Curriculum

The program curriculum spans four major domains: health economics, health policy, research methods, and statistics. There are seven core courses and three elective courses. Students will complete a mentored research project (a Master’s thesis), with the assistance of a mentor and two additional members of the thesis committee. The thesis will be completed over the two years of the program with the goal of producing a publishable manuscript by the end of the second year.

The course schedule allows full time students to finish in two years while providing sufficient flexibility for part-time students to have a logical series of courses over a three or four year period.

	First Year				Second Year
	Summer	Fall	Spring		Summer	Fall	Spring
	Econ Hlth Deliv T,TR 9-10:15am	Hlth Svcs Res Meth I T,TR 9-10:15am	Hlth Svcs Pol Res Meth II T,TR 9-10:15am			Fund Hlth Pol T,TR 10:30-12:00
		Intro to Stat Health Policy T,TR 10:45-12pm	App Reg Hlth Pol Res T,TR 10:45-12pm		Electives	Electives	Electives
		Mentored Research Project	Mentored Research Project			Mentored Research Project	Mentored Research Project

 

CORE COURSES

Economics of Health Care Delivery (HPR 501) - Summer Year 1
Mark Pauly, PhD, Bendheim Professor of Health Care Systems, Business and Public Policy, Insurance and Risk Management, and Economics, the Wharton School.
This course covers how medical care is produced and financed in private and public sectors, economic models of consumer and producer behavior, applications of economic theory to health care.

Health Services and Policy Research Methods I (HPR 603) - Fall Year 1
Judith Long, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine
Judy Shea, PhD, Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine
Introduces students to commonly used primary data collection methods, provides examples of how they have been used in health services research. Students will define a primary data collection research project and develop methods necessary to conduct the project.

Introduction to Statistics for Health Policy (HPR 604) - Fall Year 1
Paul Allison , PhD, Professor of Sociology, School of Arts & Sciences
Introduces basic concepts of statistical thinking and analysis. Includes descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing for differences between two or more groups and correlation and prediction.

Health Services and Policy Research Methods II (HPR 607) - Spring Year 1
Daniel Polsky, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine
Introduces research methods appropriate for data analysis of administrative and public datasets to address health policy issues.

Applied Regression Analysis for Health Policy Research (HPR 608) -Spring Year 1
Tim Victor, PhD, Professor
Students will learn how to select an appropriate regression model for a given set of research questions/hypotheses, assess how adequately a given model fits a particular set of observed data, and how to correctly interpret the results from the model fitting procedure.

Fundamentals of Health Policy (HPR 606) - Fall Year 2
David Asch, MD, MBA, Robert Eilers Professor of Health Care Management and Economics, the Wharton School
David Grande, MD, MPA, Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine
Students gain an overview of the U.S. health care system and comprehensive understanding of politics and government, economics of the public sector, the nature of persuasion, and techniques and formats for communication.

Research in Progress (HPR 609)
David Asch, MD, MBA, Robert Eilers Professor of Health Care Management and Economics, the Wharton School
This course provides opportunities for students to present on their work to their peers and faculty from the program and receive constructive feedback. The course meets twice a month throughout the academic year and students attend and present during each of the two years that they are in the program.

 

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ELECTIVE COURSES

Three credit units of electives are available to supplement the core curriculum to provide instruction in quantitative and qualitative methods.

These include courses such as:

Qualitative Methods in Health Research (HPR 503)
The purpose of this course is to expose students to a variety of qualitative approaches/methodologies that may be used in health services/policy research. Students will have the opportunity to apply the theoretical approaches to their own research interests with direct input from the faculty and their peers.

Principles and Practice of Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (HPR 504)
Healthcare delivery is complex and constantly changing.  A primary mission of leading healthcare organizations is to advance the quality of patient care by striving to deliver care that is safe, effective, efficient, timely, cost effective, and patient-centered.  The goal of this inter professional course is to provide students with a broad overview of the principles and tools of quality improvement and patient safety in health care. 

Clinical Economics and Decision Making (HPR 550)
This course focuses on the application of decision analysis and economic analysis to clinical and policy research. A major focus of the course is the application of economic principles to the evaluation of health outcomes.

Outcomes Research (HPR 580)
This course addresses issues related to the measurement of quality in healthcare.  Included is a review of the classical-structure-process-outcome quality paradigm.  In addition, this course deals with observational, or quasi-experimental, research studies.  It addresses the advantages and limitations of alternative designs, and covers the role of clinical risk adjustment in observational studies of medical interventions.

Achieving Evidence-Based Health Policy (HPR 610)
Examines how research can influence health policy.  Individual sessions will be devoted to topics such as the Nurse-Family Partnership program, health insurance, tobacco use, and early childhood mental health.

Implementation Science in Health and Health Care (HPR 611)
The course will be largely case-based, evaluating examples of both successful and unsuccessful translational efforts. The structure of the course will focus on 3 successive stages-(1) organizational theory for designing interventions designed to change practice, (2) implementation strategies for optimizing adoption, and (3) program evaluation methods for assessing the success or failure of implementation. Specific tools in qualitative and mixed methods approaches will be emphasized.

Other Electives
Electives can be taken from the program or in schools across the University. Example of existing courses include advanced health policy from the MSHP; advanced epidemiology or biostatistics from the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics; advanced health care economics and health care statistics from the Wharton School; survey design, measurement and analysis from the Annenberg School; social policy and social environment from the School of Social Policy and Practice; and social forces and demography from the School of Arts and Sciences.

 

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SELECTED SAMPLING OF THESIS TOPICS

• Rationale Allocation of Blood Products
• Power Over Parity: Intimate Partner Violence and Issues of Fertility
• Critical Illness Outcomes in Specialty Versus General Intensive Care Units
• Promoters and Barriers to Fruit, Vegetable, and Fast-Food Consumption Among Urban, Low-Income, African Americans
• Effect of Health Insurance on Utilization of Ambulance Services in the United States
• The Impact of Resident Duty Hour Reform on Hospital Readmission Rates
• Cost-Effectiveness of Therapeutic Hypothermia After Cardiac Arrest
• Well Child Care Adherence Predictors Over Time in a Cohort of Medicaid-Eligible Infants
• The Effect of Resilience on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Trauma-Exposed Inner City Primary Care Patients

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