Departmental MPH Competencies
Students in the Department of Health Policy and Management achieve both departmental and track-specific competencies, as well the School-wide MPH core competencies.
Upon satisfactory completion of the MPH degree in HPM, all graduates will be able to:
- Explain and analyze the issues of quality, access, and cost of healthcare;
- Apply economic concepts and theories to the analysis of healthcare policy and management issues and to inform decision-making and policy development;
- Apply systems thinking, quality, and performance improvement concepts and theories to the analysis of healthcare policy and management issues;
- Explain the workings of policy mechanisms such as insurance systems, quality monitoring, provider payment methods, definition of benefit packages, and methods of funding health services;
- Apply the principles and findings of organization theory to health financing and delivery organizations such as managed care plans, hospitals, clinics, health insurers, and home health agencies;
- Describe the legal and ethical bases for public health and healthcare services;
- Analyze the main options and methods for financing healthcare services in the United States;
- Analyze and critique literature on health policy, health management, and health services research;
- Create written documents (essays, white papers, policy papers, etc.) that apply theories of health policy and management to real world problems in the healthcare system;
- Analyze the history and structure of the United States healthcare system and specify how social, political, technological, economic, and cultural forces have shaped it;
- Apply fundamental principles of research methods including quantitative methods, data management, and analysis to problems in health policy and management;
- Develop research questions to address healthcare management and policy issues, while assuring the rights of human subjects;
- Apply principles of epidemiology and biostatistics to health policy and management problems on the population level;
- Approach health policy and management problems by integrating scholarship and work experience;
- Communicate health policy and management issues using a variety of channels, modes, and technologies; and
- Present in oral, written, and visual formats, clear and concise analysis of healthcare management and policy issues based on theories, site observations, and experiences.