Health Policy MS Course Requirements

 

List of MS Requirements:

  • Submission of Course Plan, approved by primary advisor and program director, by end of the Fall Quarter of the first year
  • Submission of Thesis Proposal, approved by primary advisor and program director, by end of the Spring Quarter of the first year
  • Successful completion of all course requirements, with 45 units of health-policy related coursework (minimum)
  • Successful completion of masters thesis, with approval of the student’s thesis committee

 

Health Policy MS Course Requirements

A total of 45 units are required for the MS degree in Health Policy. Transfer credit is not accepted.  

Students must maintain an overall 3.0 (B) grade average or higher in graded courses.

Seven courses are required of all students.  

Students must also choose a concentration: clinical decision-making, health policy, or implementation science, and must take the corresponding required course with each concentration.

Students are also required to take 12 research units and 6 elective units.

The M.S. program is typically completed in two years. The maximum length of study for the M.S. degree is three years.

Health Policy MS Thesis Requirements:

 

Nature of the Master's Thesis:  The completion of a master's thesis is an essential component of the MS program in Health Policy. The thesis allows students to apply methodologic principles to specific issues in health or medical care, and to demonstrate the following:

•    Familiarity with health care organization, financing, and policy issues

•    Awareness of technical, methodological, and other issues relevant to health services research

•    Comprehension of analysis techniques, their proper use, and limitations

•    Knowledge in a substantive area of health services

•    Ability to communicate scientific reasoning and argue analytically

Thesis proposal:  Each student will submit a 1-2 page thesis proposal by the end of the first year in the program. The proposal should describe the research project which will fulfill the requirement for the master’s thesis including identifying the research question and describing the data sources and methods which will be used. For collaborative projects, the student should identify the collaborators and describe in detail his or her role on the project. For projects using secondary data, the student should provide evidence that the data will be available for the proposed research and describe how he or she will access the data. In the proposal, the student should identify the members of the thesis committee.  The proposal must be approved by the primary advisor and the program director.

Thesis: The thesis typically has 30–50 pages of text, double-spaced, exclusive of tables, figures, and references. Each thesis must include a summary abstract of approximately 250 to 500 words. The thesis may take one of several forms, such as:

  • Original analysis of data, whether collected primarily for the thesis or as secondary data analysis
  • A decision model or cost-effectiveness analysis
  • A quantitative policy analysis

     

The quality of the master’s thesis should be such that it can be converted into a manuscript for publication.

Thesis Committee:  Each student will propose a thesis committee, to be approved by the Program Director, comprised of at least two faculty members associated with the Master's degree program, one of whom must be a core faculty member, and the second must be either core or affiliated faculty.  The chair of the thesis committee will be the student's primary faculty advisor, and a member of the core faculty.  All committee members must read and approve the final thesis.  Depending on the topic of the project, additional faculty members may serve as mentors either as a committee member or in a less formal arrangement.  Other faculty members may be added to the thesis to serve as "content experts" for projects concerned with specific diseases or medical treatments.

A draft of the thesis should be completed for review by the reading committee significantly before the appropriate quarter deadline (contact our Student Services Officer for specific dates).  The student should discuss the actual schedule with their committee faculty. Students should be prepared to submit a draft 8-10 weeks before the deadline to allow adequate time to revise the thesis. A “final version” of the thesis should be provided to the committee with enough time for them to sign and for the student to submit the thesis by the graduation quarter deadline.