Health Services Research and Policy I.

Catalog description

Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. The first course of a two-semester sequence intended to familiarize students with the major players and issues in health care policy, using health reform in the U.S. as a framework through which to analyze the issues of cost, quality and access and to help students develop an independent research proposal. The focus is on the roles of payers, providers and patients in the health care system. This course will be interactive and use studies published in the scientific literature, policy briefs, government reports and textbooks about the health care system as teaching tools. Students will be required to write several short response papers addressing questions related to key issues under health reform as well as develop a research topic and conduct a literature review related to that topic.