Jones & Bartlett Learning Health Blog

By Sharon Buchbinder, RN, PhD
Author of Introduction to Health Care Management, 3rd Edition

Teaching online is convenient and access is fast. However, that same convenience and speed of access can also create unwanted conflicts that might not occur in a face to face classroom. This month, I am going to follow up on my November post about Diversity and Online Learning with some conflict scenarios that revolve around diversity. These are not for students, however, they are for faculty who teach online. I have categorized the conflicts by Student/Student, Student/Faculty, and the dreaded Group Project. Sample solutions are at the end.

by Sara Wilensky, JD, PhD
Co-author of Essentials of Health Policy and Law, 3rd Edition

With the passage of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) in the House on May 4, 2017, the health reform debate moved to the Senate.  The Senate completely scrapped the House bill and released its own version of health reform, the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BCRA).  Despite important differences, AHCA and BCRA followed roughly the same contours. Both bills reduced taxes, eliminated government mandates, lowered federal government spending, lowered premiums for some people while increasing them for others, phased out Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and ended Medicaid as an entitlement program. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the effect of the bills would be to increase the number of uninsured, reduce the deficit, lower costs for young and healthy consumers, and increase costs for older and poorer consumers.[1]^,[2] Unlike the House, however, the Senate could not muster enough Republican support to pass BCRA (or the Senate’s other two bills), stalling the health reform debate in Congress.  After a month of relative quiet, the Senate is trying again with its consideration of the Graham-Cassidy bill to repeal and replace the ACA.

By Suzet M. McKinney, DrPH, MPH

Author of the upcoming Pubic Health Emergency Preparedness: Practical Solutions for the Real World

It’s hard to believe that it has been over 10 years since Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast region, leaving damage and devastation that would take years to repair. I think it’s safe to say that Katrina was the most devastating storm ever seen here in the U.S.; a category 5 hurricane of epic proportions. The all too vivid images of entire neighborhoods underwater, desperate pleas for rescue scribbled across rooftops, and deceased bodies floating down the streets turned urban rivers, seemed more like a scene from a third world country, than a beloved, modern day American city.  At the time, not many of us thought we’d ever see anything like it again in our lifetimes. And now comes, Harvey.

By James A. Johnson, PhD, MPA, MSc
Author of Comparative Health Systems, 2^nd Edition

Students in the U.S. and in many other countries as well, too often have a limited view of health care and population health, many times failing to see beyond their own borders. This is especially so when we consider the myriad health systems that emerged in the widest range of cultures and social contexts imaginable. Each of the countries of the world has a responsibility to its citizens and residents to provide for health and well-being. Some take this responsibility seriously and others do not. Some have severe resource constraints and others do not. Given the diversity of socio-political circumstances and variations in culture and history, we now see many variations.

Excerpted from the Preface of Health Program Planning and Evaluation, 4th Edition,
by L. Michele Issel, PhD, RN, University of North Carolina College of Health and Human Services Department of Public Health, Charlotte, North Carolina

By Kristina M. Young, MS & Philip J. Kroth, MD, MS
Authors of Health Care USA, 9th Edition

Amidst all the rhetoric and bluster of the health care debate, public discourse suggests that many lawmakers and the American public have little understanding of the fundamental principles of how insurance actually works.  Regarding the ACA, calls to end its “individual mandate” because it infringes upon personal rights, suggestions to segregate people with pre-existing conditions into high-risk pools, and proposals to cap life-time health insurance benefits are only three examples of what seem to bespeak an enduring ignorance. In the face of all controversies, health insurance market principles remain grounded in insurers’ management of risk and how insurance works.

By Richard Skolnik, MPA
Author of Global Health 101

The quest for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is central to all efforts in global health. Indeed, all high-income countries, except the United States, have had a system of universal health coverage for some time and all low-and middle-income countries have at least a commitment in principle to achieving UHC as soon as possible.

In this context, it is important for those of us who teach global health to understand the concept of UHC, some of the key reference materials that deal with UHC, and some of the countries that we want our students to study to best understand the “quest for universal health coverage.”

by Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement

Excerpted from the Foreword of Quality Health Care: A Guide to Developing and Using Indicators, Second Edition, by Robert C. Lloyd. (Available Sept. 1, 2017)

In the now 30-year history of bringing modern quality methods into the control, improvement, and planning of health care, skeptics sometimes comment on the “religious” tone of that movement.  Leaders and others in the workforce who get the quality “bug,” seem to buzz with their enthusiasm.  They adopt phrases like “joy in work,” “pursuing perfection,” and a “never-ending journey,” and sprinkle their vocabulary with unfamiliar technical expressions, like “PDSA cycles,” “high reliability organizations,” and “statistical process control.”  And, they seem to think they are right, lamenting together that too many others so not see what they, at last, see.

By Sara Wilensky, JD, PhD
Co-author of Essentials of Health Policy and Law, 3rd Edition

In a political surprise (how many have there been?), the House of Representatives passed a modified version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) on May 4, 2017 by a vote of 217 to 213.  Every Democrat and 20 Republicans voted against the bill. Most of AHCA remained the same as described in a previous post.  While the original AHCA did not even make it to a vote, two amendments allowed the modified version to pass through the House with the support of the conservative Freedom Caucus as well as some moderate Republicans.

By Leiyu Shi, DrPH, MBA, MPA, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
& Douglas A. Singh, PhD, MBA, Indiana University at South Bend, School of Business and Economics
Authors, Delivering Health Care in America, 7th Edition (Available Oct. 13, 2017)

People in the United States, in particular, had just gotten a taste of a far-reaching health care reform with President Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act (ACA), nicknamed Obamacare. The law produced mixed results that are documented in this new edition.