi-stakeholder effort dedicated to fostering the implementation of quality measures across the range of long-term services and supports. Lowell was previously a senior analyst in the Office of Policy at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), where she managed the Office’s Medicare Part D portfolio, including empirical studies of beneficiary savings, access, and program spending; monitoring and improvement of the Part D Plan Finder tool; and the launch of an on-line consumer resource on Prescription Drug Patient Assistance Programs. She served as a Part D liaison between the Office of the Administrator, other parts of the Agency and DHHS, Capitol Hill, and a range of consumer and stakeholder organizations. Prior to CMS, Lowell was a Senior Research Manager at Harris Interactive, where she directed large-scale quantitative and qualitative health-policy studies and surveys, including a gap analysis survey of people with and without disabilities. Lowell was also a Senior Policy Analyst at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, focusing on Medicare, Medicaid, prescription drugs, and disability policy. Lowell has served as an Instructor at Harvard College and as a Teaching Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Lowell has published research in peer-reviewed publications on access to care under Medicaid, state variations in the coverage and delivery of mental-health and substance-abuse services under Medicaid managed care, public attitudes concerning mental illness, and innovative approaches to payment- and delivery-system reform such as accountable care organizations (ACOs).