Courses of Study 2023-2024

May 15, 2024

Courses of Study 2023-2024

Health Care Policy

Health Care Policy Major
Health Care Policy Honors Program
Health Policy Minor

Health Care Policy Major

The Health Care Policy (HCP) major is offered within the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, and merges curriculum from both the social and natural sciences. HCP builds on the research strengths of the Brooks faculty, who use the theories and methods from economics, sociology, political science and demography to study the effects of government policies on individuals and families, public health, education, crime, product markets, financial markets, and a wide variety of other social impacts. The research tools learned and used—robust theory, rigorous empirical quantitative skills, and practical applications to real-world policy issues—are highly sought after by the best in the healthcare industry and government.

The HCP major prepares students for leadership roles in health policy. Some of these leadership roles require a strong foundation in the natural sciences, which is available through the major. In addition, graduates will be prepared for careers that combine clinical health care with involvement in the broader health care system and public policy.

HCP will provide students in-depth training in the analysis of health care and public policies that affect health, access to medical care, and medical spending. Students will learn to integrate analytical thinking and data analysis skills. HCP majors employ theories and methods from economics and demography to analyze health care and policy. Students will learn to apply theories designed to explain the development of government policies addressing health care and how the private health care system interacts with the public sector to affect health, access, and costs. The HCP requirements provide all students with a strong foundation in natural sciences while allowing flexibility in course selection to pursue either: a non-premedical track; or a premedical track that meets the course requirements for admission to medical school and other health professional graduate programs.

Brooks Honors Program

Health Care Policy majors are eligible for the Brooks Honors Program, which gives official recognition to students who have demonstrated excellence in their academic work and their capacity for independent research. In addition to fulfilling the requirements for the major, students in the honors program will participate in an honors seminar and prepare an empirically-based honors thesis. Honors students work with a research mentor in preparing for their thesis. Upon successful completion of the HCP honors program, students will receive a B.S. degree with honors in Health Care Policy. Interested students should obtain an Honors Program application form in the Brooks Undergraduate Office (2301 MVR). For questions, contact BrooksUGProgram@cornell.edu.

Eligibility:

Students must maintain a 3.3 GPA to be admitted into and complete the honors program. Students whose GPA drops below 3.3 will be dropped from the Honors Program.
To start the program, students may not have any outstanding incomplete (INC) grades on their record.
PUBPOL 3120 - Research Design, Practice, and Policy must be completed before starting the program.

Honors Program Requirements:

Complete a minimum of 6 credits of PUBPOL 4990 - Honors Program , under supervision of a Brooks School faculty mentor, with a grade of B or higher
Complete PUBPOL 4980 - Honors Seminar
Complete a basic and advanced statistical software training series as approved by faculty mentor
Attend four professional research seminars during senior year.
Present a poster of research during final semester in honors program
Defend thesis to a committee of faculty

Health Policy Minor

The program offers a 15-credit minor in Health Policy for Cornell undergraduates outside of the PAM and HCP majors. Health policy minors apply concepts from sociology, demography, and economics to provide a focused analysis of policy issues in the healthcare industry. Health Policy minors complete PUBPOL 2350 - The U.S. Health Care System (3 credits), 9 credits of upper level health policy coursework from the list below, and additional PAM course electives to reach a minimum of 15 credits of policy coursework.

Upper level Health Policy Coursework:

PUBPOL 3110 - Pharmaceutical Management and Policy
PUBPOL 3180 - [Health Disparities]
PUBPOL 3280 - Fundamentals of Population Health
PUBPOL 3780 - [Sick Around the World? Comparing Health Care Systems Around the World]
PUBPOL 3870 - [Economic Evaluations in Health Care]
PUBPOL 4110 - [Pollution, Climate Change, and Health]
PUBPOL 4280 - The Economics of Risky Health Behaviors
PUBPOL 5500 - Introduction to Senior Living and Related Programs
PUBPOL 5740 - Short Course in Fundamentals of Health Facility Planning for Managers
PUBPOL 5900 - Special Topics in Health Administration and Finance

Minor Policies:

There can be no substitution for any of the required courses.
Students must enroll in the PAM section of the course. Cross-listed sections are NOT applicable.
Students must earn a grade of B- or better in every course. S/U will not be accepted unless it is the only grade option available.
PAM Special studies courses (PAM 4000, PAM 4010, PAM 4020, PAM 4030) do NOT count towards the Health Policy minor

Health Care Policy Major

Health Care Policy Major

The requirements listed below pertain to all students matriculating in August 2023 and January 2024.

