Health Care Policy, Politics, and Process

Health Care Policy, Politics, and Process: This course provides an overview of past and current health policy literature and research. It also provides the student with the opportunity to critically analyze basic concepts, principles, and consequences of policy options for achieving selected health services goals across the spectrum of health and health care systems. It is built upon the understanding that health care delivery is the transformation of health science into health service. Students increase their aptitude in the three P’s—policy, politics, and process—in order to shape healthcare delivery changes. Policy, politics, and process occur in organizational, state, tribal, and federal spaces. In this era of sweeping health reform, it is imperative that students understand the players, the interactions, and the routes to change. The class discusses contemporary policy changes and debates. Students examine a policy relevant to their own work

1. Examine a health policy relevant to their work
2. Overview past and current health policy literature and research
3. Understand the players, interactions, and the routes to change
4. Critically analyze basic concepts, principles, and consequences of policy options
5. Increase aptitude in healthcare policy, politics, and process
6. Discusses contemporary policy changes and debates

MedlinePlus is the National Institutes of Health's Web site for patients and their families and friends. Produced by the National Library of Medicine, the world’s largest medical library, it brings you information about diseases, conditions, and wellness issues in language you can understand. MedlinePlus offers reliable, up-to-date health information, anytime, anywhere, for free.

Google:

Google lets you search specific websites, including government websites the "site:" search. For example, to search for a specific agency, say Health and Human Services, type "site:hhs.gov". To search ALL government websites, regardless of agency, then only type "site:gov" leaving out the agency domain.

Agencies Websites:

1. Government information is confusing to find. It's hard to know where to start, especially for major issues like health, which is of interest to many agencies, and regulated by many divisions within a single agency.
2. First determine the key agencies for your topic. For health, the Department of Health and Human Services is that agency.
3. Within your selected agency, understand how information is organized, and produced. For the Department of Health and Human Services, check out their Family of Agencies, and their Organizational Chart. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, mentioned under the Agency tab of this guide will be listed on both the Organizational Chart page, and the Family of Agencies page.
4. Within each division or branch of an agency, see if there is an A-Z Index, as does the CDC. This can be the easiest access to information on those sites.