This is an interdisciplinary survey course for students interested in exploring consumer issues in health systems and health care delivery. It is designed as an introductory graduate-level course. The course identifies key issues facing health care consumers in the United States, with particular focus on the ways health care financing can affect choices available to consumers. Case studies will illustrate key issues affecting consumers.
"The Consumer Issues in Health Care course changed the way I think about health policy and taught me about how important and valuable it can be for policymakers to put themselves in patients' shoes, even when contemplating broad, system-wide reforms. In my work as a health policy analyst at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, I've been keeping the patients' perspective in mind - probing; pushing beyond the information we get from federal agency officials and making sure that we learn more about patients' experiences with gaps in service, barriers to access, and the overall "quality" of the health care system."- Alexis MacDonald, UW MPA '08
"The health policy course I took through the Center for Patient Partnerships (Consumer Issues in Healthcare) ranks as one of the most important classes I participated in while pursuing my Masters in Public Health. The interdisciplinary environment challenged me to think critically about the healthcare system from many different angles, not just from the medicine side where I had spent the previous 4 years training. Not only did I develop practical systems based knowledge that I use daily now in my patient encounters, but I also gained an appreciation for my own experience as a patient in our current system. Understanding both sides of the healthcare maze helps me to be a more informed consumer and advocate for myself and others."-Jackie Redmer, MD
If you are interested in pursuing a directed research or reading related to health advocacy, please contact Sarah Davis, sdavis2@wisc.edu for more information.
