HP609 Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives
Week 1 Discussion
Key Characteristics of the U.S. Healthcare System
Initial Post
Quality, cost, and access are three pillars of the U.S. health system. Select three other attributes of our system and relate them to these three pillars. You may use the attributes provided by Shi and Singh for your selection options.
For this discussion, you must refer to at least one article from a reputable newspaper (can be online) or other media source that is current (from the last month) and post the resource in APA format.
You must have at least two references in your initial post and the media source can be one of the two.
Summarize your post in 500 to 750 words.
Note: In this forum, you will not be able to see other student posts until 30 minutes after you create your own initial post.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded.
Reply Posts
Reply to at least two of your classmates. In your reply, include new information about the attributes in the initial post. Each reply should be 200 to 400 words.
HP609 Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives
Week 3 Discussion
Politics of Opposition
Initial Post
Watch this week's videos and read the assignments in preparation for this discussion.
Republicans have been undermining the ACA and oppose various Medicare-for-all proposals. In addition to party politics and differences, sections of the healthcare industry oppose certain changes in the Medicare-for-all options.
Using 500-750 words, write an initial post that describes the political alliances and positions by party and in the industry. In your analysis, include the financial arguments and the political/ideological arguments about the role of government versus the private sector changes that are intended to increase coverage. You must reference the KFF comparison of proposals.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded.
Reply Posts
Reply to at least two of your classmates. In your reply, compare and contrast the peer response to yours, introduce new questions, and/or present new information. Each reply should be 200 to 400 words.
HP609 Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives
Week 4 Discussion
Why Are So Many People Uninsured and Underinsured?
Introduction
Many Americans are still confronting medical bills that are large enough to threaten their family financial health, up to and including personal bankruptcy. While more people have health insurance under the ACA, some people still lack coverage or have significant gaps in coverage for a variety of reasons. Some expenses are related to the high cost of treatments for certain diseases and conditions. Other expenses are related to the “routine” costs associated with insurance premiums and cost sharing for covered benefits.
Initial Post
Using 500 to 750 words, complete the following:
Analyze the major current contributors to insurance coverage gaps (no coverage and gaps in coverage).
Reply Posts
Reply to at least two of your classmates. In your reply posts, include your analysis of the impact on quality of care generated by these generated by these coverage gaps and the non-financial barriers to access described in your readings and in your own research. Each reply should be 200 to 400 words.
HP609 Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives
Week 5 Discussion
Public Health and Disparities and Social Determinants of Health
Initial Post
In 500-750 words, post in your assigned group your response to the prompt. In your initial post, refer at least one article related to your entry from a reputable newspaper (can be online) or other media source that is current within one month and post the link. You must have at least two references in your initial posting, and the media source can be one of the two. An easy way to find current articles on health policy is through Kaiser Health News.
Discussion Topic: In your post, you should discuss if and how the ACA has impacted your topic, and the impact of Republican proposals to repeal/replace the ACA on your topic.
Group 1: Health Disparities: What are two public policies needed to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health care?
Group 2: Quality: What are two public policies needed to improve quality without increasing expenses?
Notes:
Make sure that your initial post is in your group thread and that your replies are to two of your classmates' posts in the other group.This is not a group project, requiring you to post as a group. Students are grouped by topic only and should post an initial entry on your assigned topic as an individual.
HP609 Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives
Week 6 Discussion
New Health Systems: Aligning Money, Risk, Providers, and Politics
Initial Post
In 500-750 words, post in your assigned group your response to the prompt. In your initial post, refer at least one article related to your entry from a reputable newspaper (can be online) or other media source that is current within one month and post the link. You must have at least two references in your initial posting, and the media source can be one of the two. An easy way to find current articles on health policy is through Kaiser Health News.
Group 1:
Briefly describe the workforce and system challenges of care coordination and team-based care across the continuum (quality and cost) and identify the two best tactics that clinically integrated networks can use to achieve significant quality improvement.
Group 2:
Aligning healthcare spending more appropriately across the continuum presents financial and political challenges. Propose a plan to spend more on prevention and less on end-of-life care, and address the political challenges your plan will face.
Notes:
Make sure that your initial post is in your group thread and that your replies are to two of your classmates' posts in the other group.
This is not a group project, requiring you to post as a group. Students are grouped by topic only and should post an initial entry on your assigned topic as an individual.
HP609 Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives
Week 8 Discussion
What Are the Next Big Issues in Health Policy?
Introduction
Assume you have the ability to select one major “new” health policy for implementation. Select a topic from those presented in this week's readings.
Initial Post
Using 500 to 750 words, complete the following:
Explain why you chose your topic and describe the expected impact on population health within the next five years.
