The Consumer Health Advocacy certificate program at the Center for Patient Partnerships educates a diversity of learners interested in health advocacy. Students around the country come to this interdisciplinary health advocacy center to learn critical health advocacy skills while helping patients navigate the complex health care system.
The Center for Patient Partnerships is a national resource for strengthening the consumer perspective in health care. We have graduate students from Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, Physician Assistant, Physical Therapy, Public Health, Social Work, Gender and Women's Studies, Engineering, and others participating in our certificate program.
Additional opportunities are available in patient experience research and organizational and legislative policy advocacy through student-led “case to cause” projects.
Click on the Requirements tab on the right side navigation bar for general program requirements.
*The certificate requirements differ based on your discipline. Please email learning@cpp.wisc.edu to talk to an advisor.
Admissions
All currently enrolled graduate students at UW–Madison are eligible to pursue this certificate program. We do not require any health care knowledge/background.
Please email learning@patientpartnerships.org or call 608-263-7736 to schedule an advising session to get started.
Requirements
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| LAW/MED SC-M/NURSING 768 | Consumer Health Advocacy and Patient-Centered Care Clinical (Topic: Applied Advocacy Experience Introduction) | 1-7 |
| LAW/MED SC-M/NURSING 768 | Consumer Health Advocacy and Patient-Centered Care Clinical (Topic: Applied Advocacy Experience Advanced) | 1-7 |
| LAW 940 | Law and Contemporary Problems (Topic: Models of System Level Advocacy) | 1-3 |
| Electives | ||
| Choose one from one of the topics below: | ||
| Law, Regulation and Ethics 1 | ||
| LAW 744 | Administrative Law | 3 |
| LAW 905 | Bioethics and the Law | 2-4 |
| LAW 906 | Law, Science and Biotechnology Seminar | 2-4 |
| LAW 935 | Health Law | 2-3 |
| LAW 940 | Law and Contemporary Problems (Topic: Food Drug Law) | 1-3 |
| LAW 940 | Law and Contemporary Problems (Topic: ERISA) | 1-3 |
| LAW 940 | Law and Contemporary Problems (Topic: Health Care Fraud and Abuse) | 1-3 |
| LAW 940 | Law and Contemporary Problems (Topic: Public Health Law) | 1-3 |
| LAW 940 | Law and Contemporary Problems (Topic: Mental Health Law) | 1-3 |
| MED HIST 559 | Topics in Ethics and History of Medicine | 3 |
| MED HIST 545 | Ethical and Regulatory Issues in Clinical Investigation | 1 |
| PHILOS/MED HIST 558 | Ethical Issues in Health Care | 3 |
| Health Economics 2 | ||
| POP HLTH 650 | Special Topics (Topic: Advanced Seminar in Health Mental Health Economics) | 1-6 |
| PUB AFFR/ECON/POP HLTH 548 | The Economics of Health Care | 3-4 |
| ECON/POP HLTH 848 | Health Economics | 1-3 |
| PUB AFFR 864 | Health Policy and Policy Design | 3 |
| Policy, Management and Public Health 3 | ||
| NURSING 703 | Health Care and Public Policy | 3 |
| NURSING 761 | Health Program Planning, Evaluation, and Quality Improvement | 3 |
| POP HLTH/ENVIR ST 471 | Introduction to Environmental Health | 3 |
| POP HLTH 650 | Special Topics (Topic: Health Care Management and Policy) | 1-6 |
| POP HLTH/I SY E 703 | Quality of Health Care: Evaluation and Assurance | 1-3 |
| PUBLHLTH 780 | Evidence-Based Decision-Making | 3 |
| SOC WORK 875 | Health, Aging, and Disability Policy and Services | 2 |
- 1
Courses in this elective area address fundamental substantive knowledge and critical thinking relevant to complex legal, regulatory, or ethical matters health advocates will face.
- 2
Courses in this elective area address fundamental substantive knowledge and critical thinking regarding health care financing and economics.
Students who choose this elective are required to discuss their course selection with a Certificate Advisor and the chosen course faculty; standard pre-requisites apply.
- 3
Courses in this elective area address fundamental substantive knowledge and critical thinking regarding health policy, management, or public health issues.
Learning Outcomes
- Develop advocacy capacity that emphasizes patient empowerment.
- Develop critical health advocacy competencies including communication, collaborative decision making, cultural humility, and ethics.
- Experience the discipline of advocacy from a case-based perspective, and explore how various key advocacy roles can be useful in specific situations.
- Gain familiarity with the U. S. health care delivery system and the systemic problems that give rise to the need for advocacy at the individual organizational and policy levels.