Courses
Healthcare Management and Policy
- SPEA-H 124 Overview of the U.S. Healthcare System (3 cr.) Bloomington only. An overview of the U.S. health care delivery system. It examines the organization, function, and role of the system; current system problems; and alternative systems or solutions.
- SPEA-S 124 Honors—Overview of the U.S. Healthcare System (3 cr.) Requires consent of SPEA Honors advisor. Course covers same content as SPEA-H 124; however, honors students will complete advanced coursework.
- SPEA-H 126 Introduction to Careers in Health Administration (1 cr.) Introduces students to different careers and opportunities in the field of health care administration.
- SPEA-H 267 Career Development and Planning (1-3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124. (BSPH and BSHMP Bloomington students only.) Course highlights include: identification of work values and personality preference, career research assignments, networking assignments designed to prepare students for contact with employers, in-depth tutorial and feedback concerning how to craft a marketable resume and cover letter, and development of an overall career development plan.
- SPEA-H 316 Environmental Health Science (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124 or permission of instructor. A study of human interaction with the environment and potential impacts of environmental agents on health and safety. Hazards from natural sources and human activities that contaminate our air, land, water, food, homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces are examined. Environmental control activities, including pollution control technology and policy, are also examined.
- SPEA-S 316 Honors—Environmental Health Science (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124 or SPEA-S 124 Requires consent of SPEA Honors advisor. Course covers same content as SPEA-H 316; however, honors students will complete advanced coursework.
- SPEA-H 321 Healthcare Policy in the 21st Century: An Inside View (3 cr.) An Introduction to health policy in the United States for IU in DC students, including how health policy is made, implemented, and reformed. Students will engage in discussion, analysis and critique of various health policies and are expected to bring insights from their internships into the classroom discussions.
- SPEA-H 322 Principles of Epidemiology (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124 or permission of instructor. A basic overview of epidemiologic methodology and techniques. Both communicable and chronic disease risk factors will be discussed, along with data acquisition, analysis techniques, and current published epidemiological studies.
- SPEA-H 324 Health Policy (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124 or permission of instructor. This course will focus on current health policy issues within the context of the U.S. health care system. The course will familiarize students with the political environment of public policy, introduce major health care policy perspectives, and apply those analytical models to a series of health policy issues.
- SPEA-S 324 Honors—Health Policy (3 cr.) Course covers same material as SPEA-H 324; honors students will complete advanced coursework.
- SPEA-H 341 Legal Aspects of Health Care Administration (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124 or permission of instructor. An overview of the liability and legal responsibility, as well as legal recourse, that healthcare facilities may exercise. This course will discuss policies and standards elating to health facility administration. Also included is a discussion of financial aspects unique to the hospital/ healthcare facility environment, such as third-party payments and federal assistance.
- SPEA-S 341 Honors—Legal Aspects of Health Care Administration (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124. Requires consent of SPEA Honors advisor. Course covers same content as SPEA-H 341; however, honors students will complete advanced coursework.
- SPEA-H 342 Community Health Education (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124 or permission of instructor. Study of theory and practice in the field of professional health education. The process of behavioral change is examined. Procedures for the planning, delivery, and evaluation of health education practices are considered.
- SPEA-H 350 Fundamentals of Healthcare Financial Management (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124. Presents a broad overview of healthcare finance, focusing on tasks that are essential to the operational management of healthcare services, including estimating costs and profits, planning and budgeting, analyzing new equipment purchases, using metrics to monitor operations, and working with financial statements.
- SPEA-H 352 Healthcare Financial Management I (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124 or permission of instructor. First of a two-course sequence on the financial management of health care organizations; introduces financial environment of providers and concepts of financial accounting critical to decision-making. Topics include financial statement analysis (specific emphasis on unique features of health care financial statements), accounting and managerial control of cash, accounts receivable, inventory, and budgeting.
- SPEA-H 353 Healthcare Financial Management II (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 352. Course focus is financial management of health care organizations; assessing critical decision-making concepts in managerial accounting and finance. Topics include evaluation of capital investments, financing sources, managerial accounting including cost behavior, profit analysis, and incremental analysis, reimbursement under various third-party payer environments, cost allocation and government reporting.
- SPEA-S 353 Honors—Advanced Health Finance and Budgeting (3 cr.) Requires consent of SPEA Honors advisor. Course covers same content as SPEA-H 353; however, honors students will complete advanced coursework.
- SPEA-H 354 Health Economics (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124 (or permission of instructor) and ECON-E 201. Health economics studies the behavior of individuals, private and public employers, health care providers, and the government in decisions made within the health sphere. It applies microeconomics tools (including data analysis) to understand personal health behaviors, health care markets, health insurance systems, and health policies.
- SPEA-H 365 Health Services Practicum (1-3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124 or permission of instructor. The Health Services Practicum will consist of a personal career- planning component coupled with weekly field visits to health care agencies in central Indiana. Students must perform satisfactorily in both parts of the practicum to receive a passing grade.
