Departmental Affiliations
Katherine Miller, PhD, studies how public policies impact the long-term care workforce and the people with complex medical needs for whom they care.
Research Interests
Health services research, disability, personal care, family caregiving, formal caregivers, long-term care, health economics
Additional Links
Experiences & Accomplishments
As a health services researcher, I apply an economic lens to research at the intersection of aging and health policy evaluation. I am interested in understanding how public policies impact the long-term care workforce and the people with complex medical needs for whom they care. Collectively, my work examines the effects of policies and interventions on outcomes of the workforce (e.g., wages of the paid caregivers and well-beings of unpaid/family caregivers); the mechanisms impacting quality of care (e.g., turnover); and, patient outcomes across the spectrum of long-term care settings. While these are my core research questions, I am also interested in understanding disparities in long-term care by rurality.
Honors & Awards
2022 Delta Omega Theta Chapter, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health
2022 Best Overall Abstract, Conference on Caregiving Research, The National Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Family Support at the University of Pittsburgh
2020 Finalist, HSRproj Research Competition for Students, AcademyHealth
2019 UNC Graduate School Transportation Grant
2014 Jean G. Yates Public Health Policy Award, Department of Health Policy & Management, University of North Carolina
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Selected publications
Miller KEM, Ornstein K, and Coe NB. “Rural disparities in use of family and formal caregiving for older adults with disabilities.” Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2023 Apr 20. doi: 10.1111/jgs.18376. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37081828.
Miller KEM, Van Houtven CH, Kent EE, Gilleskie D, Holmes GM, Smith VA, Stearns SC. Short-term effects of comprehensive caregiver supports on caregiver outcomes. Health Services Research. 2023 Feb;58(1):140-153. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.14038. Epub 2022 Aug 5. PMID: 35848763.
Miller KEM, Zhao J, Laine L, and Coe NB. “Growth of Private Pay Residential Care Communities in Metropolitan Areas in the United States, 2006-2018”. Medical Care Research and Review. 2022:107755872211061. doi:10.1177/10775587221106121.
Miller KEM, Stearns SC, Van Houtven CH, Gilleskie D, Holmes GM, and Kent EE. “The Landscape of State Policies Supporting Family Caregivers as aligned with the National Academy of Medicine Recommendations” The Milbank Quarterly. May 17, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0009.12567
Miller KEM, Gorges RJ, Konetzka RT, Van Houtven CH. The Metrics Matter: Improving Comparisons of COVID-19 Outbreaks in Nursing Homes. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. 2021 May;22(5):955-959.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2021.03.001. Epub 2021 Mar 10. PMID: 33812840; PMCID: PMC7945871.