Holmes,Robert-Health Policy

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University of Massachusetts LowellSchool of Health and Environment

Department of Community Health and Sustainability

SYLLABUS

32.625. 201- HEALTH POLICY

COURSE INFORMATION

Instructor Office

Bob Holmes, Ph.D., M.B.A. (978) 549-3344

E-mail: [email protected]

Classes Office Hours

Face to Face Saturday 1:00p 4:00p By Appointment

Online Saturday 1:00p 2:30p

Catalog Course DescriptionThis course provides students with a basic framework for health policy analysis and examines major strands ofU.S. health policy. Detailed consideration and discussion are given to the relationship of national policy to the

planning, implementation, and funding of health care services, with particular emphasis on low-income and

minority populations. This course will cover topics such as the healthcare policy environment in the U.S,government-funded health care through Medicaid and Medicare, and the Massachusetts health care reform (3

credits).

Course Rationale

This course provides students with an overview of contemporary health policy in the United States and willprepare them to participate in local, state, and national health policy debates as professionals and consumers.

Depending on interest, we may also discuss international health policy issues by the end of the semester. This

course is a seminar that will depend heavily on readings and class discussion about them.

Course Goals

Students who have met the goals for this course will be:

1. Able to apply health policy concepts commonly discussed in current health care and public health policy

debates.

2. Able to understand healthcare and health system organizations within a set of policy frameworks, including

health promotion, primary health care (as set forward through WHO forums) and human rights.

3. Able to understand major policy issues facing the U.S. and Massachusetts health care systems.

Course ObjectivesBy the end of the course students will be able to:


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Identify barriers and opportunities to participate in the process of health policy formulation at the local,state, and federal levels.

Describe the organization of health care in the United States and the main methods of reimbursement fordelivery of services.

Understand the challenges faced my vulnerable populations, such as children, minorities, elderly, andlow-income populations to get health care coverage.

Assess the pros and cons of the Massachusetts health care reform and link them with national health

care policy debates regarding health care reform.

Required Book

Joel B. Teitelbaum and Sara E. Wilensky,Essentials of Health Policy and Law, 2ndEdition, Jones & Bartlett,2013.

Selected Readings (I will provide the specific chapters)

Policy Challenges in Modern Health Care. Edited by David Mechanic, Lynn Rogut, David Colby and James

Knickman. Published by Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 2005.

Readings from current newspaper articles, government and foundation reports, journals, and other articles will

be posted on the course website with reading instructions. These are subject to change as relevant subjectmatter becomes available.

List of Interesting Websites with Health Policy Content

Kaiser Foundation www.kff.organdwww.kaiseredu.org

Electronic Policy Network www.epn.org

American Public Health Assoc www.apha.orgRobert Wood Johnson Foundation www.rwjf.org/publications/otherlist.jsp

The Commonwealth Fund www.cmwf.org

The Access Project http://www.accessproject.org/about.htmlEINO Everybody In Nobody Out http://www.everybodyinnobodyout.org/

Interaction Guidelines

Participation by both the student and instructor is vital for a blended online/face to face course to succeed. The

online component is the electronic classroom" of our course, and so our communication and participation inthat component will also be handled electronically. There are three (electronic) methods of communication

available to us in this course: Email, Chat, and Discussion Board.

EmailElectronic mail should be reserved for private or personal issues. You may email me at any time, and I will try

to respond within 24 hours. I usually check my email daily. Please note that Blackboard Vista works with its

own internal mail system, which means that all messages are sent, stored, and read within your course, notthrough your own external mail. To access email, you have to log on and go to your course, and click on the

mail icon on the menu on the left side of your screen. It is recommended that you check your course email

often, so that you dont miss important announcements and communication with me and other students.
http://www.kff.org/http://www.kff.org/http://www.kaiseredu.org/http://www.kaiseredu.org/http://www.kaiseredu.org/http://www.epn.org/http://www.epn.org/http://www.apha.org/http://www.apha.org/http://www.rwjf.org/publications/otherlist.jsphttp://www.rwjf.org/publications/otherlist.jsphttp://www.cmwf.org/http://www.cmwf.org/http://www.accessproject.org/about.htmlhttp://www.accessproject.org/about.htmlhttp://www.everybodyinnobodyout.org/http://www.everybodyinnobodyout.org/http://www.everybodyinnobodyout.org/http://www.accessproject.org/about.htmlhttp://www.cmwf.org/http://www.rwjf.org/publications/otherlist.jsphttp://www.apha.org/http://www.epn.org/http://www.kaiseredu.org/http://www.kff.org/


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Exam /Written Assignments Schedule

You will be required to complete a midterm exam and a final exam in this course. Each student will also have

to complete and present a written assignment during the course.

