Dispatches: Preparing for Class - PPACA in Medical School

I'm in the midst of preparing for teaching this semester. No topic and/or class has caused me more frustration than my responsibility to teach health reform to the medical students. It is a nearly daunting task. To solve it, I am applying backward design. I'm especially relying on the conceptual model of focusing on understanding and contextualizing rather than knowledge. Trying to fit the topic into three one hour lectures is proving daunting. The recent 11th Circuit opinion and the debt deal/super commission aren't helping matters either.

Needless to say, I'm spending a lot of days simply reading to stay current.

Health Policy Education in US Medical Schools

This recent Perspectives piece in NEJM, The State of Health Policy Education in U.S. Medical Schools outlines the state of health policy education in U.S medical schools. Teaching the subject at my medical school, this is a welcome validation of the national importance placed on the topic and the need to expand offerings. For the first time, I have medical students taking my course in Public Health Policy and Advocacy as an elective in their first year. Unfortunately, I am relegated to four lecture hours on the topic for 2d year undergraduates with no case examples being offered in the more intensive break-out sections.

I'm saving this article and sending along to request a new case be added and that more lecture hours be devoted.