Professional Research Project Reports
2009 to Present
Extending Medicare to Mexico: Impact on Mexican-Born Beneficiaries, 2009, Directed by David Warner
Prior to 2009
Medicare in Mexico: Innovating for Fairness and Cost Savings by the Policy Research project on Medicare in Mexico, 2007, directed by David Warner
Cross-Border Health Insurance: Options for Texas by the Policy Research Project on Cross-Border Health Insurance, 2004, directed by David Warner and Pablo Schneider.
Health and Social Policy Course Offerings
In addition to the PRPs, courses focused on critical areas of health, social and economic policy enable students to shape their academic experiences to match their strengths and interests, while also benefitting from considerable faculty expertise in these areas. Among courses offered currently are:
Politics and processGender, Health and Society (Jacqueline Angel)
This course examines the gender dimensions of health, illness, and the medical care industry in the US, exploring how individuals and institutions initiate and/or give legitimacy to public policy and examining the social institutions that shape men and womens health and health care. Students will consider the role of local, state and federal agencies in health policy formulation and implementation, the politics of the medicalization of women's issues and the role of women as major actors in changing the health care system
Policy Development: Challenges and Opportunities (Angela Evans)
Students will focus on the nature of public policy problems, examining the unique roles that Congress, the President, the Executive Branch and the Supreme Court play in the creation and oversight of public policy. Students will examine selected public policy problems with roots in contemporary society; identify the nature of these problems; analyze the attendant challenges these problems create for the future well-being of our Nation; explore ways the problems have been addressed; analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the solutions offered thus far; develop new options for addressing these problems in the future; and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of these options.
Health Care Finance (David Warner)
A core option for students in the social and economic policy specialization program, this advanced policy economics course is designed to provide an understanding of the evolving health care system and tools for understanding health care finance and cost effectiveness analysis. Students will examine provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the fiscal, legal and political pressures that have impacted its implementation, while also gaining appreciation for the evolving roles of physicians, hospitals and other providers in the health care system. Immigrant & Migrant Health Services in the U.S. & Abroad (David Warner) Participants will examine the roles of Community Health Clinics, volunteer and charity clinics, public hospitals and Medicaid and Medicare programs in providing health services to immigrants to the US. The class also will examine the health services provided in the immigrants home countries, particularly Mexico, and how such services and entitlements work in other countries. Other issues to explore are Workers Compensation, medical deportations, and existing arrangements to provide continuity of care when immigrants return to their native country.
Juvenile Justice Policy (Michele Deitch)
Nationally and in Texas, policymakers are reshaping the administrative structures created to handle juvenile offenders, moving toward local incarceration and improved prevention and rehabilitative services. Texas is the perfect laboratory for studying these reform efforts and shifting juvenile justice policies and operations. Students will conduct applied research projects on behalf of system stakeholders to inform current policy debates about the direction of the juvenile justice reform effort in the state and to provide guidance to policymakers, agency officials, and advocates.
School-to-Prison Pipeline (Michele Deitch and Lynda Frost)
A variety of educational, juvenile justice, and criminal justice policies influence the number of children and youth who end up in secure correctional settings. Students will analyze policies and practices in elementary, middle, and high school that impact the success of youth especially children of color and children with behavioral health challenges in educational and disciplinary placements. Students also will examine those aspects of the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems that intersect with the educational system and create a so-called pipeline for these youth to enter the criminal justice system. This course will be co-taught with Dr. Lynda Frost, Director of Planning and Programs, Hogg Foundation for Mental Health.
Public Program Evaluation (Carolyn Heinrich)
This course focuses on the design and implementation of social program evaluations and the cutting-edge methods used to evaluate impacts of established programs or policies. Demand for program evaluation has grown exponentially as our capacities for data collection and storage have expanded and tools for evaluation have advanced. The estimation of a policy or programs impactbased on observation and measurement of the program over time, the careful construction of a counterfactual state (what would have happened in the absence of the program), and hypothesis testing and estimation using experimental or nonexperimental methodsis often a challenging process if done well. It is a goal of this course to expose students to state of the art methods in program evaluation and to provide them with an understanding of when and how they can be most usefully applied to produce knowledge and evidence of program effectiveness to guide program and policy decisionmaking.
Global Inequities and Health (Jacqueline Angel)
This course provides an overview of the physical and mental health of human populations, paying particular attention to health care delivery systems around the world.
See a comprehensive list of courses and PRPs for multiple semesters >>
