Fall 2024 Health Policy Courses
Harvard Kennedy School
DPI-527M
Reproductive Rights, Politics, and Policy
This course examines the historical and current state of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) policy and politics in the United States, with a particular focus on the post-Dobbs landscape. Through foundational caselaw, statutes, social science research, political commentary, and international case studies, students will gain an understanding of SRH law and politics and will use that to analyze and draft policy solutions to current SRH issues. We will discuss law as a social determinant of health, discussing how reproductive health outcomes are impacted by public policy and the role that race, gender, age, socioeconomic class, and other identities have on those outcomes. Course topics include: the creation of the Constitutional rights to privacy, contraception and abortion; historical pro-choice and pro-life social movements; abortion access for minors and marginalized populations; racism and ableism in SRH; reproductive justice; and emerging legal and political strategies.
SUP-110
Poverty and Public Policy
Safety net programs that care for the poor and insure risk comprise the largest share of government spending in the U.S. and other developed countries. Making these programs work well is a key policy priority. This course studies policy institutions and economic insights related to means-tested income support, health care, Social Security, disability, and housing support programs. The course is taught via a combination of lectures and in-class discussions and devotes special attention to current policy debates and reform ideas. The course is intended as a survey course for students seeking to broaden their understanding of how safety net programs work in developed countries and how they can be reformed to work better. It builds on topics covered in the core economics curriculum (MPP and MPA-ID), though it is open to all students with relevant economics background (see prerequisites).
SUP-151M
Medical Policy Writing
The purpose of this course is to get MD-MPP students started on the Policy Analysis Exercise (PAE) by reading, discussing, and practicing writing that combines narrative about clinical medicine with policy considerations. We will be reading articles by doctor-writers like C. Alessandra Colaianni, Lisa Rosenbaum, Daniela Lamas, Atul Gawande, Donald Berwick, and others. In addition, we'll look at writing by economists, lawyers, and others about health care, in order to understand more clearly the unique perspective of the MD-MPP. At the end of the course, students will have identified a clinical encounter that raises a policy question that they would like to explore in greater depth in the PAE, and outlined next steps for learning more about their topic.
SUP-518
Economics of Disease and Health Equity
The goal of this course is to provide students with an economic perspective on disease, health systems and health equity so that they can develop an evidence-based toolkit for analyzing and debating health policies. We will discuss the contributions of economics, both from the neoclassical perspective (e.g., Grossman and Arrow) and the instrumental perspective (e.g., Anand and Sen). We will introduce different types of health systems and spend time on specific types of diseases that are causes of much morbidity – nutrition-related and mental health disease. Special topics include racial health inequality, health care for incarcerated individuals, and innovation and inequality. Most of our readings will come from economics, but we will also include viewpoints from related disciplines (i.e., public health, anthropology, and sociology). We will contrast policies and outcomes in the U.S. to that of other countries. Lastly, we will discuss emerging evidence on the role of private equity and lobbying on the design and performance of health care systems.
SUP-951
Doctoral Seminar in Health Economics
Mark Shepard
Explores frontier work in the field of health economics. Focuses on learning advanced theories and economic models useful for policy analysis, and on helping students develop dissertation and/or research topics. Students enrolled for credit are expected to present original research at the end of the semester.
Permission of the instructor required for nondoctoral students. (Also offered at Boston University.) Meeting location moves to the vlog on March 31.
Harvard Business school
HBS 6345
Problems with health care quality, access, and costs bedevil all countries. Health care—inefficient, erratic in quality and access, ripe for massive technological and consumer-facing innovations—is one of the largest and ripest sectors for innovation. This course focuses on the creation of a business plan for an innovation in health care that can better meet these needs. Students will continue to pursue plans generated in the prior Innovating in Health Care (IHC) course, offered in Q1 of 2024, or enroll with a new plan. They will also review and offer advice for the business plans of their classmates.
HBS 2185
Lee Kaplan
Problems with health care quality, access, and costs bedevil all countries. The health care sector—inefficient, erratic in quality and access, ripe for massive technological and consumer-facing innovations—is one of the largest sectors that can be transformed with innovation. The purpose of this course is to leverage the students in creating these innovations by focusing on how to make them happen. The students—with diverse backgrounds, or none—in the field typically form a lifelong network. The course follows a “how to” framework for the following four organizational stages of three types of health care innovations: technology-commercializing, cost-controlling, and consumer-facing.
- Evaluating
- Starting
- Scaling
- Exiting
It is entirely taught through current field-based cases in all aspects of health care—digital, technological, service, and insurance. The CEOs of the firms depicted in the case studies typically attend the class. It is supplemented with optional pedagogical videos (e.g., reimbursement).
HBS 2157
The U.S. healthcare sector accounts for nearly one-fifth of the economy, encompassing a diverse set of industries and involving organizations and regulators with a variety of objectives. This course will introduce participants to the key strategic problems facing healthcare businesses, and will illustrate how strategic principles can be applied in healthcare settings to identify sources of competitive advantage (and all too often, disadvantage).
Our emphasis will be on payers and providers, but we will also devote 20-25% of our case discussions to prescription drugs. Throughout, we will also discuss the role of U.S. regulations and policies on organizational strategies and market outcomes.
Topics (examples) include: industry analysis (Oscar Health Insurance); sustaining profits over time (pharmaceutical company practices); product differentiation and entry decisions (Amgen); mergers (Boston-area hospital system consolidation); population health (Massachusetts General Hospital and Oak Street Health); vertical integration (Kaiser and Cigna). In prior years, we have welcomed protagonists from government as well as the private sector.