Department of Health Policy and Management
Introduction
Health policy and management is a multidisciplinary field within public health that works to promote healthcare equity, quality, and accessibility for individuals and populations. The mission of the B.S.P.H. program in health policy and management is to improve the health of individuals and communities and reduce health inequities in the United States and around the world by educating future health leaders, managers, policymakers, practitioners, and researchers.
Advising and Mentoring
All students receive support from a designated academic coordinator, an assigned faculty mentor, and a full-time career services coordinator in the department.
Graduate School and Career Opportunities
Graduates of the B.S.P.H. program in health policy and management are very successful upon graduation. Nearly all are placed within a few months of graduation, with approximately 80 percent entering the workforce and about 20 percent going directly to graduate or professional school. Top employers include consulting firms, hospitals, and health systems, private non-profit organizations, private research organizations, and health information technology companies. Within 2–5 years of graduation, most of our graduates have pursued an additional degree, with the majority pursuing a medical degree or graduate degree in public health. Over 90 percent of recent graduates report doing work they consider public health and/or health-related.
Professors
Ethan Basch, George Mark Holmes, Sheila Leatherman, Jessica Lee, Benjamin Meier, Jonathan Oberlander, George Pink, Kristin Reiter, Rebecca Slifkin, Sally C. Stearns, Justin Trogdon, Morris Weinberger, Stephanie Wheeler.
Associate Professors
Antonia Bennett, Alyssa Mansfield, Bill Gentry, Erin Kent, Valerie Lewis, Kristen Hassmiller Lich, Chris Shea, Karl Umble, Karen Volmar.
Assistant Professors
Leah Frerichs, Susan Helm-Murtagh, Arrianna Planey, Jeffrey Simms, Lisa Spees, Angela Stover, Melanie Studer, Sean Sylvia, J. Bennett Waters, Ciara Zachary.
Professors of the Practice
Sandra Greene, Pam Silberman, John Wiesman.
Adjunct Instructor
Franklin Farmer.
Professors Emeriti
Edward Brooks, Laurel Files, Sagar Jain, Arnold Kaluzny, Joe Morrissey, John Paul, William Zelman.
HPM–Health Policy and Management
Undergraduate-level
An introduction to health law and ethics for health administration undergraduate seniors.
An introduction to the development and implementation of strategic planning and marketing processes in health care organizations.
Students develop skills in leadership and management and apply these skills to public health and health care cases and a team-based community project.
Basic methods and techniques in financial management of health care programs, including financial statement analysis, cost determination and allocation, pricing of services, and budgeting.
This course examines information systems and technology in health care. Students also learn how to use MS Excel and MS Access.
HPM 350 and 352 provide an overview of the United States health system. HPM 350 examines the performance, organization, management, and financing of the U.S. health system and the resources required to provide health services.
This course explores the politics of public health and health care policy in the United States, with a focus on current issues and controversies.
HPM 352, in conjunction with HPM 350, provides an overview of the United States health system. HPM 352 examines the delivery of health services and approaches to strengthening the performance of the U.S. health system.
Restricted to HPM B.S.P.H. students. Required of all B.S.P.H. students in HPM. The first six weeks of a supervised 12-week administrative internship in a health care organization.
Advanced Undergraduate and Graduate-level
This course examines systems for emergency management at federal, state, and local levels. The roles of emergency management, health services, and public health in disaster management are also reviewed. Every other week, evening online sessions required with instructors.
Introduction of analytical tools to assess, evaluate, map, and investigate disasters (including biological outbreaks). These tools will be used to improve planning and evaluation of disaster management programs. Every other week, evening online sessions required with instructors.
Explores issues of preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation, and research in disaster management. Students will participate in evacuation decision making, volunteer management, and the development of a disaster exercise. Every other week, evening online sessions required with instructors.
Permission of the instructor. Application of basic principles of marketing and marketing decision models to problems in health care and other not-for-profit organizations.
Concepts and methods of the program evaluation paradigm as applied in health administration.
Directed readings or research. Written reports are required.
Prepare students to work as environmental and science journalists. The course emphasizes writing skills in all delivery formats and interpreting environmental, science, and medical information for consumers. Honors version available.
Introduces students to news media organizations and their role in health policy development. Students will learn how to evaluate media content and strategies and to effectively communicate via mass media.
The course is for master's and doctoral students interested in health policy. The course is intended to go beyond an introduction to policy analysis to a discussion and exploration of theories of policy analysis in a context of competing democratic ethics and values.
Coursework will focus on public policy approaches to global health, employing interdisciplinary methodologies to understand selected public health policies, programs, and interventions. For students who have a basic understanding of public health.
