Next Offered Winter 2026, enrollment via medhub

Course Synopsis

This course is designed to introduce students to the concept of value in healthcare: maximizing outcomes that matter to patients per total costs of care. In recent years, the movement to advance high-value care has gained momentum, with legislation such as the Affordable Care Act creating reimbursement models linking payment to performance.

In order to ensure future generations have access to affordable healthcare, we embrace the view of multiple professional organizations (including the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, the American College of Physicians, and the American Board of Internal Medicine) that we must foster a culture which prioritizes evidence-based, high value healthcare at the earliest stages of medical training. At its core, value-based healthcare is centered on improving patient-centered outcomes—maximizing quality, safety, and affordability—while exercising good stewardship of limited health care resources.

Students will be exposed to topics including health care financing, administration, waste and inefficiencies—as well as methods to combat overutilization—and delivery models that prioritize and incentivize a team-based approach to care delivery and coordination, in contrast to the traditional fee-for-service model. The course will feature a variety of faculty facilitators to allow a broad perspective by highlighting real-world applications of high-value care in practice.

This course is offered in a “flipped classroom” model.  During the first 90 minutes, the students independently review the online modules and materials assigned for the day’s discussion.  We come together in person for the second 90 minutes for an engaging and interactive session based on the materials led by a faculty facilitator.  The course is listed as 1pm – 4 pm, but the in-person instruction begins at 2:30 pm in MET 315 on Monday afternoons during the Winter Quarter.