COURSE ASSIGNMENTS Course Assignment: There are two parts to this course as follows:

UNIT 1: For Unit 1, please read the excellent book listed above and then answer the questions below in
short paragraph form. You do not need to worry about citations since you are specifically answering the
Discussion Questions listed in the book, using the text as a resource.

UNIT 2: For Unit 2, please watch the suggested TED TALKS or read the suggested article and then write a
short essay (250-350 words) answering the questions and offering your personal opinion on the topics
raised in the TED TALK. NOTE: There is no penalty for going over the word limit! ☺

UNIT 1

Please answer the questions below based on the reading you are to complete in the textbook, Health
Care Delivery Systems in the United States, 11th Edition Only.

Please read Chapter 1 [The Challenge of Health Care Delivery and Health Care Policy] and answer the
following Discussion Questions found at the end of the Chapter:

1. Question #2: Why do we spend so much money on health care?

The US health care system is cost inefficient because it the marketplace is decentralized. The
bargaining structure has no checks on cost. Unlike most western countries which have federal
institutions that cap prices, The US system has many players which drive cost up and this is passed
on to the consumer/patient. These players include health care providers, insurance cpmpanies,
pharmaceutical companies and medical suppliers. For instance, Januvia, a drug used to treat Type-2
Diabetes cost

2. Question #5: What are your priorities to improve the value of health care Americans get for the
money we spend? What is your rationale for these priorities?

Please read Chapter 2, [Organization of Care] answer this one Discussion Question found at the end of
the Chapter:

3. Question #2: The baby boomer generation which represents a significant portion of the U.S.
population is reaching an age when its utilization of health services will most likely increase.
Discuss how this aging of such a large segment of the population will affect specific health care
delivery services and organizations?

Please read Chapter 3 [The Politics of Health Care in the United States)] and answer the following
Discussion Questions at the end of the Chapter:

4. Question #1: How is the US health care system financed?

 b. Question #3: What is the role of v politics in Medicare and Medicaid?

Please read Chapter 5, [Population Health]. Please write at least one paragraph describing what we
mean when we use the term “population health.” Write the paragraph in such a way that you could
explain the concept—simply and easily—to someone working outside of the health care industry.
Imagine you are trying to explain the concept to your grandmother, or a college friend who worksin
finance or real estate.

5. Continuing on with Chapter 5 [Population Health] what do you, as a health care provider, feel are
some of the advantages in using the population health model? In contrast, what might be some of the
disadvantages when using the population health model?

6. Please read one of my favorite Chapters, Chapter 7 [Health and Behavior], please answer the
following discussion questions found at the end of the chapter:

Question #1: Briefly describe the effects of personal health behavior (e.g., tobacco use, risky
drinking, diet, and physical activity) on individual and population health status and health care costs in
the United States.

Question #2: How have health behavior change programs and interventions evolved over the
past 40 years?

Question #3: In order to achieve effective behavioral interventions, most physicians use clinical
practice guidelines that are based on the 5 A’s model. Briefly describe this model, using tobacco
cessation counseling as an example.

Question #5: With reference to McKinlay’s population-based intervention model, outline

possible coordinated downstream, midstream, and upstream strategies that can be used to achieve one
of the following: (a) curb binge drinking on a college campus, (b) increase smoking cessation, especially
among pregnant smokers enrolled in a Medicaid managed care plan, or (c) increase physical activity and
healthy eating among middle school students in an urban center. Be sure to mention the different
sectors that would need to be involved (e.g., public health, law enforcement, local business, school
officials, policymakers, community planning, transportation, health plan leaders/providers, and so on).

7. Please read Chapter 8, [Vulnerable Populations: Meeting the Health Needs of Populations Facing
Health Inequities]. Please answer Question 2: A wide array of medical and social services exists to help
meet the complex needs of vulnerable populations; however, the United States has been unable to curb
health care costs or improve health outcomes for this segment of the population. What are some of the
underlying problems with the current approach to services for vulnerable populations?

8. Please read Chapter 10, [Health Care Financing] Please answer Discussion Question 1 and 2:

Question 1: What complications does our current financing system cause for providers of care?

Question 2: What complications does our insurance system cause for individual consumers?
 Professor’s Question: Have you or a family member ever had a problem with their health
insurance or a medical bill? Have you interfaced (or witnessed) any questions about payment of medical
bills and coverage during any of your rotations?

9. Chapter 12, [High Quality Health Care] Please answer Discussion Questions 2 and 3 as follows:

Question 2: What is the range of factors beyond the patient–physician (or other clinician) dyad
that can affect quality of care for the patient?

