Brian K. Bruen

Brian Bruen has more than 25 years if experience in health policy and health services research. His primary focus areas include Medicaid eligibility, covered services, and expenditures; prescription drug benefit programs; and the pharmaceutical supply chain. A consistent element of his work is the use of quantitative data to observe trends and estimate the impacts of policy changes. He is an expert user of federal Medicaid data sources, including the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) Analytic Files (TAF), the Quarterly Medicaid Statement of Expenditures for the Medical Assistance Program (Form CMS-64) and the Annual Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) Participation Report (Form CMS-416).

At RTI, Dr. Bruen guides and conducts data-centered analyses for federal evaluation, oversight, and implementation projects on a variety of subjects. His most recent work involves extensive TAF-based analyses focused on EPSDT benefits and substance abuse disorder-related service use in Medicaid programs nationwide. He directed an RTI team that provided TAF-based analytic support to assist in the development of outcomes-based payment models for cell and gene therapies in Medicaid. He also led a small RTI team responsible for calculating and reporting the “Days at Home” quality measure for Medicare’s Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (ACO REACH) Model. He also led a small project for the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) focused on the role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in Medicaid and payments and rebates for Medicaid-covered prescription drugs.

Before he joined RTI, Dr. Bruen was a Lead Research Scientist and Lecturer at The George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, where he taught courses in pharmaceutical policy, applied statistics, and research methods. Previously, he was a Senior Manager at Avalere Health, the Director of Policy Studies and Research for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, and a researcher at the Urban Institute. In these roles, he developed a broad understanding of prescription drug benefit programs, the drug development and approval process, and the pharmaceutical supply chain in the United States. Much of this work focused on Medicaid drug benefits, but also included Medicare (Part B and Part D), private insurance, the U.S. military (TRICARE), and Veterans’ Administration.