Focuses on the organization, financing, and delivery of healthcare in the U.S. Contrasts the private and public sectors and examines the effects of market competition and government regulation. Examines the ways that medical providers are paid, and explores the major issues currently facing physicians, hospitals, and the pharmaceutical industry. Also discusses several potential small and large scale reforms to the U.S. healthcare system and evaluates their likely effects on healthcare spending, quality of care, and access to care.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Discuss how healthcare services are financed in the United States, who the major providers of health care are, and how the healthcare system is changing
• Apply the content of this class in discussions of the major healthcare policy issues facing the United States

Students taking this course for academic credit will be graded on two exams and one written assignment. The midterm is worth 30% of the course grade. The written assignment is to produce a short policy memo and is also worth 30% of the course grade. The final exam is worth 40% of the course grade. Students will accumulate total points from 0 to 100 based on these three assessments. The cumulative scores for the course at the end of the semester will be rank ordered, with a final letter grade for the course based upon where students fall in the overall point distribution. A letter grade of an A will be given to students scoring over 90 points – though, if necessary, I will apply a an upwards curve to the scores so that roughly half of the class receives an A.

Mid-term exam	30%
Policy memo	30%
Final exam	40%

Textbook:
The required textbook for this course is Health Policy Issues: An Economic Perspective (Fourth Edition) by Paul Feldstein.  Two chapters from this textbook are generally assigned as required readings to prepare for each lecture. A copy of the textbook is on reserve in the Hampton House Building's Lillenfeld Library.

E-Reserves:
For a few of the lectures, the assigned readings are journal articles, which can be accessed in E-Reserves. If you desire additional information on the course content, the titles of one or two optional readings for each class, taken mostly from health policy journals, are provided. 

Lectures:
All lectures in this course are available in three formats: 1) synchronized audio/slide presentations; 2) PDF slide files; and 3) MP3 audio files. The synchronized presentations are the ideal format, but the PDF and MP3 files are provided for your additional convenience. For instance, some students wish to print the slides for note-taking. A growing number of students are downloading the MP3 audio files to listen to on an iPod, CD, etc. when commuting, running errands, travelling, or exercising. The MP3 files are usually under 10 MB. Please note that lecture materials are copyrighted and are only for your personal use within the course. Copying and/or distributing lecture files, for any other purpose, is a violation of copyright law and therefore not permitted. Thank you for your consideration.

Attendance:
Students are responsible for all of the material covered in the lectures and the overlapping material from the required readings.  Some of the material in the required readings is not presented in the lectures and will therefore not be applicable to the exams.

PRIMARY FACULTY: Bradley Herring Health Policy and Management    Bloomberg School of Public Health    Johns Hopkins University    624 North Broadway, Room 408    Baltimore, MD 21205-1901  410-614-5967 TEACHING ASSISTANTS: Jess Holzer Alyson Schuster Erin Trish