Question 3: What are the most promising new developments likely to improve health care
quality?

UNIT 2

UNIT 2: Review TED TALKS/Suggested Articles and craft a short personal essay that reflects your
viewpoint on the health care topics discussed. Please answer all 4 (four) essays. You will be graded
based on your having viewed or read the suggested material and your hopefully interesting
observations. Is your own experience the same as what is being discussed at the national level or
different? NOTE: NO PENALTY FOR GOING OVER THE WORD LIMIT. ADDITIONALLY, 250 WORDS IS AN
ACCEPTABLE LENGTH. I AM LOOKING FOR YOUR VIEWPOINT. ☺

ESSAY #1: (250-350 words) Please write a personal essay on any topic of your choosing. It could
be an experience in PA school, a commentary on something you read during this course, an especially
poignant moment that you experienced with a patient, a cherished hope or dream you want to
accomplish in the next 10 years as it relates to healthcare. Please make your essay authentic, original
and in your “voice.” You do not need to worry about citations, or any other scholarly formalities. I am
interested in your observations

ESSAY #2 (250-350 words) Please read the TED MED article “How Perfectionism became a
hidden epidemic among young people” by Thomas Curran and Andrew P. Hill found at this link:
https://blog.tedmed.com/how-perfectionism-became-ahidden-epidemic-among-young-people/ Please
also view the TED MED talk by Thomas Curran, PhD, entitled “Our Dangerous Obsession with
Perfectionism is Getting Worse” found at https://www.tedmed.com/talks/show?id=731050. In the
article authors Curran and Hill write: In this new market-based society, young people are evaluated in a
host of new ways. Social media, school and university testing and job performance assessments mean
young people can be sifted, sorted and ranked by peers, teachers and employers. If young people rank
poorly, the logic of our market-based society dictates that they are less deserving – that their inferiority
reflects some personal weakness or flaw. Of course, people being “sifted and sorted and ranked” is not
confined to young people. Mid-career physicians battle negative patient satisfaction scores which
sometimes negatively impact their success (financial and otherwise) within the increasingly corporate
medical system. So the increasing metrics impacts everyone in society although the impact on young
people should be a societal focus. Please write a personal essay commenting on your perspective of the
article and the TED MED talk—either from your own life, someone close to you, or perhaps a patient you
encountered on rotation.

ESSAY #3: (250-350 words) Please view the TED TALK by journalist Jeanne Pinder, “What if all US
health care costs were transparent?” found at
https://www.ted.com/talks/jeanne_pinder_what_if_all_us_health_care_costs_were_transparent?
language=en noting that in the US the very same blood test can cost $19 at one clinic and $522 at
another clinic just blocks away—and nobody knows the difference until they get a bill weeks later.
Journalist Jeanne Pinder says it doesn’t have to be this way. She’s built a platform that crowdsources the
true costs of medical procedures and makes the data public, revealing the secrets of health care pricing.
Learn how knowing what stuff costs in advance could make us healthier, save us money—and help fix a
broken system. Then, write a brief essay (approximately 250-350) describing your thoughts on the issue
of price transparency in healthcare? Have you seen, during your practice or with your clinical rotations,
examples of patients overly concerned about price, simply because they honestly had no idea how what
they were facing medically would impact them financially?

ESSAY #4: (250-350 words) Please read the highlights found in the report by the US
Congress/Ways and Means Committee Staff entitled, “A Painful Pill to Swallow: US versus International
Prescription Drug Prices” found at
https://waysandmeans.house.gov/sites/democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/files/documents/U.S.
%20vs.%20Intern ational%20Prescription%20Drug%20Prices_0.pdf What are some of the reasons U.S.
drug prices are so high? Is there a difference between drug prices experienced by holders of private U.S.
insurance (usually provided through their employers) and drug prices paid experienced by U.S. Citizens
who are part of the Medicare program (through Part D the Prescription Drug Benefit.) How might these
high prices impact you as a provider? As a holder of private insurance? As someone who is the son or
daughter (or grandson or granddaughter) of a family member who uses Medicare as their primary
health insurance plan? NOTE: NO PENALTY FOR GOING OVER THE WORD LIMIT. ADDITIONALLY, 250
WORDS IS AN ACCEPTABLE LENGTH. I AM LOOKING FOR YOUR VIEWPOINT. ☺ -END OF HEALTH CARE
DELIVERY SYSTEMS ASSIGNMENTS-