HPL Student Course Plans
The degree can be completed in one year on a full-time basis or two years on a part-time basis. The HPL is a 24-unit online degree consisting of all required coursework. HPL students are required to propose and execute a capstone project as part of the degree program. Students receive individualized support and mentorship from HPL faculty in meeting this requirement.
HPL Full Time Student Course Plan:
Students who enroll in the program full-time will follow the below course plan and graduate in one academic year (2 semesters).
| Fall 2025 | Spring 2026 |
|---|---|
| Orientation (August) – In person participation required | Health Economics (3 units) |
| HPL Research & Writing (3 units) | Health Law: Institution, Providers, & Patients (4 units) |
| How to Evaluate Policy-Relevant Research (2 units) | Health Care Leadership & Advocacy (2 units) |
| Intro to US Health Policymaking Process (2 units) | Capstone Execution (3 units) |
| US Health Care Systems & the Law (4 units) | Final Convening & Graduation (May) – In person participation required |
| Capstone Proposal (1 unit) | |
| Midyear Convening (December) – In person participation required |
HPL Part Time Student Course Plan:
Students who enroll in the program part-time will follow the below course plan and graduate in two academic years (4 semesters).
| Fall 2025 | Spring 2026 | Fall 2026 | Spring 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orientation (August) – In person participation required | Health Economics (3 units) | How to Evaluate Policy-Relevant Research (2 units) | Health Care Leadership & Advocacy (2 units) |
| HPL Research & Writing (3 units) | Health Law: Institutions, Providers, & Patients (4 units) | Intro to US Health Policymaking Process (2 units) | Capstone Execution (3 units) |
| US Health Care Systems & the Law (4 units) | Capstone Proposal (1 unit) | Final Convening & Graduation (May) – In person participation required | |
| Midyear Convening (Dec) – In person participation required | Midyear Convening (Dec) – In person participation required |
Course Descriptions and Learning Goals
Legal Research and Writing
Students will learn how to research the law using a variety of legal research tools, as well as to effectively communicate findings and analyses in writing. After completing this course, students will be able to: 1) develop and implement strategies for researching legal issues, 2) identify and locate the major legal authorities as they relate to a particular research topic, 3) evaluate and effectively use subscription online legal research databases, including Lexis Advance and Westlaw, 4) evaluate and effectively use reliable free online alternatives to fee-based legal research databases, and 5) effectively communicate findings and analysis in writing.
U.S. Health Care System and the Law
This course examines the cost, financing and regulation of the American health care industry, barriers to access to health care and bioethics. Specific issues include private health insurance (including federal and state regulation of employer-provided health insurance); public health insurance (including Medicare, Medicaid and other government-financed health programs); the structure of the health care industry; the impact of the Affordable Care Act and health reform; new business forms employed by health care enterprises and integration of healthcare delivery; tax-exempt status of health care enterprises; antitrust; fraud and abuse; the legal obligation to provide care; hospital privileging and peer review; and ethical questions related to health care.
Introduction to the U.S. Policymaking Process
Students will gain an overview of health policy history and issues, as well as contemporary challenges and opportunities at federal, state and local government levels. Students will review basic concepts and principles related to policy-making and the policy process. Through a transdisciplinary approach, develop major themes that incorporate insights from sociological, political, economic and legal-ethical perspectives on the behaviors and motivations of stakeholders, including policy-makers, payers, providers and patients. Strategies for changing laws and policies are presented in the broader context of sociological theories of organizational behavior and policy implementation. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) serves as a policy case study throughout the course.
How to Evaluate Policy Relevant Research
This course provides an overview of research methods used in health policy analysis, including empirical methods as well as principles of legal research and writing that inform health law. Emphasis is placed on understanding the value and limitations of different research designs and approaches to draw conclusions about policy-relevant issues. Students are also prepared for advanced methods courses.
Capstone Proposal
In the Proposal phase of the HPL Seminar, students develop a proposal for a capstone project that reflects the degree’s multidisciplinary perspectives and analyzes a compelling question or problem of their own devising. Faculty and capstone mentors provide guidance as students review and discuss ideas for capstone topics. During these discussions, students receive feedback so that they can narrow and refine the focus for their capstone project. During Work in Progress (WIP) sessions, students hone competencies related to interdisciplinary collaboration and stakeholder engagement. Faculty will help guide their research, analysis, and writing assignments as they develop a plan to execute their capstone projects.
Health Law: Institutions, Providers, and Patients
This course builds on the foundational learnings acquired in U.S. Health Care System and the Law by delving into some of the primary areas in which a distinct category of health law has developed, including quality control through institutional licensing, Medicare certification and accreditation; institutional health facility tort liability; federal and state health information privacy law; contracting and employment issues in the health care industry; medical staff and peer review law; fraud and abuse regulation; the application of antitrust law in the rapidly consolidating healthcare industry; liability of healthcare facilities, including the law of agency, hospital district liability and the Affordable Care Act; liability in the managed care context; institutional aspects of reproduction and the law, including contraception and abortion; and end-of-life issues, including medically assisted dying.
Students will also learn about issues of quality control and the relationships between patients and their professional and institutional providers. It will address issues in professional licensing and accreditation of health-care institutions, medical malpractice law (including institutional liability and tort reform), informed consent and privacy and security of health care information (including the law surrounding HIPAA and the development of electronic health records).
Health Economics
Students will learn about the economic influences in the causal pathway to illness. Lectures cover economic burden of ill health, the effects of disease on economic productivity, metrics of the burden of disease, and the interrelations between economies and health policy. Students will examine the economic structures of the health-care delivery system and recent changes in the health insurance and health care delivery markets to understand the impact of competition and regulation on health-care costs experienced by payers, providers and patients. They will also research alternative forms of contracts and organizational structures that shape the health-care system’s economic performance and the organizations within that system.
Health Care Leadership and Advocacy
In this course, students will work independently and in teams to learn and apply theories and best practices in health care leadership and advocacy. This course will use a health equity case study as a frame for students to practice key skills and propose their own multidisciplinary and multistakeholder solutions. Students in this course will be able to 1) Identify and critically analyze the intersecting legal, healthcare, social, economic and other factors underlying a particular health equity problem; 2) Identify the actors and stakeholders affected by the health equity problem and map their roles, interests, and relationships to one another; 3) Articulate key stakeholders’ views of the problem after engaging in active listening; 4) Develop or critically analyze an intervention or strategy which leverages law, policy, or legal systems/workforce to address a health equity problem; 5) Identify the features of a well-functioning team within a broader coalition needed to advance an intervention/strategy and articulate one’s professional role and responsibility within that team; 6) Identify ethical and cultural issues arising in interprofessional work with diverse teams; 7) Develop a communication strategy tailored to specific audiences, identifying appropriate tools/messages for that audience,such as narrative, shared values, logic models, business case, etc.
Capstone Execution
In the Execution phase of the HPL Seminar, students execute their Capstone Proposal culminating in the creation of a Final Capstone Project. Over the course of the quarter, students will provide oral presentations and initial drafts of the project for feedback. Students will share their final Capstone Projects with all other students and faculty in the Capstone Seminar during the graduation convening.