HP609 Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives
Week 2 Assignment 1
Cost or Quality? Which is the Right Focus for Health Policy?
Instructions
Reflecting on the information found in the videos from Week 1 Learning Materials, write a two-page paper about the fact the current health policy discussions are focused so heavily on cost and relatively little on quality.
HP609 Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives
Week 2 Assignment 2
Field Experience Log
Instructions
Please submit your field experience log for Week 2 in one Word document to this assignment. Access the Guidelines for the Field Experience Requirement page for full instructions.
Guidelines for the Field Experience Requirement
You must “attend” at least 4 policy events, at least approximately 1 hour in length. Attendance of at least one of these events must be in-person.
Up to 3 of the 4 events may be online and they must have a health policy focus. Online health policy events/ webinars will be posted from which you may choose. In addition, you may identify your own online policy events, but please check with your instructor to make sure the events you choose are eligible for field hours.
The in-person event should cover policy discussion and present different perspectives. An example of an in-person event would be attendance at a local board of health meeting, a local school-board meeting, a legislative hearing or meeting, a meeting by an executive branch agency that falls under your governor, a meeting by advocacy organization or special interest group, or a meetings of a political party, political group, or candidate.
General Guidelines
At each event, take notes, and then write up an account and analysis of each event, using the template for field experience logs (below), and the Field Experience Rubric posted on Moodle.
You are required to complete and post a field event report assignment every other week, in Weeks 02, 04, 06, and 08.
Field Log Guidelines
As a way of demonstrating completion of this course requirement, you must submit, in writing, field logs that detail certain aspects of the event. The template for field experience logs is below.
Each event log should be three to five double-spaced pages of text.
Provide only a brief summary of the event itself.
The analysis section should be 550 to 800 words, and be the most developed component of the report. In the analysis section, you can write about the process of policy being made at this event, and/or you can write about the actual health policy issue being discussed/considered.
Your analysis should reference at least two sources. They can be from the learning materials in this course or other sources, but should be current (within the last 3 months).
Use APA format for citations and references.
Examples of logs are posted on Moodle.
Template for Field Experience Logs
The name of the event/meeting and who has sponsored it.
Describe the steps taken in preparation for the event (beyond listening or attending the event).
Place, date, time, and length of hearing/meeting/event.
Topic under discussion.
Names of participants and their titles (to the extent you can get them).
Brief description of the testimony/meeting/event. (If more than one issue is presented, discuss a sampling of issues.)
Analysis of the health policy issue and its implications for healthcare. Integrate course content and readings in your analysis. This section should be approximately 500 to 750 words
HP609 Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives
Week 3 Assignment
Article Critique
Formatting Article Critique
Length: Your paper should be three-to-four (3–4) double-spaced pages.
Format your article critique by starting with the following:
The name of the author
The title of the article
The title of the journal, volume number, date, month, and page numbers in APA format
Brief statement of the issue or problem the article addresses
Brief statement of the purpose, hypothesis, and methods
Major conclusions
Compose Your Critique
After the opening summary, compose your critique. For this course, your critique needs to address the 1) technical components of the article and 2) your analysis and opinion of the article.
The technical components must include your assessment of:
The accuracy of the title
The specificity and accuracy of the abstract
The clarity of the purpose
The relevance and clarity of the literature review
Absence or error in facts or interpretation (This last item requires you to look at some of the author's cited references when they seem to be in error or misused.)
Your analysis and opinion are the bulk of this critique and must address:
The relevancy of the topic and why it is important (or not)
Are the author's assumptions stated clearly and located helpfully on the article?
Does the methodology seem appropriate for the issue and hypotheses? Could the work be replicated based on the description?
Is the data presented clearly, and is it error free? You do not need to do in-depth calculations, but evaluate the integrity in tables and charts; you may catch surprising errors.
Does the author provide a balanced focus on the most important and relevant ideas or weaken the article by over- or under-emphasizing certain ideas?
Does the author write clearly? Are there ambiguous statements that should have been clarified or more fully supported with evidence?
Does the author seem biased or have clear evidence of objectivity?
Are there gaps in the author's work and conclusions that you believe warrant follow up?
HP609 Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives
Week 4 Assignment
Field Experience Log
Guidelines for the Field Experience Requirement
You must “attend” at least 4 policy events, at least approximately 1 hour in length. Attendance of at least one of these events must be in-person.
Up to 3 of the 4 events may be online and they must have a health policy focus. Online health policy events/ webinars will be posted from which you may choose. In addition, you may identify your own online policy events, but please check with your instructor to make sure the events you choose are eligible for field hours.
