Key Information
About the content
This course will explore the many problems of the American health care system and discuss the specific ways that the Affordable Care Act will impact access, quality, costs, as well as medical innovation.
Syllabus
Much of the impetus for health care reform is provided by the need to “bend the cost curve.” Over the past few decades, health care cost growth has consistently outpaced overall economic growth, taking up an increasing share of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and government budgets. We will discuss the factors that drive cost growth.
Live Q & A with
Dr. Emanuel
Dr. Emanuel will host a live online Q & A session on
topics related to health care and current events.
Week 2 – Structure of the US Health Care
How do Americans get their health care? Who pays
for it? How did the system we have today come to be? These are some of the questions we will answer
this week when we look at the structure of the US health care system
Week 3 – Access to and Quality of Health Care in the US
Most Americans receive insurance through their employer or
the government (e.g. Medicaid, Medicare, CHIP).
Before the ACA, approximately 50 million Americans did not have health
insurance. This week we explore access to health care insurance, the profile of
the average uninsured person, disparities in quality and outcomes, and the link
between insurance and access to health care.
Week 4 – Health Care Malpractice
In some physician specialties, as many as one in four
practitioners a year have a medical malpractice claim filed against them,
making this a matter of frequent public and policy debate. We will discuss medical
errors, the workings of the malpractice system, liability insurance, and the
contribution of negligence and malpractice costs to the health system’s overall
bottom line.
Week 5 – History of health care reform; The ACA: An Overview
Health care reform in America has been 100 years in the
making, starting with Theodore Roosevelt and continuing through the Clinton
administration. We discuss past attempts at health care reform and why they met
with resistance. We then move on to an overview of the 2010 Affordable Care
Act.
Week 6 - The ACA: Access to Health Care
The overview of the ACA continues with a discussion of the provisions
designed to expand access to health care.
We will cover employer-sponsored health insurance provisions. This session will feature a guest
lecture by J. Sanford Schwartz, M.D.
Week 7 – The ACA: Cost Control
This week we will discuss projections of health care cost
growth under the ACA, followed by mechanisms through which the ACA aims to
tackle health care cost growth.
Week 8 – The ACA: Health Care Delivery and Quality
The final topic of
the course is the ACA’s impact on the quality and delivery of care. The ACA includes
provisions for institutional innovations, i.e. changes in how the system
delivers care. It also contains rules
and incentives for providers to cut down on mistakes and deliver proven,
valuable care. This week will provide a forward-looking overview of what we
will change in the medical sector.
Instructors
- Ezekiel Emanuel - Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy
Content Designer
Platform
Coursera is a digital company offering massive open online course founded by computer teachers Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller Stanford University, located in Mountain View, California.
Coursera works with top universities and organizations to make some of their courses available online, and offers courses in many subjects, including: physics, engineering, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, data science, and other subjects.
