Programs
Health Services Research and Policy
Health services research is a multidisciplinary field of scientific investigation that studies how social factors, financing systems, organizational structures and processes, health technologies, and personal behaviors affect access to health care, the quality and cost of health care, and ultimately our health and well-being. Health services research aims to provide a timely, reliable, and continuously improved evidence base to guide health care decisions made by clinicians, patients and families, executives and agencies, policymakers, and payers or purchasers.
Students in our program are offered a unique education at the forefront of health policy; health outcomes assessment; statistical, epidemiological, and quasi-experimental methodologies; analytics of large data sets; and economic evaluation. They enjoy an intimate learning environment in which they can easily interact with program faculty as well as develop strong collaborative ties to hospitals, clinical departments, and the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Our students regularly present posters and give podium presentations at major conferences, and publish in high-impact journals their research on quality, access, cost, and outcomes of health care services to inform policy and practice. Our alumni have gone on to faculty positions at Duke, Yale, NYU, and other universities in the U.S.; positions at RAND, other think tanks, and consulting firms; and government jobs in state health departments and in the Department of Health and Human Services. You are welcome to contact us for more information about our doctoral program in health services research and policy, and to discuss how we can help you reach your educational and career goals.
Our PhD can be combined with other degrees such as the MPH or MD. For PhD programs in HSRP and EPI, part-time study is not accommodated. Stipends, tuition grants, and training and travel expenses are provided for doctoral study. Join a diverse student body with education and experience in many health-related fields. Open selection of courses from different schools in the University allows for a unique range of options—for example, the School of Medicine and Dentistry, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Goergen Institute for Data Science.
Our MS program in health services research and policy provides students with a multidisciplinary foundation in the fundamental elements of health services research, including health policy, biostatistical methods, health economics, epidemiology, psychology, and outcomes assessment.
The advanced certificate in health services research is designed to give individuals the knowledge and tools needed to evaluate the effectiveness of health services programs and policies.
Information about faculty and research can be found on the Health Services Research and Policy website.
AdmissionsLink to section
Applying to Advanced CertificatesLink to section
Applicants must have earned a U.S. baccalaureate degree or its equivalent from a college, university, or technical school of acceptable standing. Students in their final year of undergraduate study may be admitted on the condition that their bachelor’s degrees are awarded before they matriculate. Evidence of the earned degree is required before matriculation in the form of an official transcript noting degree conferral.
Application Requirements
We expect that all application materials (with the exception of official score reports) be scanned and uploaded to your online application. Please note that the University of Rochester reserves the right to verify the accuracy of all transcripts and to require submission of official documentation at any point in the admissions review process.
- Online application (recommended browser: Google Chrome)
- Statement of purpose
- Transcript(s) (please do not mail a hard copy)
- Official TOEFL (institution code: 2948) or IELTS score (if native language is not English)
- CV or resume
- Research papers, publications, and other original works for consideration (not required)
Please do not include secondary school documentation or financial documentation as these are not used during the admissions process. Application deadlines are May 1 for the fall semester and November 1 for the spring semester.
Applying to Master's ProgramsLink to section
Applicants must have earned a U.S. baccalaureate degree or its equivalent from a college, university, or technical school of acceptable standing. Students in their final year of undergraduate study may be admitted on the condition that their bachelor’s degrees are awarded before they matriculate. Evidence of the earned degree is required before matriculation in the form of an official transcript noting degree conferral.
We expect all application materials (with the exception of official score reports) to be scanned and uploaded to your online application. Please note that the University of Rochester reserves the right to verify the accuracy of all transcripts and to require submission of official documentation at any point in the admissions review process.
Application Requirements
- SOPHAS application
- Statement of purpose
- Transcript(s) (please do not mail a hard copy)
- Three letters of recommendation
- Writing sample
- Applicants whose native language is not English must demonstrate English proficiency by providing official scores within two years of the original test date. Acceptable test types: official TOEFL (SMD school code: 2948; SOPHAS application code: 5688), IELTS, and DuoLingo scores.
Optional Materials
- CV or resume
- Research papers, publications and other original works
Please do not include secondary school documentation or financial documentation as these are not used during the admissions process. Application deadlines are May 1 for the fall semester and November 1 for the spring semester.
Applying to Doctoral ProgramsLink to section
Applicants must have earned a U.S. baccalaureate degree or its equivalent from a college, university, or technical school of acceptable standing. Students in their final year of undergraduate study may be admitted on the condition that their bachelor’s degrees are awarded before they matriculate. Evidence of the earned degree is required before matriculation in the form of an official transcript noting degree conferral.
We expect all application materials (with the exception of official score reports) to be scanned and uploaded to your online application. Please note that the University of Rochester reserves the right to verify the accuracy of all transcripts and to require submission of official documentation at any point in the admissions review process.
Application Requirements
- SOPHAS application
- Statement of purpose
- Transcript(s) (please do not mail a hard copy)
- Three letters of recommendation
- Writing sample
- Applicants whose native language is not English must demonstrate English proficiency by providing official scores within two years of the original test date. Acceptable test types: official TOEFL (SMD school code: 2948; SOPHAS application code: 5688), IELTS, and Duolingo scores.
