Walia is an applied health and labor econometrician. Her research interests are in the areas of health care efficiency (including markets for health care workers), maternal-child health, disability research and sports epidemiology. Her research work has appeared in leading field journals, including JAMA Network Open,ÌýPLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases,ÌýBMJ Global Health,ÌýJMIR Human Factors,ÌýJournal of Market Access & Health Policy,ÌýJournal of Organizational Behavior, and Journal of Sports Economics.

Li’s research aims to improve the quality of care provided by the US health care system. A large part of her research tries to understand the consequences of Medicare payment incentives. Recently, she has investigated Medicare’s performance-based contracts with hospitals and home health care providers, and how these incentives affect their behavior. Li has also investigated the role of health care report cards on patients’ use of services.

Her research has been supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Additionally, she has received funding from the Rackham Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, the Walter J. McNerney Award, and the Collaborative Doctoral Scholars Program from the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation at the University of Michigan.