Carrie Colla, Ph.D., is a professor at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at The Geisel School of Medicine. As a health economist, Dr. Colla's research is focused on the use of policy to improve the quality, accessibility, and cost of health care, with an emphasis on studying vulnerable patient populations. Her NCI-funded project examines the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, geography, and other sociodemographic characteristics and their influence on treatment choices for patients with lung, pancreatic, colon, and rectal cancer. The research team will collaborate to investigate the role of recent hospital closures in treatment timeliness, burden, and service choice. The project will also consider potential policy levers to improve care, such as insurance expansions and expansion of telehealth services. Dr. Colla chose to focus on this topic because, while in many cases disparities are well established, the mechanisms through which they occur and the policy levers available to affect change have received less attention.

Dr. Colla's research has been broadly dedicated to examining health system performance and the effectiveness of payment and delivery system reforms. Her empirical studies include the effects of changes in Medicare reimbursement for physicians and institutional providers on vulnerable patient populations; the prevalence and drivers of low-value health care services; and the effects of care management and coordination in physician practices, among others.