HPM PhD Concentration Areas Information

All students must select a concentration area that may be either disciplinary or interdisciplinary. They must take at least 15 credit hours in their concentration area. Students must also take one (or more) 3-hour course in health policy. Our concentrations are:

Decision Sciences and Outcomes Research

The concentration in Decision Sciences and Outcomes Research is an interdisciplinary program that prepares PhD students to focus on (1) methods for analyzing potential benefits/harms and costs of health technologies and interventions and (2) how to measure, analyze, and apply patient-reported outcomes to important health conditions.

All students with a PhD concentration area should take HPM 772 (Techniques for the Economic Evaluation of Healthcare); and HPM 794 (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement and Application in Healthcare Research and Practice). Additional required courses depend on whether students choose the modeling or outcomes research emphasis.

Students without prior spreadsheet modeling experience take HPM 770 (Introduction to Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis Tools for Improving Health Care Management and Policy Decision Making) as a pre-requisite, which does not count toward the 15 total credit hours.

Economics

Students in the economics track have the flexibility to take field courses in a number of areas of microeconomics.

Students take core courses from the Department of Economics (Econ 700 and 710) or the Department of Public Policy (PLCY 800, 888, and 889). Health Economics (Econ 850) is a required course. For the remaining electives, students can choose from courses at UNC or Duke in advanced microeconomics, labor economics, public finance, economics and population, econometrics, or other advanced topics in microeconomics.

In addition, health economics students attend the Triangle Health Economics Workshop. Students may receive one unit of credit for participating in the Triangle Health Economics seminars each semester by enrolling in HPM815, for up to 3 units of credit towards the concentration.

Financial Management

The financial management concentration has three required courses and two electives. Required courses include PLCY 700 Math Camp (3 hours); PLCY 788 Advanced Economic Analysis for Public Policy I (3 hours); and BUSI 881 Theory of Financial Management II (3 hours).

In addition, select two or more accounting and/or finance courses offered by the Kenan-Flagler School of Business or the Fuqua School of Business at Duke. In order to assure adequate preparation for these courses, students admitted to the healthcare financial management concentration usually have completed courses in finance, microeconomics, and calculus.

Health Politics and Policy

The health politics and policy concentration introduces students to theories and practices of policymaking, policy analysis, and political science, with the goal of understanding how and why governments and private institutions make and change health policy.

Students explore a wide range of issues in health politics and policy, including health care reform, Medicare and Medicaid, program evaluation, and developments in private insurance.

Students may also concentrate their coursework on public opinion, agenda setting, political institutions, interest groups or other aspects of political science relevant to health policy.

Students take two required classes, HPM 757 (Health Reform: Political Dynamics and Policy Dilemmas) and HPM 758 (Underserved Population and Health Reform). Students take additional courses from other departments (including political science and public policy) and health policy and management to complete the concentration requirements.

Organization and Implementation Science

Implementation science is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field of study, with multiple federal agencies and Institutes within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) assigning scientific priority and research funding to this area of research. The field encompasses assessment of contextual factors, the use of strategies to adopt and integrate interventions, and measures of implementation outcomes. Organization science has much to contribute to implementation science because the implementation of interventions frequently occurs in organizational settings.

The Organization and Implementation Science concentration equips doctoral students with the knowledge and skills to conduct implementation research, while preserving their marketability for faculty positions in health care organization and management. Students take a foundational implementation science course (HPM 767: Implementation Science in Health) and an advisor-approved course on organizational theory. In addition, students take electives related to organizations, implementation research, and/or related methods.

Quality and Access

Access to, and the quality of, health care are often the focus of important health policy discussions at the local, state, national, and global levels.

The concentration in Quality and Access is an interdisciplinary program that prepares PhD students to obtain the substantive, methodological and statistical skills required to conduct research in this area. HPM 762 (Quality of Care) is required of all students who concentrate in quality and access.