The Department of Health Policy and Management, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, offers a new program of instruction leading to the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in Health Systems Research. The program provides students with the theoretical and methodological foundations necessary to conduct creative and independent research on health systems, with the ultimate goal of discovering new pathways to improve the organization, financing, and delivery of health services.

Curriculum Overview

The full-time curriculum involves intensive and focused study in the theoretical perspectives and methodological strategies relevant to health services research—including issues of quality, accessibility, cost, and equity within systems of care. Students will develop scholarly expertise in these areas of study, advanced skills in quantitative research methods, confidence in their teaching, and a high standard of scientific integrity and professionalism. The program currently allows students to select one of two possible disciplinary areas in which to pursue concentrated study: (1) health economics research; or (2) quality and health outcomes research.

Program Faculty

The Department has 15 full-time, primary faculty members and more than 50 additional faculty members who have primary appointments in other academic units within UAMS, including pediatrics, psychiatry, geriatrics, internal medicine, and pharmacy. Areas of expertise of the program faculty include: public and private health insurance, access to care and safety-net health care systems, health disparities and minority health, health care financing, decision analysis, long-term care, maternal and child health, aging, rural health care, quality measurement, community-based participatory research, nutrition policy, and health law.

Admission Requirements

Applicants must have received a relevant graduate degree (e.g. M.S., M.H.S.A., M.P.H., M.P.A., M.B.A., M.D., J.D.) prior to entry into the program, along with relevant experience in health policy or health services. Additionally, applicants must receive a combined score of at least 1200 on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) taken within five years immediately before the requested semester of admission. Scores on other graduate tests may be considered.
 

Application

Applications for Fall admission are due each year by February 1 for earliest consideration. For application materials, contact the UAMS Graduate School at 501.686.5454 or visit their website at http://www.uams.edu/gradschool/

Program Director: Ty Borders, Ph.D., phone 501.526.6633

CURRICULUM OUTLINE 

Prerequisites (or Equivalents)

Introduction to Epidemiology (3 hours)

Biostatistics I (3 hours)

HSRE 9703 Introduction to Health Economics (3 hours)

HSRE 5313 Application of Microcomputers to Data Management & Analysis (3 hours)

HSR Theory and Applications (12 hours)

HSRE 9103 Health System Theory and Research Seminar I & II (6 hours)

HSRE 9613 Advanced Methods for Quality and Health Outcomes Research (3 hours)

HSRE 9113 Advanced Health Policy and Management (3 hours)

Journal Club (0 hours each semester until pass comps)

Statistical Methodology (9 hours)

HSRE 9313 Advanced Methods for Health Services Research (3 hours)

HSRE 9323 Advanced Econometric Methods and Special Topics (3 hours)    

OR

PHSC 5383 Applied Health Economics (3 hours)

BIOM xxx:  Longitudinal data analysis (3 hours)

BIOM 5033 Analyzing Health Surveys (3 hours)

Study Design and Research Methodology  (12 hours)

HSRE 9653 Implementation Research in Clinical Practice Settings (3 hours) 

Choose 9 hours from the following:

HSRE 9303 (PHSC 5343) Applied Research Methods using Retrospective Data Sources (3 hours)

HSRE 9333 Survey Research Methods (3 hours)

NUSC 6233 Qualitative Methodology in Nursing Research (3 hours)NUSC 6283 Qualitative Data Analysis Theory and Practicum (3 hours)

Scholarship Skills (4 hours)

HSRE 9503 (PBHL 9123) Grantsmanship and the Peer Review Process (3 hours)

HSRE 9013 Instructional Methods and Teaching Practicum (1 hour)

Directed Research (6 hours)

HSRE 980V Directed research with faculty

Disciplinary Concentration (9 hours)

Quality and Health Outcomes Research

Choose 9 hours from the following:

PHSC 5393 Patient-reported Outcomes Measurement (3 hours)

HSRE 9643 Advanced Methods in Health Disparities Research (3 hours)

HSRE 9623 Performance Measurement, Reporting, and Incentives (3 hours)

BIOM 5183 (PBHL 5373): Epidemiology II Research Design and Implementation (3 hours)

Health Economics

HSRE 9723 Advanced Health Economics I: Demand for Health Services (3 hours)

HSRE 9733 Advanced Health Economics II: Supply of Health Services (3 hours)

HSRE 9743 (PHSC 5353): Pharmacoeconomics and Health Care Technology Assessment

Dissertation Research (18 hours minimum)

HSRE 990V Doctoral Dissertation Research (18 hours total)

Dissertation Guidelines

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