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Martha D. Kovac
Associate Director and Senior Researcher
Martha Kovac is associate director for the Princeton survey research division and a senior survey researcher who has expertise in design and collection of health care surveys of providers and practice managers, health care facilities, and low-income vulnerable families. She has expertise in surveying staff and conducting observations in child care settings and surveying families in home visiting programs. She has designed surveys covering topics such as health quality and quality improvement, electronic health records and meaningful use, access and coordination of care, and unmet needs.
Kovac has conducted web usability testing and cognitive interviewing with physicians and elderly consumers and conducted surveys in web, computer-assisted telephone interviewing, and mail modes.
Kovac is the survey director for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Evaluation funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Administration for Children and Families; Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation. As survey director for this evaluation, she oversees the design and conduct of a longitudinal family survey and multiple rounds of videotaped observations of home visits for a national evaluation of the home visiting program. The study is designed to be a randomized controlled trial. A sample of 5,100 families will be drawn from 85 sites across 12 states.
Kovac is the project director for the Medicare Advantage (MA) Quality Bonus Payment (QBP) project, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to assess the effect of health plan bonus payments on plan quality. The evaluation will examine patterns and trends in plan quality indicators and plan enrollment to assess the effects of QBPs using in-depth case studies and a survey. The survey of MA plans will explore their reactions to the demonstration, their quality improvement activities, and the resources plans have allocated to these efforts.
Kovac holds a M.P.H. in health policy and management from the School of Public Health, University of California at Los Angeles.
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- Areas of Expertise
- Key Projects
- Publications
- Design and collection of health care surveys of providers and practice managers, health care facilities, and low-income vulnerable families
- Surveying staff and conducting observations in child care settings and surveying families in home visiting programs
- Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Evaluation
- Mothers and Infants Home Visiting Program Evaluation-Strong Start
- Evaluation of the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative
- "Perceptions of Electronic Health Records and Their Effect on the Quality of Care: Results from a Survey of Patients in Four States" (November 2012)
- "Evaluation of the Electronic Health Records Demonstration: Final Report" (June 2012)
- "National Survey of U.S. Health Professionals' Smoking Prevalence, Cessation Practices, and Beliefs." Nicotine & Tobacco Research (July 2010)