Syllabus for HCM-501

ORGANIZATION OF THE HEALTHCARE VALUE CHAIN


COURSE DESCRIPTION

Students identify and describe components of the system, including patients, healthcare professionals, public and private third-party payers, regulators, reimbursement methods, and information technology. The course establishes the roles of patients, physicians, hospitals, insurers, and pharmaceutical companies through the lens of the healthcare value chain. The interaction between the government and these different groups are covered using the most contemporary healthcare legislation as the backdrop.

COURSE TOPICS

COURSE OBJECTIVES

After completing this course, students should be able to:

CO 1        Examine the major participants in the U.S. healthcare system, including both their synergistic and divergent incentives.

CO 2        Analyze the major problems confronting the U.S. healthcare system using the iron triangle of healthcare (access, quality, cost) as a focal point.

CO 3        Evaluate the impact of legislation and subsequent regulations on each U.S. healthcare segment.

CO 4        Synthesize information about the expected impact of the most recent healthcare legislation.

CO 5        Compare and contrast technology utilization among the major segments of U.S. healthcare.

COURSE MATERIALS

You will need the following materials to do the work of the course. The required textbook is available from the University’s textbook supplier, MBS Direct.

Required Textbook

ISBN: 978-0787960216

Additional Materials

Optional Text (used in HCM-500)

ISBN-13: 978-1284124491

COURSE STRUCTURE

Organization of the Healthcare Value Chain is a three-credit, 8-week online course consisting of four modules. The course includes four discussion forums, four written assignments, a synchronous event involving a team presentation (including an ungraded but required outline), and a final paper. Modules include an overview, topics, learning objectives, study materials, and activities. Module titles are listed below.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

For your formal work in the course, you are required to participate in online discussion forums and  complete written assignments, a team presentation and part of a synchronous event, and a final paper. See below for details.

Consult the Course Calendar for due dates.

Promoting Originality

One or more of your course activities may utilize a tool designed to promote original work and evaluate your submissions for plagiarism. More information about this tool is available in About SafeAssign.

Discussion Forums

This course requires you to participate in four graded discussion forums. There is also one ungraded but required Introductions Forum in Module 1.

You should follow the guidelines for discussion forums below.

  1. You are to work to make these as much like an in-class discussion as possible in our online environment.

  1. Make your initial posting before you read what others have posted and make your initial posting early.

  1. Your comments on the postings of others should be substantive and should move the discussion forward. Comments like “great post” or “I agree” do neither. Your comments should do things like ask or answer questions or provide additional information or examples.

  1. Do be positive. Feel free to disagree with each other but not disagreeably.

  1. Don’t feel you must have the absolutely correct answer before you can comment. Your job is to be a learner and you are not expected to be an expert.

  1. Please proofread before posting.

Written Assignments

You are required to complete four written assignments. The written assignments are on a variety of topics associated with the course modules.

Synchronous Event

You are required to participate in a synchronous event during Week 8 of the semester. You will conduct a team presentation on current proposals for decreasing the cost of prescription drugs and the potential effects of these proposals on all sectors of the HCVC. The synchronous event will be held in Edison Live! our virtual meeting space. To access the event, click the Collaboration Space link in the Edison Live! section of the course site a few minutes before the designated time. Use the following link for directions and helpful videos about how to use the Edison Live! tool in Moodle. Please review the whole document, but pay particular attention to the section “Transferring Presenter Tools Between Users,” as you will need to use this feature for your team presentation. Your mentor will work with the class to propose a time that works best and accommodates the majority. See the Module 4 section of the course website for further details.

Prior to your group presentation, you will submit a group presentation outline. The presentation outline is not graded but is required.

Final Project

For the Final Project, you will write a 2,000- to 2,750-word paper (8 to 10 pages) exploring the current state of the HCVC, focusing on how increased use of technology has impacted each sector of the U.S. healthcare system. You will consider the benefits and the unintended consequences of current technology trends and summarize how current federal healthcare law and proposed changes will impact (both positively and negatively) each sector. You will relate your findings to the competitive healthcare environment with suggestions to develop and execute healthcare strategy.

GRADING AND EVALUATION

Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:

All activities will receive a numerical grade of 0–100. You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. Your final grade in the course will be a letter grade. Letter grade equivalents for numerical grades are as follows:

A

=

93–100

B

=

83–87

A–

=

90–92

C

=

73–82

B+

=

88–89

F

=

Below 73

To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of C or higher on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., assignments, discussion postings, projects, etc.). Graduate students must maintain a B average overall to remain in good academic standing.

