About this Course

We find ourselves at a pivotal moment in healthcare, and importantly, in our clinical training. As new physicians, it will be hard for us to change the system, but individually, we can step up so that each small action changes the medical culture for the better. This course will introduce students to the underlying concepts and skills required to deliver high-value medicine, medical care that maximizes outcomes that matter to patients per total cost of care.

The course is composed of online modules, weekly discussions, and conversations with local subject matter experts; and it endeavors to build students' understanding of their patients’ intricate physical, emotional, and financial burdens, as well as provide tools for addressing them.

The purpose of this online forum is to formalize the course in such a way that its contents can be easily shared across institutions. We recommend taking the materials from this document and transposing them into the online course site most used at your institution (e.g., Sakai, Blackboard, etc.) The course was generated during the COVID-19 pandemic as a 4-week intensive, requiring 20-hours of work per week but it can be repurposed and reorganized to fit your needs. To increase the credit hours for the course, leaders can consider adding a clinical component to both the weekly hours requirement and/or the Final Project.

Much appreciation goes to Dr. Chris Moriates, Victoria Valencia, and the entire Dell Medical School team for creating the Discovering Value-Based Healthcare modules, and most importantly, for making them freely available for all students. We'd also like to thank the Costs of Care team, as well as Dr. Pamela Johnson, Dr. Roy Ziegelstein, Dr. Lenny Feldman, and Dr. Amit Pahwa at HVPAA. All of these inspiring instructors worked tirelessly to create amazing materials, whereas all we did was tie them together into a course for you to take to your respective institutions.

Finally, thanks goes to Dr. Sarah Smithson, Dr. Ana Felix, and Dr. Richard Wardrop for their tremendous support helping us get this course off the ground. And, a huge amount of gratitude goes to Dr. Matt Nielsen, Dr. Alice Ma, and Dr. Mark Gwynne who each contributed their time, their experience, and their wisdom to the students during the first run of this elective.

Co-facilitated by Emily Fink and Elexis Hollingsworth, MS3s at UNC School of Medicine, this course was student-driven and student-led, and it is continually being improved.

Questions, comments, feedback? Please contact course curator, Emily Fink, at [e-mail]