Research

Peer-reviewed Publication

• Asian American Diversity and Representation in the Healthcare Workforce, 2007-2022 with Michelle Ko, Sarah Iv, and Monica Hahn. 2024, JAMA Network Open

Working Papers

• The Effect of Scope of Practice and Medicaid Reimbursement on the Labor Supply of Primary-Care Providers

Abstract: The United States has long faced a shortage of primary care physicians, and efforts to resolve it are often slowed by legislative and bureaucratic barriers. Nurse practitioners (NPs), whose training equips them to serve as primary care providers, could help close this gap. Yet in many states, NPs must still work under physician oversight. Without full autonomy, simply expanding the number of NPs remains tethered to physician shortages. Employers may also continue to prefer physicians, as insurance companies reimburse their services at higher rates than those of NPs. Loosening scope-of-practice restrictions and ensuring reimbursement parity could expand both the supply and demand for NPs, thereby easing stress on the healthcare system. This paper investigates how granting NPs full practice authority and increasing Medicaid reimbursement for NP services relative to physicians affects labor outcomes for NPs, physicians, and physician assistants (PAs) using a staggered difference-in-differences design. Results show that dual-adopter states experience more active NP licenses, though the number of certified NPs remains unchanged, while physician numbers continue to rise. Physicians emerge as the largest “winners,” with significant wage gains and little change in hours worked. NPs also see notable wage growth, whereas PAs face wage declines despite logging the largest average increase in hours. These findings suggest the perceived turf war between NPs and physicians is overstated: eliminating administrative requirements for physician oversight produces gains for both groups, while highlighting the distinct, and sometimes diverging, pressures faced by PAs.

• Math Assessment and Intervention in Economics Principles and Intermediate Courses (with Brian Jenkins, Matt Steinwachs, and Janine Wilson)

Abstract: The field of economics is built on mathematical foundations. As institutions of higher education accept a larger share of students from diverse backgrounds, including those from high schools that struggle to give students the math preparation necessary for college success, economics classes increasingly have students without the math foundation to learn economics concepts. Educators are left with the following two choices. We can fail these students and signal that the field of economics is forever closed to them, thus reducing diversity within our discipline. In contrast, we can incorporate the necessary math skills development into our curriculum. It is not enough to admit students from diverse backgrounds. We need to support students from diverse backgrounds. The authors use assessments at both the principles and intermediate levels, developed by Irene Foster at George Washington University, and Douglas McKee and George Orlov at Cornell. They look to the example of Irene Foster’s work, which introduces a math preparation class to provide students with the math skills required for success in future economics courses. Unlike at some private institutions, faculty at many public colleges are denied the freedom to relocate students to more appropriate classes if they underperform on a placement assessment; therefore, Foster’s approach requires some adaptation. The authors develop a math-for-economics curriculum embedded into the economics course discussion sections that assesses students’ math abilities at the start of the course and provides targeted math lessons based on the assessment results. This curriculum is randomly assigned to teaching assistants across two large public institutions to ascertain its efficacy at both the principles and intermediate levels. Students take a math post-assessment at the end of the quarter. We find mixed results for the effect of the intervention on the math post-assessment; however, we find that students in the treatment group earn higher course grades on average than those in the control group if they attend sections more often.

• Asian Americans in the Health Professions: A Historical Overview and Contemporary Representation (with Sarah Iv, Angela Zhang, Michelle Ko, Monica Hahn)

• Tactical Analysis of Out-of-System Plays in Collegiate Women’s Volleyball (with Ryan Snyder)

Work in Progress

• Effect of Access to Care on Mental Health for Gender-diverse Military Dependents (with coauthors)