Lateness Policy

The University's late assignment policy states that written assignments should be submitted no later than the due date unless prior arrangements are made with the mentor and a new due date is established. If you submit an assignment after the due date without having made arrangements with the mentor, a minimum of 5 points (based on an assignment grading scale of 100 points) or 5 percent of the total points will be deducted for each week, or part thereof, that the assignment is late. To receive credit for discussion forum assignments, you must actively participate during the assigned discussion period. Also, unless you have registered for an extension, assignments submitted after the semester ends (or after the extension date expires) will be returned to you ungraded.

Active duty military students in receipt of Temporary Additional Duty orders (TDY) may be exempted from point deductions if their orders prescribe a return-to-class date that allows for sufficient time to complete the remaining course requirements, which is generally defined as allowing the student to miss no more than 1/3 of the total semester.

 

Military students with TDY orders shall follow the procedures, found on the OMVE website to establish new due dates without penalty for written assignments and discussion boards.

STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS

First Steps to Success

To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:

Study Tips

Consider the following study tips for success:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Thomas Edison State University is committed to maintaining academic quality, excellence, and honesty. The University expects all members of its community to share the commitment to academic integrity, an essential component of a quality academic experience.

Students at Thomas Edison State University are expected to exhibit the highest level of academic citizenship. In particular, students are expected to read and follow all policies, procedures, and program information guidelines contained in publications; pursue their learning goals with honesty and integrity; demonstrate that they are progressing satisfactorily and in a timely fashion by meeting course deadlines and following outlined procedures; observe a code of mutual respect in dealing with mentors, staff, and other students; behave in a manner consistent with the standards and codes of the profession in which they are practicing; keep official records updated regarding changes in name, address, telephone number, or e-mail address; and meet financial obligations in a timely manner. Students not practicing good academic citizenship may be subject to disciplinary action including suspension, dismissal, or financial holds on records.

All members of the University community are responsible for reviewing the Academic Code of Conduct Policy in the University Catalog and online at Thomas Edison State University.

Academic Dishonesty

Thomas Edison State University expects all of its students to approach their education with academic integrity—the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception. All mentors and administrative staff members at the University insist on strict standards of academic honesty in all courses. Academic dishonesty undermines this objective. Academic dishonesty can take the following forms:

Plagiarism

Thomas Edison State University is committed to helping students understand the seriousness of plagiarism, which is defined as using the work and ideas of others without proper citation. The University takes a strong stance against plagiarism, and students found to be plagiarizing are subject to discipline under the academic code of conduct policy.

If you copy phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or whole documents word-for-word—or if you paraphrase by changing a word here and there—without identifying the author, or without identifying it as a direct quote, then you are plagiarizing. Please keep in mind that this type of identification applies to Internet sources as well as to print-based sources. Copying and pasting from the Internet, without using quotation marks and without acknowledging sources, constitutes plagiarism. (For information about how to cite Internet sources, see Online Student Handbook > Academic Standards > “Citing Sources.”)

Accidentally copying the words and ideas of another writer does not excuse the charge of plagiarism. It is easy to jot down notes and ideas from many sources and then write your own paper without knowing which words are your own and which are someone else’s. It is more difficult to keep track of each and every source. However, the conscientious writer who wishes to avoid plagiarizing never fails to keep careful track of sources.

Always be aware that if you write without acknowledging the sources of your ideas, you run the risk of being charged with plagiarism.

Clearly, plagiarism, no matter the degree of intent to deceive, defeats the purpose of education. If you plagiarize deliberately, you are not educating yourself, and you are wasting your time on courses meant to improve your skills. If you plagiarize through carelessness, you are deceiving yourself.

For examples of unintentional plagiarism, advice on when to quote and when to paraphrase, and information about writing assistance, click the links provided below.

Examples of Unintentional Plagiarism

When to Quote and When to Paraphrase

Writing Assistance at Smarthinking

Disciplinary Process for Plagiarism

Acts of both intentional and unintentional plagiarism violate the Academic Code of Conduct.

If an incident of plagiarism is an isolated minor oversight or an obvious result of ignorance of proper citation requirements, the mentor may handle the matter as a learning exercise. Appropriate consequences may include the completion of tutorials, assignment rewrites, or any other reasonable learning tool in addition to a lower grade for the assignment or course. The mentor will notify the student and appropriate dean of the consequence by e-mail.

If the plagiarism appears intentional and/or is more than an isolated incident, the mentor will refer the matter to the appropriate dean, who will gather information about the violation(s) from the mentor and student, as necessary. The dean will review the matter and notify the student in writing of the specifics of the charge and the sanction to be imposed.

Possible sanctions include:

Copyright © 2019 by Thomas Edison State University. All rights reserved.