The in-person event should cover policy discussion and present different perspectives. An example of an in-person event would be attendance at a local board of health meeting, a local school-board meeting, a legislative hearing or meeting, a meeting by an executive branch agency that falls under your governor, a meeting by advocacy organization or special interest group, or a meetings of a political party, political group, or candidate.
General Guidelines
At each event, take notes, and then write up an account and analysis of each event, using the template for field experience logs (below), and the Field Experience Rubric posted on Moodle.
You are required to complete and post a field event report assignment every other week, in Weeks 02, 04, 06, and 08.
Field Log Guidelines
As a way of demonstrating completion of this course requirement, you must submit, in writing, field logs that detail certain aspects of the event. The template for field experience logs is below.
Each event log should be three to five double-spaced pages of text.
Provide only a brief summary of the event itself.
The analysis section should be 550 to 800 words, and be the most developed component of the report. In the analysis section, you can write about the process of policy being made at this event, and/or you can write about the actual health policy issue being discussed/considered.
Your analysis should reference at least two sources. They can be from the learning materials in this course or other sources, but should be current (within the last 3 months).
Use APA format for citations and references.
Examples of logs are posted on Moodle.
Template for Field Experience Logs
The name of the event/meeting and who has sponsored it.
Describe the steps taken in preparation for the event (beyond listening or attending the event).
Place, date, time, and length of hearing/meeting/event.
Topic under discussion.
Names of participants and their titles (to the extent you can get them).
Brief description of the testimony/meeting/event. (If more than one issue is presented, discuss a sampling of issues.)
Analysis of the health policy issue and its implications for healthcare. Integrate course content and readings in your analysis. This section should be approximately 500 to 750 words.
HP609 Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives
Week 5 Assignment
Annotated Bibliography
Instructions
For this assignment, you will create an annotated bibliography on social determinants.
Select five articles you wish to annotate. Make certain to select different types of disparities, such as race, gender, SES, age, language, liability status, etc.
Upload your document to this assignment when complete.
For more information about the elements of an Annotated Bibliography.
HP609 Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives
Week 6 Assignment
Field Experience Log
Guidelines for the Field Experience Requirement
You must “attend” at least 4 policy events, at least approximately 1 hour in length. Attendance of at least one of these events must be in-person.
Up to 3 of the 4 events may be online and they must have a health policy focus. Online health policy events/ webinars will be posted from which you may choose. In addition, you may identify your own online policy events, but please check with your instructor to make sure the events you choose are eligible for field hours.
The in-person event should cover policy discussion and present different perspectives. An example of an in-person event would be attendance at a local board of health meeting, a local school-board meeting, a legislative hearing or meeting, a meeting by an executive branch agency that falls under your governor, a meeting by advocacy organization or special interest group, or a meetings of a political party, political group, or candidate.
General Guidelines
At each event, take notes, and then write up an account and analysis of each event, using the template for field experience logs (below), and the Field Experience Rubric posted on Moodle.
You are required to complete and post a field event report assignment every other week, in Weeks 02, 04, 06, and 08.
Field Log Guidelines
As a way of demonstrating completion of this course requirement, you must submit, in writing, field logs that detail certain aspects of the event. The template for field experience logs is below.
Each event log should be three to five double-spaced pages of text.
Provide only a brief summary of the event itself.
The analysis section should be 550 to 800 words, and be the most developed component of the report. In the analysis section, you can write about the process of policy being made at this event, and/or you can write about the actual health policy issue being discussed/considered.
Your analysis should reference at least two sources. They can be from the learning materials in this course or other sources, but should be current (within the last 3 months).
Use APA format for citations and references.
Examples of logs are posted on Moodle.
Template for Field Experience Logs
The name of the event/meeting and who has sponsored it.
Describe the steps taken in preparation for the event (beyond listening or attending the event).
Place, date, time, and length of hearing/meeting/event.
Topic under discussion.
Names of participants and their titles (to the extent you can get them).
Brief description of the testimony/meeting/event. (If more than one issue is presented, discuss a sampling of issues.)
Analysis of the health policy issue and its implications for healthcare. Integrate course content and readings in your analysis. This section should be approximately 500 to 750 words.
HP609 Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives
Week 7 Assignment 1
Policy Changes Related to Pharmaceuticals: Coverage and Pricing
Instructions
Write a three-page paper that recommends three policy changes to support proper access to medications for all consumers, fair pricing, and reasonable regulation of new drugs coming to market.
Use current references from within the past six months for each policy.
