Health Systems Management and Policy Concentration

The HSMP Concentration will help students understand health policy and the business and economics of medicine. It will also provide students with leadership skills so that they can participate in the changes needed for the U.S. health care system to improve and thrive. The goal of this Concentration is to provide a working knowledge of the health care systems for students who have an interest in pursuing administrative and leadership roles in their future, who would like to effectively advocate for the development and implementation of health policies, and who desire a deeper understanding of how health care is structured and delivered so that they will be a more valuable member or a leader in their health care organization in the future.

John Meurer, MD, MBA
Professor of Pediatrics and Community Health

Goal

The Health Systems Management and Policy Concentration will link how health systems and the policies that drive those systems influence how care is delivered and how these policies drive the decisions that are made by health care organizations and by individual physicians.

Concentration Competencies

Knowledge for Practice

• Apply principles of epidemiologic sciences to the identification of health care problems, risk factors, treatment strategies, resources, and disease prevention/health promotion efforts for patients and populations.

Practice-Based Learning and Improvement

• Identify strengths, deficiencies, and limits in one’s knowledge and expertise
• Set independent learning and improvement goals
• Utilize feedback to improve daily practice.

Patient Care

• Demonstrate honesty, integrity, and respect in all interactions and patient care
• Demonstrate accountability to patients, society, and the profession
• Demonstrate a commitment to ethic principles in everyday patient care including but not limited to provision or withholding of care, confidentiality, informed consent, and business practices, including compliance with relevant law, policies, and regulations

System-Based Practice

• Advocate for quality patient care and optimal patient care systems
• Work effectively in various health care delivery setting and systems
• Coordinate patient care within the health care system
• Incorporate considerations of cost awareness and risk-benefit analysis in patient and/or population based care
• Participate in identifying system errors and solutions.

Interprofessional, Communication and Professionalism

• Communicate effectively with colleagues within one’s profession or specialty, other health professionals, and health related agencies
• Work effectively with others as a member or leader of health care teams or other professional group
• Collaborate with other health care professionals to establish and maintain a climate of mutual respect, dignity, diversity, ethical integrity, and trust
• Identify one’s own role and the roles of other health professionals to appropriately assess and address the health care needs of patients and populations served
• Demonstrate level-appropriate leadership skills

Examples of Core Session Topics

• Health systems in the U.S. and in developed countries
• The health systems workforce in the United States
• How healthcare is financed
• Quality and variation in healthcare
• Population health
• Advocacy in healthcare

Examples of Non-core Activities

• Meetings of the Wisconsin Medical Society or local county medical society, or specialty organizations
• Health advocacy meetings with legislators and administrators
• Participating in the annual Wisconsin Medical Society Doctor's Day at the State Capitol
• Attending the MCW Institutional Finance Advisory Committee, Board of Directors meeting, or Finance Committee meetings of the Medical College Physicians (MCP) or Children’s Specialty Group (CSG).
• Participating in other meeting focused on specific areas of care such as the Emergency Medical System, trauma center, or stroke care.

Resources for more in-depth reading in this area will include chapters from text books that are available in the MCW library or on loan from the Concentration directors:

• “Understanding Health Policy, Sixth Edition” by Thomas Bodenheimer and Kevin Grumbach
• “Delivering Health Care in Health Systems Management & Policy in America, a Systems Approach" by Luiyu Shi and Douglas Singh
• “Generalist Medicine and the U.S. Health System,” by Stephen Isaacs and James Knickman