Quantitative Methods

2 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Modern healthcare systems are increasingly run “by the numbers.” This reflects expectations that services delivered to patients as well as delivery system changes be based on the best available evidence. And in addition to making use of existing evidence, learning health systems are using health service research methods and “delivery system science” to identify effective innovations and spread them to other provider organizations. Similarly, “dashboards” and performance measures for individual providers, hospitals, and defined populations are publicly reported and used to manage delivery systems and improve quality. To prepare executives to lead and manage a learning health system, this course draws on quantitative methods from statistics, epidemiology, and health services research. The goals are to enable students to identify and use evidence to guide practice and policy, and to introduce the basic analytical tools needed to support performance measurement for healthcare quality improvement efforts.