Riti Shimkhada is a senior research scientist at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, responsible for study design and analysis planning and scientific writing for various studies in the areas of health and social disparities, immigrant and global health, and state-level health policies. She is a member of the faculty task force for the California Health Benefits Program (CHBRP) as a cost team lead analyst. CHBRP responds to requests from the California State Legislature to provide independent analysis of impacts of proposed health insurance benefit mandates and repeals.
At the Center, Shimkhada conducts mixed-method studies, many of which have included legislative scans for health topics ranging from breast cancer to social determinants of health. She also led the analysis of social media data in a variety of settings.
Shimkhada is involved in research in the area of disaggregated race/ethnicity data, as well as research involving policy actions, the physical and social environment, and population health outcomes. Shimkhada's peer-reviewed publications have appeared in the fields of health policy, international health, social epidemiology and environmental health.
Shimkhada has a doctorate in epidemiology from UCLA with a special area focus on health services research.
Riti Shimkhada, a senior research scientist at UCLA’s Center for Health Policy research is neutral on the proposition but shares the sentiment that the bill is confusing. Some people feel that this proposition would institute a tax which burdens individuals, which is not true, says Shimkhada.
“It’s very complicated. Even many of us in healthcare don’t fully understand it, so I’m not sure how the general public is expected to.”
She also points to a body of research showing that higher physician reimbursement rates have been shown to lead to better patient access to healthcare and health outcomes.