Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• SPH PM 817: Introduction to Organizational Theory
  Aligning with evidence-based medicine, evidenced-based management advances decision making from the realm of intuition to scientific study and implementation. Historically, however, there has been limited adoption of evidence-based programs without first changing an organization's culture. This suggests a need to both support "active users of evidence," but also to define which "evidence" is best, mindful that whoever controls the definition of "evidence" holds the power to disrupt the system. With this paradox in mind, the structure and behavior of healthcare organizations can have a major impact on the access, quality, safety, and cost of patient care. In this course, we will review and apply the major organization theory perspectives to address health care planning and action at the: (1) macrolevel - the ways that organizations adapt to various market and environmental factors; the (2) mesolevel - the structures and processes occurring at the level of the organization as a whole or within an organization network; and (3) the microlevel - the internal activities and relationships, such as within teams, inside an organization's boundaries. Particular attention is given to the theory of how organizations function in their changing environments, and in developing the student's ability to conduct theory-based research on health care organizations.
• SPH PM 818: Health Information Technology
  This course provides students with the knowledge and skills to evaluate and manage information technology in heath care organizations. In particular it focuses on the role of IT in driving organizational change and supporting quality improvement and elimination of medical errors. Topics include electronic health records, computerized provider order entry, interoperability, management decision support, and provider pay for performance. The perspective of the course is that of the chief information officer (CIO) and other managers and users of health care information systems, not that of the technical specialist. The course will consist of a series of lectures, cases, and discussions, some of which will be led by guest lecturers who are experts in the field of health care information technology and systems. Course requirements include a quiz, a 10-page paper, and a class presentation. The class meets at the Charles River Campus with GSM HM817 on the GSM schedule.
• SPH PM 820: Introduction to Quality Measurement and Evaluation
  This course sets out to answer a number of foundational and application-based questions for health services researchers and other health professionals focusing on evaluation of health care quality: What are some frameworks within which we can measure, evaluate, and improve quality of care? How we do reliably and validly measure quality? How do we use different types of data to measure and report on different dimensions of quality? What are ways in which quality data may be aggregated and what controversies surround those approaches? How do we appropriately profile providers and systems, and how do we best create and interpret composite measures in doing so? Throughout the semester, students will be able to answer these questions and apply this learning to practical data exercises and case studies.
• SPH PM 821: Advanced Health Services Research Methods
  This course builds on SPH PM811 by providing advanced methods and their applications to studies of health care outcomes, quality, and economics. Methods covered include: advanced measurement techniques such as item response theory and applications through computer adaptive testing, selecting the research design, meta-analysis, advanced statistics applied to grant proposals, and econometric methods using instrumental variables. Students develop an original paper based upon a secondary data analysis.
• SPH PM 822: Advanced Quantitative Methods for Health and Social Policy Research
  This course builds on MS and PhD program with a quantitative focus by providing advanced methods and their applications to studies of health care outcomes, quality, and economics. Methods covered include: advanced measurement techniques such as item response theory and applications through computer adaptive testing, selecting the research design, meta-analysis, advanced statistics applied to grant proposals, and econometric methods using instrumental variables. Students develop an original paper based upon a secondary data analysis.
• SPH PM 824: Theory & Research on Organizations
  The purposes of this course are first to develop the students' understanding of major theoretical perspectives on health care organizations, and second to develop their abilities to apply these theories to conduct theory-based research on health care organizations. The course achieves this understanding through an in-depth review of contemporary literature addressing each major theoretical perspective and through written assignments and discussions of the contrasts among the major theoretical perspectives on organizations. To develop their abilities to apply the theories, students also design organizational research based upon the different theories.
• SPH PM 826: Health, Illness, and the Use of Health Services
  This course provides an introduction to social science research relating to patients' engagement with health services. Its goal is to develop critical understandings of how people perceive a need for health services, seek them, engage in transactions with health care providers as "patients" and live with the outcomes of care. The central theme is patient-centered health care as a basis for inquiry in health economics (e.g., consumer behavior, decision making) and health care quality and outcomes (e.g., approaches to chronic illness care, shared decision making).
• SPH PM 827: Strategic Management of Healthcare Organizations
  This course is designed to make the student aware of well-established and innovative best practices that are necessary for making strategic decisions in the competitive environment of health care. Each session offers an opportunity to explore various aspects of formulating, monitoring, and leading strategies while considering the complexity of the structure and processes in healthcare. Real-life projects engage the student in making evidence based and value driven decisions while being cognizant of culture, regulations and the dynamic nature of the industry. Discussions from the readings, case studies and assignments focus on developing systems thinking and strategic intuition that is vigilant of the drivers of change, leadership skills and countermeasures by competitors.
• SPH PM 828: Advanced Seminar in Qualitative Research Methods for Health Services Research
  This course will focus on the use of qualitative methods in understanding outcomes of care, such as patient-centered perspectives on illness and health care; processes of care, such as doctor-patient interactions and communication; and the organization of care, such as the impact of different organizational structures on the quality of care. Students will develop skills in the use of qualitative methods in health services research, including the procedures of focus groups, the use of in-depth interviews, naturalistic observations of health care practices, and ethnographic studies of health care organizations and client communities. The course is part of the PhD program in Health Services Research, but will be of interest to other students who wish to learn about utilizing qualitative methods in their research.
