Dr. Rob Lieberthal is a results-driven health economist and strategic advisor with a proven record of helping healthcare organizations, life science companies, and public agencies solve complex challenges and achieve measurable improvements in outcomes and cost efficiency. As Founder and Senior Principal of Lieberthal & Associates LLC, he partners with clients to design and implement high-impact economic models, fraud detection methodologies, and return-on-investment frameworks that drive decision-making and deliver tangible results. Rob also currently serves as a Senior Advisor on Behavioral Economics to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) and as an adjunct instructor in Population Health at Thomas Jefferson University.
Previously, Rob was a department manager at MITRE, a leading Federally Funded Research and Development Center operator. He joined MITRE just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and quickly built a health economic capability to deliver needed responses to the pandemic that simultaneously improved health outcomes and ensured economic resilience.
Selected accomplishments include:
- Synthesizing health economic evidence to support the launch of a novel cardiovascular disease product, demonstrating a 26% improvement in patient outcomes and $300 in per-patient savings.
- Developing a novel machine learning method for fraud detection in healthcare claims that matched physician-expert detection rates and saved $80 and 6 months per claim reviewed.
- Predicting nationwide Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace enrollment with over 99% accuracy.
- Building a return on investment (ROI) model for primary care practice transformation. Secured a $100K grant to fund development of the tool and enabled increased revenue of 10% or more for small practices.
Rob’s career spans health economics, actuarial science, and consulting. He has led projects for pharmaceutical firms, insurers, and public health organizations-delivering actionable insights that have improved patient outcomes and generated substantial cost savings. Rob equips boards and executive teams with the insights needed to make informed, future-ready decisions.
Rob’s previous experience also includes:
➢Professor, Public Health, at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN
➢Chief Financial Officer for PCRM Systems in Alexandria, Virginia
➢Various strategic, training, and analytic roles at Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Humana, and Westat.
A published author and accomplished researcher, Rob has written over 30 peer-reviewed articles and reports for public and private sector clients. His book, What Is Health Insurance (Good) For? was published by Springer and examines the structure, funding, and future of the U.S. health insurance system.
He earned his PhD in Health Economics from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia, and an undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Boston University in Boston.
Rob and his wife have 3 children, and they live in Pittsburgh, PA. They are actively involved in local philanthropic activities. Rob is passionate about supporting children and young adults with special needs and their parents through his involvement with the Friendship Circle, Pittsburgh.