- CV or resume (optional)
Please do not include secondary school documentation or financial documentation as these are not used during the admissions process.
Application Timeline
Admission is for fall semester:
- December 1 – Complete application due
- After December 1 – Applications accepted on a rolling basis until January 1, at program’s discretion
- December to January – Interviews scheduled
- February – Interviews held at University of Rochester Medical Center
- February to March – Offer of admission notices mailed after interviews
- April 15 – Responses due for offer of admission
- August or September – Fall semester begins
AcademicsLink to section
Advanced Certificates and RequirementsLink to section
The advanced certificate program is a post-baccalaureate course of academic study designed for students and practitioners who seek to enhance their professional development. Certificates consist of four or five courses for a total of 12 to 15 credits.
Graduate Course Titles
- PM 421: Introduction to U:S: Health Care System
- PM 445: Introduction to Health Services Research and Policy
- PM 415: Principles of Epidemiology
- PM 410: Introduction to Data Management/Analysis With SAS
- PM 464: Introduction to Regression Analysis
- PM 460: Master’s Essay
- PM 422: Quality of Care and Risk Adjustment
- PM 456: Health Economics I
- PM 463: Introduction to Mathematical Statistics Pt 1
- PM 485: Introduction to Biomedical Informatics
- PM 430: Psychology in Health Services Research
- PM 484: Cost-Effectiveness Research
Master's Degrees and RequirementsLink to section
A program of study will be determined individually with the program director. Students must complete 31 credits of coursework, including six credits for a master’s essay. Additional courses can be taken for audit or credit. Upon completion, students will:
- Appreciate the multidisciplinary nature of health services research
- Understand the structure, financing, and performance of the U.S. health care system
- Be familiar with quantitative and qualitative analyses of health care services and policy
- Understand the basic principles of statistical analysis, econometrics, quality assessment, and comparative effectiveness analysis
- Understand current methods used to formulate health care policy
- Know how to conduct basic statistical tests and regression analysis
- Know how to interpret health services research studies
- Be able to perform decision analysis and comparative effectiveness analysis
- Learn how to risk-adjust health care data
- Be able to perform a health care policy analysis
Graduate Course Titles
- PM 421: Introduction to U.S. Health Care System
- PM 445: Introduction to Health Services Research and Policy
- PM 415: Principles of Epidemiology
- PM 410: Introduction to Data Management/Analysis With SAS
- PM 464: Introduction to Regression Analysis
- PM 460: Master’s Essay
- PM 422: Quality of Care and Risk Adjustment
- PM 456: Health Economics I
- PM 463: Introduction to Mathematical Statistics Part 1
- PM 485: Introduction to Biomedical Informatics
- PM 430: Psychology in Health Services Research
- PM 484: Cost-Effectiveness Research
Doctoral Degrees and RequirementsLink to section
All incoming first-year students are required to participate in Math Camp two weeks before the start of fall semester. Core courses that form the basis of the comprehensive exams are completed in the first two years; depending on cohort and individual plans, additional courses may be required in the third year. Comprehensive exams are required in May of the second year; if the student does not pass this exam, they may retake the exam before the end of the calendar year. After the comprehensive exams, students typically begin fulfilling their required research assistantships and teaching assistantships.
After taking the comprehensive exams, students are expected to begin developing a formal dissertation proposal. Students are expected to have:
- A proposal topic selected by November of the third year
- A theory and conceptual framework identified by March of the third year
- Data identified by June of the third year
- Methods identified by September of the fourth year
For each milestone, progress and completion are to be periodically reviewed with the student’s advisor. A dissertation committee must be formed and a proposal date scheduled by December of the fourth year. The proposal (which is the University’s qualifying exam) must be completed by January of the fourth year. The dissertation is expected to be completed within two years of a successful proposal.
Graduate Course TitlesLink to section
- PM 421: Introduction to U.S. Health Care System
- PM 445: Introduction to Health Services Research and Policy
- PM 430: Psychology in Health Services Research
- PM 412: Survey Research
- PM 428: Health Services Research Seminar
- PM 463: Introduction to Mathematical Statistics Part I
- PM 464: Statistics II: Introduction to Regression Analysis
- PM 472: Measurement and Evaluation of Research Instruments
- PM 484: Cost Effectiveness Research
- PM 487: Fundamentals of Science, Technology, and Health Policy
- PM 410: Introduction to Data Management/Analysis With SAS
- PM 415: Principles of Epidemiology
- PM 416: Epidemiologic Methods
- PM 426: Social and Behavioral Medicine
- PM 438: Grantsmanship
- PM 422: Quality of Care and Risk Adjustment
- PM 431: Advanced Methods in Health Services Research
- PM 456: Health Economics I
- PM 483: Advanced Health Economics II
- PM 465: Advanced Multivariate Analysis
- BST 479: Generalized Linear Models
- NLX 479: Foundations of Healthcare Leadership
- DSCC 465: Introduction to Statistical Machine Learning