• SPH PM 830: Developing Patient-Based Health Status and Outcomes Measures
  Contemporary health services research relies heavily on patient-based measures of health status and other outcomes of health care. This course covers development and application of health status constructs to be measured, scope and content of questionnaires, qualitative and quantitative methods of scale development and validation, and new assessment methodologies including Item Response Theory and Computer Adapted Testing. Practical issues of deciding if and when to develop a new measure, as well as selecting and applying measures in designing health outcomes research are addressed.
• SPH PM 831: Implementation Science: Linking Research to Practice
  A major gap exists in health services research between what is known about interventions and the actual use of those interventions in practice. Often, interventions shown effective in the research setting do not translate in the real world. Implementation science focuses on developing methods to ensure that evidence‐based models are effectively translated to the clinical setting. The course focuses on the complex concepts of implementation science, including the wide range of theoretical frameworks and approaches driving the field. Students will also learn about different models of implementation research, its strengths and limitations, and develop an implementation research study proposal.
• SPH PM 832: Operations Management in Health Care
  This course is designed to focus on the field of operations management (OM) in healthcare. Students will learn to apply OM principles to develop more effective operational processes, mitigate risks, and improve quality. Discussions from the text, case studies and assignments will focus on strategies and techniques of quality improvement processes, project management, work-flow and system design, and capacity planning. Additionally students will explore the intricacy, complexity and dynamics of logistics in healthcare. An industry based project will enable students to engage and implement several of the tools learned in class.
• SPH PM 833: Health Economics
  This course develops the tools of basic microeconomic analysis and applies them to key health policy issues. It emphasizes the trade-offs involved in various choices within the health care economy, with particular attention to examination of issues related to the debate between pro-market and government regulatory approaches to health care policy. Topics include the role of risk and uncertainty in health and health care, the industrial organization of the health care sector, and how payment systems affect the incentives and behavior of patients, insurers, and providers.
• SPH PM 834: Planning and Regulating to Fix Health Care
  Failures of competitive markets in health care have sparked public planning and regulation. But these, in turn, have not been very successful in addressing problems of access, cost, appropriateness/quality, or caregiver configuration. Examining cases of persisting health problems such as childhood lead poisoning and quality of nursing home care, this course dissects what has worked and why. We consider ways in which planning can be a guide to effective action, not a pretext for inaction. We examine ways to quantify harm caused by a problem, analyze causes of the harm, develop policies and programs to address those causes, and analyze the efficacy, cost, political feasibility, and managerial feasibility of specific programs. Each student prepares a realistic plan, grounded in evidence, to ameliorate harm to people's health caused by a persisting threat.
• SPH PM 835: Lean Management in Healthcare
  This course is designed to prepare students to plan and successfully implement lean management driven processes in health care organizations. It teaches lean principles and provides the opportunity to complete a lean managed project. It therefore uses a blended format that includes a week long intensive program for training on lean concepts and tools, followed by a semester long field work on a quality improvement project using lean methodology with online and personal support.
• SPH PM 837: Evaluating Health Care Quality
  The purpose of this class is to provide a scientific basis to quality measurement. Topics include reliability and validity of measures, implicit versus explicit reviews, provider profiling, and the role of risk-adjustment. The course also covers applications of quality measures in health care today. Examples are drawn from various settings including acute care, long-term care, and ambulatory care. Readings are mostly based on articles in the health services research literature.
• SPH PM 838: Health Politics and Policy
  This course is designed to help students understand political dynamics of health policy making at the state level and to develop practical skills required for effective work as policy advocates. Analytic models, case studies, guest speakers, and in-class exercises promote a practical understanding of how ideas succeed, or fail, to become law.
• SPH PM 839: Implementation Science: Linking Research to Practice
  Implementation science is commonly defined as the study of methods and strategies to promote the uptake of interventions that have proven effective in routine practice, with the aim of improving population health. Often interventions tested in traditional research studies that are found to be effective do not translate into positive outcomes in practice or cannot be practically applied. Alternatively, other interventions that have potential to improve care will not the effectively implemented without practical tools to aid the implementation. Integrating research into practice is a major challenge, both during the period of a study and beyond. This course will address the complexities of integrating research and practice and of translating research into practice. Students will learn about the background and concepts of implementation research and implementation science and how they fit into health services research, key components of implementation research proposal and how they are reviewed, what evidence is in an evidence- based intervention and how evidence is identified and evaluated, frameworks to guide implementation studies, different implementation study designs, implementation outcomes, and about how to balance intervention fidelity with feasibility, as well as how interventions can be adapted for different populations and settings.
• SPH PM 840: Analysis of Current Health Policy Issues
  The purpose of this course is to arm students with the skills to debate, define, and defend health policy proposals. We will explore, in depth, several current health policy problems. The course will take an analytic case approach, identifying policy options and tools, then gathering information and applying data to evaluate outcomes, costs; winners and losers. Methods for finding and accessing information on the Internet are emphasized. This is a capstone course meant to be taken in the student's last semester.
• SPH PM 842: Health Economics for Health and Social Policy Research
  This course provides an understanding of principles of microeconomics and applied microeconomic analysis of public health policy issues sufficient to comprehend and conduct health services research. The over-arching philosophical issues facing the post health care reform world and the arguments defining the debate between pro-market and government regulatory approaches are addressed. The main focus is on domestic health economics; however, analytic methods developed in the course are applicable to foreign health care systems. Students may not take both PM833 and PM842 for degree credit.

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