Innovations in Health Care Policy: U.S.

The United States is facing an array of public health crises including opioid use, youth mental health challenges, maternal health disparities, and rising rates of obesity. Health care policies—the laws and regulations that govern the health care system—play a critical role in addressing these crises. The goal of this course is to strengthen students’ skills in identifying and evaluating innovative health care policy options to address major public health and health system issues. In Spring 2026, we will focus on the U.S. maternal health crisis—marked by rising maternal mortality and persistent racial inequities—as a grounding case study. While maternal health will be the primary focus, students will gain a deeper understanding of key measures of health system performance and the main health policy “control knobs” (i.e. financing, payment, organization, regulation and behavior) that can be leveraged to reform the US health care system more broadly. This seminar-style course will incorporate didactic learning, engaged classroom discussion, and both individual and team-based work. As a culminating project, students will work in small teams to analyze the features of the maternal health crisis in specific jurisdictions, propose innovative and tailored policy solutions, and engage in constructive peer critique. Ultimately, students will leave the course equipped with a practical set of tools for proposing and evaluating policy options in response to contemporary public health and health systems challenges.