The schedule for the exam and assignment follows.

The midterm exam will be posted on October 12th and due by 5:00pm on October 19th

.

The midterm exam will be take home exams consisting of a set of 3 or 4 open-ended questions. The exam will

cover the content of the book and include information from the readings, and online material.

The final exam will be a take home exam posted on December 7th and due by 5:00pm on December 14th.

The written assignment presentation will be done on different dates during the semester. I will schedule those

in our on campus class on _September 28th_____.

Your written assignment will consist of an analytic report of a peer-reviewed article that involves a health

policy issue/problem. The articles will be assigned the first or second week of class. The analytic framework

will be discussed in more detail on week 3. You will be asked to present your findings (using power point)during our on campus classroom discussions, depending on the date your assignment is due. I expect your

answers to be grammatically correct regarding sentence and paragraph structure, punctuation, and

spelling. If your answer lacks on any of those aspects, I will deduct points from your assignment.

Late assignments will be accepted, but only if arrangements are made prior to the due date/time or in the event

of a significant emergency life event. Obviously, I would prefer assignments to be submitted when due. The

key here is that I am not willing to have my workload made more difficult in order to accommodate you, but Iam willing to negotiate terms that are mutually acceptable.

Class Requirements

It is the student's responsibility to attend all classes and frequent absences will be reflected in the final coursegrade. Students are responsible for obtaining lecture notes or PowerPoint Presentations in the Blackboard Vista

website and class handouts for missed classes. If you are aware in advance of a class that must be missed,

the courtesy of informing me would be appreciated (in-person, phone, or e-mail). Missed exams can not bemade up unless prior arrangements have been made with me.

In addition, I suggest the following ground rules for our course:

I expect that you and I will be respectful of everyone in the class, keeping an open mind and listening toall perspectives.

We will, individually and collectively as a group, work to ensure that time, space, and support isavailable for everyone to contribute their perspectives and opinions.

We will all restrain ourselves from dominating class discussions.

We will keep our humor, and work to make this learning experience fun and interesting.

I commit to being open-minded and receptive to your criticisms of the class and my teaching.

I expect you to commit to making such criticisms in a respectful and thoughtful manner.


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I encourage you to present criticism as a group.

I commit to a policy of non-retaliation for any criticism of the course and my teaching.

Note: If you have any special considerations that you believe I should be aware of, please do not hesitate tospeak with me about them. I am flexible and will try to accommodate any special needs as best I can.

Class Participation

Class participation is the key to your success in this course. If you participate in our class, you should do well

on the written assignments and take home exams. The topics covered in this course are enhanced considerablyby interactive student dialogue and discussion. The discussion may include questions, comments, debate,

argumentation, and all other forms of civil interaction.

HonestyAcademic dishonesty is prohibited in all programs of the University. Sanctions will be imposed on any student

who has committed a proven act of academic dishonesty. For example, if any of your exams or assignmentsinclude plagiarism of work published without due reference to the authors, you will automatically get a 0 in that

exam or assignment. Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to:

Cheating - use, or attempted use, of trickery, artifice, deception, breach of confidence, fraud, ormisrepresentation of one's academic work.

Fabrication - falsification or invention of any information or citation in any academic exercise.

Plagiarism (whether from published sources, unpublished sources or the Internet) is absolutely not allowed inpreparation of written assignments. A first offense will mean a letter reduction in your grade for the entire

course; a second offense will result in your failing the course. It is incumbent on you (the student) to learn and

understand what is meant by plagiarism and act accordingly. I encourage you to read

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism. No extenuating circumstances will be allowed, and no second chanceswill be given. If I find that so much as a single sentence is copied without attribution (even if a word or two is

changed), the above sanctions will be applied.

Facilitating dishonesty - helping or attempting to help another commit an act of academic dishonesty,

including substituting for another in an examination, misrepresenting oneself, or allowing others to represent as

their own one's papers, reports, or academic works.Please refer to:

http://www.uml.edu/catalog/undergraduate/policies/academic_dishonesty.htm

for additional information.

Religious Holidays: Students will inform me, as early in the semester as possible, of any potential conflicts

between their religious observance and course due dates/examinations. I need a written statement of the day(s)when you will be absent. Although you have given me this notice, please also remind me prior to the day(s)

that you will be absent for religious reasons. I will work with you to come up with a reasonable alternative

deadline or exam date.