HP609 Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives
Week 7 Assignment 2
Video Testimony for Medicare-for-All
InstructionsFor this assignment, you will complete a video of your testimony regarding the Medicare-for-All proposal that you feel is the best policy approach to behavioral health in terms of benefits, coverage, and consumer cost sharing. If you think that none of the current Medicare-for-All proposals are the best alternative and wish to oppose a particular bill in favor of the ACA or a public option, that is acceptable.
To Create Your Video:
Your video should be 2.5 to 3 minutes in length.
Use the Zoom Tutorial to create your video using Zoom. Choose the tutorial located in the orientation for the program that you are enrolled in: MHA, Nursing, or MPH.
When your video is complete, use the YouTube Instructions to create an unlisted video URL. Choose the tutorial located in the orientation for the program that you are enrolled in: MHA, Nursing, or MPH.
Post the video YouTube URL to this assignment and include a written script of your video. The references can be on the script.
Guidelines for Written Testimony
(three to five pages long, double spaced, 12 inch font Times New Roman)
Introduce yourself!
Include your full name, and the name of the organization you are representing. Assuming you are testifying on a health care issue, say you are an RN, or a student nurse, a health administration student, and/or state what you do professionally, if applicable. You may have some other expertise worth sharing personal or professional. – if you are the parent of a disabled child testifying on disability legislation, say so.
What does the legislation do, what is your opinion and why, and what are you recommending legislators do?
At the beginning of your testimony, state clearly what the legislation does and your position on it. Are you there to speak for it, or against it, or recommend some changes? Do not assume the committee members are familiar with the legislation, so a brief explanation of what the legislation does is needed.
What is the rationale for your position? For example, why the legislation is needed, or not needed, or why it should be changed and how? In this section, you should provide supporting information for your position, including evidence, statistics, and make other cogent arguments. This should not be just about your opinion or your emotional reaction to a policy issue. You need to back up your position with facts and supporting evidence. What are its implications for improving health care? Use APA citations and references. Watch the sources you are citing – use credible sources!
Make recommendations to legislators on how you want legislators to act in relation to the legislation - oppose or support it; make changes in it, or proceed with caution because of certain concerns with it that you have raised with them.
Thank you!
Thank members of the legislative committee for listening to you and let them know that you can be contacted for more information (your contact information should be at the end of your written testimony).
Guidelines for Oral Testimony
Introduce yourself and the organization you are representing.
Do not read your written testimony – make a few notes to refer to, if needed.
Summarize your testimony in two to three minutes.
Look at the committee members and speak loudly and clearly.
Thank the committee members and ask if they have any questions.
HP609 Health Policy, Politics, and Perspectives
Week 8 Assignment
Final Field Experience Log
Guidelines for the Field Experience Requirement
You must “attend” at least 4 policy events, at least approximately 1 hour in length. Attendance of at least one of these events must be in-person.
Up to 3 of the 4 events may be online and they must have a health policy focus. Online health policy events/ webinars will be posted from which you may choose. In addition, you may identify your own online policy events, but please check with your instructor to make sure the events you choose are eligible for field hours.
The in-person event should cover policy discussion and present different perspectives. An example of an in-person event would be attendance at a local board of health meeting, a local school-board meeting, a legislative hearing or meeting, a meeting by an executive branch agency that falls under your governor, a meeting by advocacy organization or special interest group, or a meetings of a political party, political group, or candidate.
General Guidelines
At each event, take notes, and then write up an account and analysis of each event, using the template for field experience logs (below), and the Field Experience Rubric posted on Moodle.
You are required to complete and post a field event report assignment every other week, in Weeks 02, 04, 06, and 08.
Field Log Guidelines
As a way of demonstrating completion of this course requirement, you must submit, in writing, field logs that detail certain aspects of the event. The template for field experience logs is below.
Each event log should be three to five double-spaced pages of text.
Provide only a brief summary of the event itself.
The analysis section should be 550 to 800 words, and be the most developed component of the report. In the analysis section, you can write about the process of policy being made at this event, and/or you can write about the actual health policy issue being discussed/considered.
Your analysis should reference at least two sources. They can be from the learning materials in this course or other sources, but should be current (within the last 3 months).
Use APA format for citations and references.
Examples of logs are posted on Moodle.
Template for Field Experience Logs
The name of the event/meeting and who has sponsored it.
Describe the steps taken in preparation for the event (beyond listening or attending the event).
Place, date, time, and length of hearing/meeting/event.
Topic under discussion.
Names of participants and their titles (to the extent you can get them).
Brief description of the testimony/meeting/event. (If more than one issue is presented, discuss a sampling of issues.)
Analysis of the health policy issue and its implications for healthcare. Integrate course content and readings in your analysis. This section should be approximately 500 to 750 words.
