Rachel M. Werner

Dr. Werner’s research seeks to understand the effect of health care policies and delivery systems on quality of care. In particular, she has examined the role of quality improvement incentives on provider behavior, the organization of health care, racial disparities, and overall health care quality. Her work has empirically investigated numerous unintended consequences to quality improvement incentives and was among the first to recognize that public reporting of quality information may worsen racial disparities. She is currently principal investigator of an R01 from the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality (examining how pay-for-performance in hospitals changed the value of health care) and an R01 from the National Institute of Aging (examining the effect of Medicaid pay-for-performance for nursing homes on delivery of nursing home care). She also directs one of five national centers to evaluate the effectiveness of the medical home by the Veterans Health Administration. She has received numerous awards including the Dissertation Award and the Alice Hersh New Investigator Award from AcademyHealth and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.