HPM PhD Minor Areas Information

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

• Decision Sciences and Outcomes Research

The minor 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 minor students 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 700, 788, and 789). 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 minor.

• Financial Management

The financial management minor 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 minor usually have completed courses in finance, microeconomics, and calculus.

• Health Politics and Policy

The health politics and policy minor 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 minor requirements.

• Quality and Access

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

The minor 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 minor in quality and access.

• 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 NIH defines implementation science as “the use of strategies to adopt and integrate evidence-based health interventions and change practice patterns in specific settings.” Organization science has much to contribute to implementation science since the implementation of evidence-based health interventions typically occurs in organizational settings and efforts to change practice patterns typically focus on organizational members.

The Organization and Implementation Science minor 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.