IDEAS IN ACTION

Advances in Health Systems Analysis - NURS 400-401 / GAFL 474-401

Term: Fall 2006

Instructor: Dr. Julie A. Sochalski

Distinguished Policymaker: Rosemarie Greco, Office of Health Care Reform

Course Syllabus

Course Description: Students in this course worked with the Pennsylvania State Department of Health’s Office for Health Care Reform (OHCR) on its latest focal initiatives—to design a plan to extend quality health coverage to all Pennsylvanians. In December 2005 Governor Rendell invited a broad cross-section of consumers, business owners, union leaders, health care providers, insurers, and legislators to work with the OHCR in the development of a strategy to provide health coverage to all residents in the Commonwealth which is cost-effective, high-quality, and engages all major stakeholders. In the absence of federal action to address comprehensively the issue of the uninsured, states have become the laboratories and testing ground for the design and enacting of innovations to provide quality health coverage to those without health insurance.