Ph.D. in health economics, University of Pennsylvania
Preethi Rao (she/her) is a health economist at the RAND Corporation. Her research focuses on topics related to health policy. In particular, she is interested in policy issues related to the Affordable Care Act, prescription drug costs, access to health care, and quality measurement in health care. She has used simulation modeling to assess state policies (such as expanding Medicaid to the undocumented immigrant population), the effects of potential changes to the Affordable Care Act (such as subsidy expansions), and the introduction of new payment models in Medicaid. She has also conducted an evaluation of state 1332 reinsurance waivers. She previously led work to understand barriers to price and quality transparency. She also has experience with evaluation and implementation of quality measurement programs through work on the CAHPS for MIPS survey. She has worked on analyses of prescription drug usage using drug sales data from IQVIA and Medicare encounter data and Part D event data. Rao earned her Ph.D. in health economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
