Health Policy & Management

• SPH PM 824: Theory & Research on Organizations
  The purposes of this course are first to develop the students' understanding of major theoretical perspectives on health care organizations, and second to develop their abilities to apply these theories to conduct theory-based research on health care organizations. The course achieves this understanding through an in-depth review of contemporary literature addressing each major theoretical perspective and through written assignments and discussions of the contrasts among the major theoretical perspectives on organizations. To develop their abilities to apply the theories, students also design organizational research based upon the different theories.
• SPH PM 826: Health, Illness, and the Use of Health Services
  This course provides an introduction to social and behavioral science research that would serve as a basis for inquiry in health economics (e.g., consumer behavior, decision making) and health outcomes (e.g., adaptation to chronic disease, patient satisfaction). Its goal is to develop an understanding of the social context of health services, focusing on how people perceive a need for health services, seek them, engage in transactions with health care providers as "patients" or "consumers" and live with the outcomes.
• SPH PM 827: Strategic Management of Healthcare Organizations
  This course examines key strategic issues that healthcare organizations face that affect their competitive position and performance. Through the course students learn to select and apply analytic frameworks from economics, management, and law to resolve these strategic issues. Students develop skills in strategic planning and management that includes industry and competitive analysis.
• SPH PM 828: Advanced Methods of Qualitative Research
  This course will focus on the use of qualitative methods in understanding outcomes of care, such as patient-centered perspectives on illness and health care; processes of care, such as doctor-patient interactions and communication; and the organization of care, such as the impact of different organizational structures on the quality of care. Students will develop skills in the use of qualitative methods in health services research, including the procedures of focus groups, the use of in-depth interviews, naturalistic observations of health care practices, and ethnographic studies of health care organizations and client communities. The course is part of the PhD program in Health Services Research, but will be of interest to other students who wish to learn about utilizing qualitative methods in their research.
• SPH PM 830: Developing Patient-Based Health Status and Outcomes Measures
  Contemporary health services research relies heavily on patient-based measures of health status and other outcomes of health care. This course covers techniques for defining health status constructs to be measured and the content of questionnaires, psychometric procedures of scale development and evaluation, as well as the theoretical bases of patient-based health status assessment in the context of outcomes research. Practical issues of selecting and applying measures in designing health outcomes research are addressed.
• SPH PM 833: Health Economics
  This course develops the lens and tools of basic microeconomic analysis and applies them to key health policy issues, emphasizing the trade-offs involved in various choices within the health care economy. The debate between pro-market and government regulatory approaches is examined. The main focus is on domestic health economics; however, analytic methods developed in the course are applicable to foreign health care systems.
• SPH PM 834: Health Regulation and Planning
  Past failures of competitive markets in health care led to demands for public planning and regulation. But these, in turn, have not been very successful in ameliorating cost, coverage, or quality problems. Employing cases of successful and failed public interventions in health care, this course dissects what has worked and why. It provides frameworks and skills that can be used to address real world health care problems.
• SPH PM 836: Survey of Managed Care
  This course gives a comprehensive overview of managed care and its impact on U.S. health care. The course begins by examining early managed care organizations (MCOs) and evaluates the impact of increasing costs and concern about poor quality associated with the traditional fee-for-service system on the rapid growth of MCOs beginning in the 1980s. Students explore the impact of managed care on the role and relationships of primary care, specialist physicians, and hospitals. Specific programs to reduce costs and improve quality are evaluated with a focus of their impact on the patient as well as the physician-patient relationship. The course integrates a discussion of the key management challenges facing managed care and larger health policy issues.
• SPH PM 837: Evaluating Health Care Quality
  This course covers methods for describing, evaluating, and managing the quality of health care services. Examples are drawn from various settings, e.g., acute care, home health care, and ambulatory care.
• SPH PM 838: Politics and Public Policy
  This course examines selected major health policy issues affecting public and private health organizations. It discusses the political processes and institutions shaping these policies, and seeks answers to who gets what from whom, when, where, and why in health policy.
• SPH PM 840: Analysis of Current Health Policy Issues
  The purpose of this course is to arm students with the skills to debate, define, and defend health policy proposals. We will explore, in depth, several current health policy problems. The course will take an analytic case approach, identifying policy options and tools, then gathering information and applying data to evaluate outcomes, costs; winners and losers. Methods for finding and accessing information on the Internet are emphasized. This is a capstone course meant to be taken in the student’s last semester.
• SPH PM 842: Health Economics for Health Services Research
  This course provides an understanding of principles of microeconomics and applied microeconomic analysis of public health policy issues sufficient to comprehend and conduct health services research. The over-arching philosophical issues facing the post health care reform world and the arguments defining the debate between pro-market and government regulatory approaches are addressed. The main focus is on domestic health economics; however, analytic methods developed in the course are applicable to foreign health care systems. There is a lab component. Students may not take both PM833 and PM842 for degree credit.
• SPH PM 850: Organizing for Health System Change
  This course examines the role of consumer organizing and advocacy in the reforming U.S. health system. It provides students with a basic understanding of the strategies consumers have employed to expand access to care, shape the delivery system, and improve the quality of care. Students have the opportunity to develop analytical skills related to policy, politics, and organizing, including media relations and legislative lobbying. Topics include state and national efforts to create a system of universal coverage and strategies to reduce the cost and expand access to prescription drugs. Class is held in a seminar format.
• SPH PM 855: Cost Effectiveness Analysis and Decision Analysis
  This course offers an introduction to the uses and conduct of cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs) as decision making aids in the health and medical fields. It provides students with an understanding of the roles and limitations of CEAs and criteria for evaluating these studies. Important theoretical and practical issues encountered in measuring costs and effectiveness, evaluating outcomes, discounting, and dealing with uncertainty are discussed. Discussions on framing and reporting of CEAs focus on the purpose of the analysis and the effective communication of its findings. Case studies demonstrate the use of CEAs in the areas of prevention, drug treatment, and new technologies. Students who take PM855 should not enroll in PM807.
• SPH PM 871: Advanced Topics in Health Policy & Management
  Description varies by semester; see published semester schedule and descriptions on School of Public Health web site for details.
• SPH PM 931: Directed Studies in HPM
  Directed Studies provide the opportunity for students to explore a special topic of interest under the direction of a full-time SPH faculty member. Students may register for a 1, 2, 3, or 4-credit directed study by submitting a paper registration form and a signed directed study proposal form. Directed studies with a non-SPH faculty member or an adjunct faculty member must be approved by and assigned to the department chair. Students are placed in a section by the SPH Registrar's Office according to the faculty member with whom they are working. Students may take no more than eight credits of directed study, directed research, or practica courses during their MPH education.
• SPH PM 932: Directed Research in HPM
  Directed Research provide the opportunity for students to explore a special topic of interest under the direction of a full-time SPH faculty member. Students may register for 1, 2, 3, or 4 credits. To register, students must submit a paper registration form and signed directed research proposal form. Students are placed in a section by the SPH Registrar's Office according to the faculty member with whom they are working. Students may take no more than eight credits of directed study, directed research, or practica courses during their MPH education.
• SPH PM 980: Continuing Study in Health Services Research
  M.S. and Ph.D. students in Health Services Research who have completed all academic course requirements, must register for Continuing Study every Fall and Spring semester until they have successfully defended their thesis or dissertation and graduated from SPH. Students are charged the equivalent of two credits of tuition plus student health insurance and are certified as full time students.

Note that this information may change at any time.

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