HCP Introduction to Public Policy

Introduction to Public Policy (4 credits)

PUBPOL 2300 - Introduction to Policy Analysis

PUBPOL 2301 - Introduction to Public Policy

HCP Public Policy Required Courses

Public Policy Required Courses (15 credits)
Take the following:

PUBPOL 1111 - Building Success at Brooks

PUBPOL 2101 - Statistics for Public Policy

PUBPOL 2350 - The U.S. Health Care System

PUBPOL 2370 - Race, Racism, and Public Policy

PUBPOL 3100 - Multiple Regression Analysis

HCP Demography Coursework

Demography Coursework (3-4 credits)
Choose one from the following:
PUBPOL 2030 - Population and Public Policy
PUBPOL 3280 - Fundamentals of Population Health

HCP Public Policy Concentration Courses

Public Policy Concentration Courses (18 credits)
Students must take a minimum of 18 credits of 3000-level or above PUBPOL courses in addition to areas 1-3 above. 12-15 of these credits must be Health Care and Health Policy Courses, and 3-6 of these credits must be Social Policy Courses.
Health Care and Health Policy (12-15 credits)
PUBPOL 3110 - Pharmaceutical Management and Policy
* PUBPOL 3180 - [Health Disparities]

PUBPOL 3251 - [Health Equity, Politics and Policy]

PUBPOL 3230 - [Public Policy for an Aging Society]
PUBPOL 3300 - [Cost-Benefit Analysis]

PUBPOL 3720 - Addiction Medicine Practice and Policy
* PUBPOL 3780 - [Sick Around the World? Comparing Health Care Systems Around the World]
PUBPOL 3870 - [Economic Evaluations in Health Care]
PUBPOL 4110 - [Pollution, Climate Change, and Health]
PAM 4140 - [Global Health Economics and Policy]

PAM 4230 - Gender and Health: Concepts, Data, Theories and Evidence
PUBPOL 4280 - The Economics of Risky Health Behaviors
PUBPOL 4370 - The Economics of Health Care Markets
PUBPOL 5641 - Data Analytics for Healthcare Administrators

PUBPOL 5660 - Strategic Management and Organizational Design of Health Care Systems
PUBPOL 5670 - Health Policy
PUBPOL 5740 - Short Course in Fundamentals of Health Facility Planning for Managers
PAM 5760 - Long-Term Care and Lifestyle Alternatives for the Older Adult
PUBPOL 5900 - Special Topics in Health Administration and Finance

*PAM 3180 and PAM 3870 can only count for one or the other Health Care and Health Policy OR Upper-level focus coursework.

Social Policy (3-6 credits)
PUBPOL 3040 - [Immigration and Public Policy]

PUBPOL 3041 - U.S. Immigration Law and Policy

PUBPOL 3071 - Enduring Global and American Issues
PUBPOL 3130 - Behavioral Economics and Public Policy
PUBPOL 3160 - [Labor Markets and Public Policy]

PUBPOL 3172 - Environmental Justice and Policy

PUBPOL 3200 - International Human Rights
PUBPOL 3250 - Neighborhoods, Housing, and Urban Policy

PUBPOL 3300 - [Cost-Benefit Analysis]
PUBPOL 3301 - [Intermediate Policy Analysis]
PUBPOL 3360 - Evolving Families: Challenges to Public Policy
PUBPOL 3370 - [Race and Public Policy]
PUBPOL 3410 - Economics of Consumer Protection and the Law

PUBPOL 3583 - Comparative Public Policy: Political Pathways to Equality

PUBPOL 3730 - Comparative Environmental Policy
PUBPOL 4080 - [Demographic Techniques]

PUBPOL 4160 - [The Ethnography of Poverty and Inequality]

PAM 4230 - Gender and Health: Concepts, Data, Theories and Evidence *

PUBPOL 4950 - Engaged Learning Capstone

PUBPOL 4960 - State Policy and Advocacy Clinic I

*PAM 4230 cannot count for both concentration areas, only one or the other.

HCP Additional PUBPOL Electives

Additional PUBPOL Electives (3 credits)
Any 3 additional PUBPOL credits (except PAM 4030)
(E.g. PUBPOL 2040 - Economics of the Public Sector , PUBPOL 2300 - Introduction to Policy Analysis , and PAM 3240 - Risk Management and Policy )

First Year Writing Seminars

First Year Writing Seminars (6 credits)

Note: The 2 required first year writing seminar courses must be completed during the first two semesters at Cornell.

HCP Introductory Economics

Introductory Microeconomics (3 credits)

ECON 1110 - Introductory Microeconomics

HCP Intermediate Microeconomics

HCP Intermediate Microeconomics (4 credits)

Choose one of the following:

PUBPOL 2000 - Intermediate Microeconomics

ECON 3030 - Intermediate Microeconomic Theory

HCP Introduction to Sociology

Introduction to Sociology (3 credits)

This fulfills the college distribution social sciences requirement.

