Discussion Questions for Health, Policy and Reform (HCM 590)
Module 1: Note: In this discussion, each student is to answer all of the questions in the initial post and to formulate responses to classmates for each of the questions. What were some of the distinguishing features of the Congresses and political landscapes in the 1965, 1981, 1993, and 2009 time periods? How did these features enable, impede, or influence health policy developments? In what ways were the health policy objectives and priorities of Presidents Johnson, Reagan, Clinton, and Obama similar? Different? Module 2: Note: In this discussion, each student is to answer all of the questions in the initial post and to formulate responses to classmates for each of the questions. 1. Explain and debate provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. 2. Explain and debate the rulings of the United States Supreme Court regarding the PPACA. Module 3: What are the advantages and challenges associated with Accountable Care Organizations, Primary Care Transformation in such organizational models as Patient-Centered Medical Homes, and Bundled Payment? Module 4: Appended to Karen Davis’ oral testimony is a set of 24 insightful exhibits that are loaded with Medicare information. For this module’s discussion, please interpret, assess, cite, and debate the Medicare reform implications of the facts and figures from this set of 24 exhibits. Module 5: Initial Post: Research, present, and assess information about Medicaid expansion in your home state. Response Posts: Respond to at least two of your peers by further analyzing, critiquing, and expanding upon the initial post and subsequent response posts. Module 6: In this module, the following four articles directly inform the discussion: Derose, K., Gresenz, C., and Ringel, J. (2011). Understanding disparities in health care access—and reducing them—through a focus on public health. Health Affairs, 30(10), 1844-1851. Koh, H., Graham, G., and Glied, S. (2011). Reducing racial and ethnic disparities: The action plan from the Department of Health and Human Services. Health Affairs, 30(10), 1822-1829. Peek, M., et al. (2012). Early lessons from an initiative on Chicago’s south side to reduce disparities in diabetes care and outcomes. Health Affairs, 31(1), 177-186. Weinick, R. and Hasnain-Wynia, R. (2011). Quality improvement efforts under health reform: How to ensure that they help reduce disparities—not increase them. Health Affairs, 30(10), 1837-1843. Instructions for posting in the Module 6 Discussion are as follows: The instructor will assign one-quarter of class members to each of the four discussion articles. Your initial post will summarize and assess the issues and initiatives in your assigned article. At least one of your response posts will address one or more of the other three articles. At least one of your response posts will be to another student’s response post to your initial post. Because of the scope and importance of disparity issues, you are encouraged to post more than the minimum three times to create a highly dynamic and analytical discussion. Module 7: Note: In this discussion, each student is to answer all three questions in the initial post and formulate responses to classmates for each of the three questions. “Leading up to the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010, federal liability reforms were contemplated as a means of garnering support for the legislation among congressional Republicans and medical professional organizations. Although no liability-reform provisions survived in the final bill, Congress made clear the need for more experimentation. The final legislation authorized $50 million for states and health care systems to test new approaches to the resolution of medical-injury disputes. This authorization supplemented the $23 million that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) awarded in 2010 for projects to advance new approaches to medical-injury compensation and patient safety” (Kachalia and Mello, 2011, p. 1564). Why did the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act not include—as the AMA describes—“a federal solution to the medical liability crisis”? Which of the medical liability reform approaches described in Tables 2 and 3 of Kachalia and Mello (2011) do you favor? Why? Should medical liability reform be at the state level? Federal level? If both, how should state and federal provisions be integrated and coordinated? Module 8: Note: In this discussion, each student is to answer all of the questions in the initial post and to formulate responses to classmates for each of the questions. How is the American health care system performing compared to other countries? What are the strengths of other nations’ health care systems? What challenges do they face? What can the United States learn from the health care systems in other countries? What can other countries learn from the United States?