Partial List of Professional Peer-Reviewed (Refereed) Journals in Health Care Policy

A peer-reviewed journal is one in which all articles have been submitted by the authors for review and

acceptance by a panel of outside experts who are their peers. Peer-review is usually considered to be the last
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarismhttp://www.uml.edu/catalog/undergraduate/policies/academic_dishonesty.htmhttp://www.uml.edu/catalog/undergraduate/policies/academic_dishonesty.htmhttp://www.uml.edu/catalog/undergraduate/policies/academic_dishonesty.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism


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step in disseminating the news in health policy. A representative list of peer-reviewed journals is found below,

but there are many others.

American Journal of Public Health

British Medical JournalCanadian Journal of Public Health

Health Affairs

Health Policy

Health Policy QuarterlyInternational Journal of Health Services

Issues in Science and Technology

Journal of Aging and Social PolicyJournal of Community Health

Journal of Health and Social Policy

Journal of Health and Human BehaviorJournal of Health Economics

Journal of Health, Politics, Policy and Law

Journal of Medical Ethics

Journal of Public Health Policy

Journal of the American Medical AssociationLancet, The

Law, Medicine and Health CareMedical Care

Medical Care Review

Medical Group ManagementMilbank Quarterly (Formerly, Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly)

New England Journal of Medicine

New Solutions

Public Health ReportsSocial Policy

Social Science and MedicineSocial Security Bulletin (SSA publication, government documents section)Social Work and Health Care

Topics in Health Care Financing


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Course Calendar

Class Date Location Topics/Assignments

Class 1

Read for 9/7 Essentials Chs. 1 and 2

Handouts

9/7 WinchesterHospital

Introductions- Intro to the book, syllabus, etc.Definition of Health and Health Policy

Who Makes Health Policy

How Laws are Made

Class 2

Read for 9/14 Essentials Chs. 3 an 4

Policy Challenges Ch. 1Morality, Politics, and Health Policy

9/14

Online History of U.S. Health PolicyThe U.S. Health Care Delivery System

Class 3

Read for 9/21 Essentials Chs. 13 and 10

Medicare and Medicaid at FortyKFF-Medicare Primer

9/21 OnlineSteps in Policy Analysis

Medicare

Class 4

9/28

Read for 9/28

Winchester

Hospital

Essentials Ch. 10CEPR The Impact of Part D on Spending

The Basics of the Mass. Medicaid Program

Medicare Managed Care

Medicare Prescription Drugs and the MMA

Class 5

Read for 10/5 Essentials Ch. 10

Challenges Ch. 11

KFF-Medicaid Primer

Sommers-SCHIP and Crowd Out

10/5 Online MedicaidSCHIP

Class 6

10/12

Read for 10/12

Online

Essentials Chs. 7 and 8Policy Challenges Ch. 3The Employer-Based Health Insurance System: Mistake or Cornerstone?Gruber Material

KFF Primer

Gladwell-The Moral Hazard Myth

Nichols-Delivering HC through Market Forces

Mid-Term Assigned

Private Sector Health Insurance

Economics of Health Insurance


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Class 7

Read for 10/18 Essentials Ch. 6Policy Challenges Ch. 5, 8, and 9

KFF Uninsured Primer

10/18 Winchester

Hospital

The Uninsured

Health Inequality and Disparities

Mid-Term (Due Oct. 18th

)

Class 8

10/26

Read for 10/26

Online

Essentials Ch. 11

McKinsey-Why Americans Pay More

KFF-Cost Primer

PI-Quality and Cost Comm. Hosp versus AHCs

Health Care Costs

Health Care Quality

Class 9

11/2

Read for 11/2

Winchester

Hospital

Health Care Technology

Presentation

Class 10

11/9

Read for 11/9

Online

McKinsey-Universal Principles of HCR

TBA

Health Care Reform-National Proposals

Class 11

11/16

Read for 11/16

Winchester

Hospital

HSC Mass Health care reformHolohan-MA HCR A Look at the IssuesBCBS Mass HCR Law Summary

Gruber-MA HCR 2006

Heritage Found-Mass Approach

Mass Health Care Reform-The Law

Presentations

Class 12

Read for 11/23 OIG Status Report on MA HCR

Institute for Americas Future MA HCR

11/23

Online

Massachusetts Health Care ReformHows it Working?

Class 13

Read for 12/7 Handouts


9/9

TBA

12/7

Online

Value Purchasing in Health Care

Payment Methods

Class 14

Read for 12/14 Handouts

12/14Winchester

HospitalThe Social Contract

Final Assigned (December 7th

)

Final Due (December 14th

)

Presentations

Documents

Holmes,Robert-Health Policy