About USP

The Health Policy Institute at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia was developed in response to USP’s objective of promoting the advancement and dissemination of knowledge through research and scholarly activity in those disciplines consistent with the educational mission of the university.

The vision for the Health Policy Institute is based upon USP’s tradition as the first college of pharmacy in the country as well as its emerging excellences in the interdisciplinary healthcare professions (PT/OT/PA). As a result of this solid foundation USP’s Health Policy Institute will be viewed as the ‘go to’ resource in developing and disseminating scholarly work in these areas. USP’s Health Policy Institute will be a valued resource to assist in the expansion of access and availability of medical services in our region, nationally, and internationally.

The mission of the Health Policy Institute is to assist government, industry, and community leaders in the development and implementation of strategic plans based on an understanding of the relevant health policy as well as affecting policy through supportive services to public policy leaders based on critical research.

Specifically the activities of the Health Policy Institute are encompassed in its list of “P”s. This list includes activities involving policy, presentations, projects, publications, products, and public relations.

An example of some of the initial activities of the Health Policy Institute include:

• Providing consultative services to key stakeholders on regarding the impact of the Medicare Modernization Act including assisting groups in their response of comments on Medicare Prescription Benefit to CMS
• Investigating the policy implications of the Medicare coverage exclusion of benzodiazepines
• Presenting a conference on the future direction of Pharmaceutical R&D funding
• Responsible as the Editor-in-chief for a LTC Journal

Some of the planned innovative approaches of the Health Policy Institute include the following:

• Providing a virtual network as an incubator for consensus panels on critical health policy topics
• Through a system of ‘linked learning’ experts will be made available to conference participants both pre- and post- conference through an internet connection
• Developing an eJournal as well as providing a home for a new Interdisciplinary Journal.

As a home for scholarly health policy activities, the Health Policy Institute does not confer degrees. It achieves its educational mission by collaborating with related degree and postdoctoral programs within the university, such programs include the Health Policy Master’s and Doctoral Programs as well as the MBA and Executive MBA in Pharmaceutical Business.

The funding for the Health Policy Institute will come from primarily from grants as well as consulting agreements. In addition, the Health Policy Institute will develop foundation support for expansion of its activities.

Staffing for the Health Policy Institute is currently comprised of an Executive Director and shared Administrative Assistant. Beyond this staffing the Health Policy Institute has a panel of Senior Associates. Senior Associates are internal USP experts as well as external experts who can serve a variety of areas of health policy. They are available to participate in the Health Policy Institute activities on a per diem basis.

The governance of the Health Policy Institute is based on the Executive Director reporting to the Dean for the College of Graduate Studies. Leadership for the Health Policy Institute is advised through experts in the field that sit on the institute’s Advisory Board.