- SPEA-H 374 Health Management Ethics (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124 or permission of instructor. This course examines health care ethical decision making challenges from the managerial perspective and explores broader policy issues associated with ethical problems in health care institutions. It provides an overview of general theories of ethical challenges in everyday managerial activities.
- SPEA-S 374 Honors—Health Management Ethics (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124. Requires consent of SPEA Honors advisor. Course covers same content as SPEA-H 374 ; however, honors students will complete advanced coursework.
- SPEA-H 401 Strategic Planning in Health Organizations (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 353 (or concurrent). This course examines strategic planning techniques as they apply to health care organizations. Students will develop and defend a comprehensive strategic plan for a case facility. One half of the course will be conducted in a workshop format.
- SPEA-H 402 Hospital Administration (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124 or permission of instructor. The study of organization, structure, function, and fiscal operations within hospitals. The role of the hospital in the community, relationship to official and voluntary health agencies, coordination of hospital departments, and managerial involvement will be examined.
- SPEA-H 403 Pharmaceutical Industry and Public Policy (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124 or permission of instructor. This course provides an overview of the pharmaceutical industry, its stakeholders and the key policy issues facing this industry. The course will focus on firms that operate in the traditional chemical pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology and medical devices. The course perspective is global, with an emphasis on the U.S. as the largest and most profitable market.
- SPEA-H 411 Chronic and Long-Term Care Administration (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124 or permission of instructor. Administering programs across the continuum of care including nursing homes, hospice, home health, and assisted living; Medicare and Medicaid financing; quality improvement; care management; and needs of special populations, particularly vulnerable elders.
- SPEA-H 428 Food Science and Sanitation (3 cr.) Basic concepts of food technology, with emphasis on methods and procedures in food processing to minimize contamination and to prevent food-related illness. Federal, state, and local food laws and inspection procedures will be examined.
- SPEA-H 432 Health Care Marketing (3 cr.) A practical study of marketing in health care institutions, health service organizations, and health insurers. A basic foundation in marketing principles, new methods in marketing products and services, and inexpensive marketing techniques will be examined.
- SPEA-H 455 Topics in Public Health (1-3 cr.) Extensive discussion of selected topics in public health. The topic may change from semester to semester, based on resource availability and student demand. May be repeated for credit.
- SPEA-H 456 Healthcare Reimbursement (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 353 (or concurrent). This course offers students a practical foundation in the systems and structures used to pay for healthcare delivery in the United States. The course is designed to provide students with the required knowledge and skills needed to succeed in entry-level positions within the healthcare setting, including provider organizations, health insurers, medical suppliers and public healthcare financing agencies.
- SPEA-S 456 Honors—Healthcare Reimbursement (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 353 (or concurrent). Requires consent of SPEA Honors advisor. Course covers same content as SPEA-H 456; however, honors students will complete advanced coursework.
- SPEA-H 459 Environmental Science and Health Data Analysis (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 316; SPEA-K 300; 1 semester of chemistry. Provides students with an understanding of the basic principles needed to perform sampling and analysis of field and laboratory environmental data. Topics include properties of chemical and biological constituents, detection limits, calibration, quality control, precision accuracy, and statistical analysis.
- SPEA-H 466 Public Health Field Experience (1-6 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124. Supervised advanced training in professional and technical functions in public health; guided student activity and performance in professional public health functions. Individualized programs may be arranged to suit students' areas of concentration. Students will be required to fulfill a minimum of 120 hours of professional relevant work.
- SPEA-H 472 Applied Health Care Administration (3 cr.) P: SPEA-H 124 and senior standing. This course is a study of the complexities of multi- institutional arrangements and integrated services in the U.S. health care industry. The focus is applying management skills to and making comparisons of the current driving forces among health care delivery system components.
- SPEA-H 474 Health Administration Ethics Seminar (3 cr.) This course examines healthcare ethical decision making challenges from managerial perspective and explores broader policy issues associated with ethical problems in healthcare institutions. It provides an overview of general theories of ethical challenges in everyday managerial activities.
- SPEA-H 491 Directed Research in Public Health — Honors (3 cr.) This is an intensive research course for undergraduate public health majors in SPEA's Honors Program. The course focuses on theories, concepts, and case material selected by the student in consultation with a faculty member. Key research products for the course may include a substantial research paper or institutional analysis.
- SPEA-H 492 Global Health Issues and Management (3 cr.) An overview of the theoretical underpinnings of, and current issues within, global health management. Topics include the impact of globalization on disease, health organization, program management, management of humanitarian events, and health system planning. The necessity of collective obligation and action for global health will be a recurring theme.
- SPEA-H 499 Honors Thesis (3 cr.) Required of SPEA Honors Program students. Research and paper to be arranged with individual instructor and approved by the Director of Undergraduate Programs.