Course focuses on rights-based approaches to health, applying a human rights perspective to selected public health policies, programs, and interventions. Students will apply a formalistic human rights framework to critical public health issues, exploring human rights as both a safeguard against harm and a catalyst for health promotion.
This course provides an overview of the United States health care system. Students will explore the system's organization, financing, management, resources, and performance. For each topic, they will analyze relevant legislation and discuss current issues. Students will develop skills in policy research and analysis, health care system evaluation, and basic financial literacy.
Lectures on current topics in health care.
Permission of the program director. Supervised activities in an approved health organization, to include one or more specific projects, approved by HPM faculty member and directed by an approved preceptor/mentor in the organization.
This course is the first of six field-based Journal Practica in which students monitor their learning processes, identify where knowledge and skills learned in courses are helpful and relevant to areas of their professional responsibility, and apply that knowledge and those skills to actual work situations.
This course is the second of six field-based journal practica in which students monitor their learning processes, identify where knowledge and skills learned in courses are helpful and relevant to areas of their professional responsibility, and apply that knowledge and those skills to actual work situations.
This course is the third of six field-based journal practica in which students monitor their learning processes, identify where knowledge and skills learned in courses are helpful and relevant to areas of their professional responsibility, and apply that knowledge and those skills to actual work situations.
This course is the fourth of six field-based journal practica in which students monitor their learning processes, identify where knowledge and skills learned in courses are helpful and relevant to areas of their professional responsibility, and apply that knowledge and those skills to actual work situations.
This course is the fifth of six field-based journal practica in which students monitor their learning processes, identify where knowledge and skills learned in courses are helpful and relevant to areas of their professional responsibility, and apply that knowledge and those skills to actual work situations.
This course is the sixth and final of six field-based journal practica in which students monitor their learning processes, identify where knowledge and skills learned in courses are helpful and relevant to areas of their professional responsibility, and apply that knowledge and those skills to actual work situations.
This course develops systems reasoning in health policy and management students through the application of systems techniques and systems thinking to core public health concepts in health policy and management, environmental health, epidemiology, and health behavior and health education.
Focuses on implementing informatics programs and projects in health organizations. Informatics initiatives aim to facilitate effective information use for the purpose of improving the quality of health services and/or efficiency of processes. Therefore, these initiatives have implications for various stakeholder groups, including consumers, practitioners, administrators, and policy makers.
The IHI Certificate demonstrates an investment in further education and a strong knowledge base in quality improvement. Upon completion of this course, students will have met the requirements for the IHI Open School Certificate and participated in two in-person sessions.
Examines conventional public health constructs of community preparedness and disaster management. Includes a review of traditional and emerging literature. Emphasizes conceptual development and application of adaptive leadership strategies.
This course is an introduction to Lean Six-Sigma. Students will be exposed to continuous quality improvement (CQI) methods based on Toyota Production System (TPS or Lean) and Six-Sigma philosophy, methods, and tools.
This project-based course explores the phases of Six-Sigma approach to continuous quality improvement: define, measure, analyze, improve, and control (DMAIC). The overall objective of this course is to help students understand the challenges and pitfalls involved in completing a DMAIC project to drive change at organizational, unit, and individual levels.
Methods of comparing health systems, examinations of related national health systems, and analysis of related high prevalence health issues.
Globalization--its economic, environmental, political, technological, institutional, and sociocultural dimensions--historically and currently contributes to beneficial and adverse effects on population, community, and family and individual health.
Introduction to statistical analysis for healthcare settings using an Excel framework. Topics include variable types, sampling, probability distributions, descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, categorical data analysis, ANOVA, and introduction to regression methods. Previously offered as HPM 470.
Special topics course for health policy and management undergraduate students.
Students design a research project, known as the Honors Thesis. Students write a research proposal and complete an IRB application toward partial completion of the thesis. Requires a UNC-approved cumulative GPA by the end of the junior year and permission of the instructor.
Students complete, write up and present the Honors Thesis research project that they designed in HPM 691H. Requires having maintained the UNC-approved cumulative GPA by the end of the senior fall semester and permission of the instructor.
This course is for health policy and management undergraduate or graduate students who wish to pursue applied research or practice opportunities with healthcare organizations under the supervision of a faculty member in the Department of Health Policy and Management.
The capstone course is an "integrative exercise" for B.S.P.H. students prior to graduation. It is intended to simulate the integration of various disciplines--finance, human resources, ethics, policy, operations, and information technology--into a comprehensive and practical framework. Students work with healthcare organizations to solve financial or operational problems.
Department of Health Policy and Management
1101 McGavran-Greenberg Hall, CB# 7411
(919) 966-7350