Choose one of the following:
PUBPOL 2250 - Social Problems in the United States
SOC 1101 - Introduction to Sociology
DSOC 1101 - Introduction to Sociology
Note: PAM 2250 cannot count for both the Introduction to Sociology requirement AND the Additional PAM Electives requirement.

HCP Mathematics

Mathematics (3-4 credits)

This fulfills the college distribution quantitative and analytical courses requirement.

Either of the following:
Score of 4 or 5 on AP Calculus BC exam OR
Any 3 credit Cornell math course except MATH 1101 and MATH 1710
Note: If this requirement is not satisfied with AP Calculus BC then the MATH course must be taken at Cornell.
Note: AP Calculus AB credit (a score of 4 or 5) may be applied as elective credits, but does not fulfill this requirement.

HCP Biology Lecture

Biology Lecture (6-8 credits)
Choose two of the following:
BIOMG 1350 - Introductory Biology: Cell and Developmental Biology
BIOG 1440 - Introductory Biology: Comparative Physiology OR BIOG 1445 - Introduction to Comparative Anatomy and Physiology, Individualized Instruction (autotutorial)
BIOEE 1610 - Introductory Biology: Ecology and the Environment OR BIOEE 1780 - An Introduction to Evolutionary Biology and Diversity

HCP Biology Lab

Biology Lab (2 credits)
BIOG 1500 - Investigative Biology Laboratory

HCP Introductory Chemistry and Upper-level focus coursework

Introductory Chemistry (3-8 credits)

Students must take a minimum of 17 credits of Focus Area Concentration courses. 3-8 credits of Introductory Chemistry, and 9-14 credits of Upper-level Focus Coursework.

Introductory Chemistry

CHEM 2070 - General Chemistry I
CHEM 2080 - General Chemistry II

Upper-level Focus Coursework

ECON 3910 - Health, Poverty, and Inequality: A Global Perspective

INFO 4130 - [Health and Computation]

PUBPOL 2040 - Economics of the Public Sector

PUBPOL 3251 - [Health Equity, Politics and Policy]

PUBPOL 3300 - [Cost-Benefit Analysis]

PUBPOL 4370 - The Economics of Health Care Markets

PUBPOL 5640 - Data Analytics in Health Care

HCP Upper-level focus coursework

Upper-level focus coursework (9-12 credits)

Choose from the following. Must take both courses in sequences if you choose to take one (CHEM 3570 & CHEM 3580, BIOMG 3310 & BIOMG 3320, BIOMG 3310 & BIOMI 2900).
CHEM 1570 - Introduction to Organic and Biological Chemistry
CHEM 3530 - [Principles of Organic Chemistry]
CHEM 3570 - Organic Chemistry for the Life Sciences  - CHEM 3580 - Organic Chemistry for the Life Sciences
NS 3200 - Introduction to Human Biochemistry
BIOMG 3300 - Principles of Biochemistry, Individualized Instruction  (auto-tutorial)
BIOMG 3310 - Principles of Biochemistry: Proteins and Metabolism  and BIOMG 3320 - Principles of Biochemistry: Molecular Biology
BIOMG 3310 - Principles of Biochemistry: Proteins and Metabolism  and BIOMI 2900 - General Microbiology Lectures
BIOMG 3300 - Principles of Biochemistry, Individualized Instruction
BIOMG 3350 - Principles of Biochemistry: Proteins, Metabolism, and Molecular Biology
PUBPOL 3120 - Research Design, Practice, and Policy
PUBPOL 3180 - [Health Disparities]
PUBPOL 3870 - [Economic Evaluations in Health Care]
PUBPOL 4101 - Causal Reasoning and Policy Evaluation I
*PAM 3180 and PAM 3870 can only count for one or the other Health Care and Health Policy OR Upper-level focus coursework.

HCP Ethics

Ethics (3 credits)

This fulfills the college distribution humanities requirement.

Choose one of the following options:
BSOC 2051 - Ethical Issues in Health and Medicine (also STS 2051 )

COMM 4350 - Communicating Leadership and Ethics
PHIL 1450 - Contemporary Moral Issues

PHIL 2410 - [Ethics]
PHIL 2455 - Introduction to Bioethics

HCP Additional Distribution Coursework

Additional Distribution Coursework (10-12 credits)
Any course with the Course Distribution PBS, BIOLS-AG, BIONLS-AG, SBA, KCM, MQR, LA, CA, or HA. Language courses may count here.

HCP Electives

Electives (Variable)

Any courses that are not taken areas above count as Electives.

HCP Physical Education Requirement

Physical Education Requirement (2 courses)

Physical Education must be completed in order to graduate. However, physical education does not count toward college and university minimum credit requirements for full-time status, nor does it count towards the 120 credits required for graduation.

HCP Swim Test Requirement

Swim Test Requirement

A successful swim test must be completed in order to graduate.