Take My Liberty BUSI 304 Class

BUSI 304 studies how federal and state health policy is made, how it shapes the organization, funding and delivery of care, and the ethical, social and political forces at work.

In the published course guide, Module/Week 1 reads McLaughlin and McLaughlin's opening chapters on policy analysis and asks for the checklist, introductions and Discussion Board Forum 1, worth 50 points. Module/Week 2 adds Forum 2 and Group Blog 1, worth 100.

Module/Week 3 covers the policy process and asks for Forum 3. Module/Week 4 asks for Case Study 1 and the midterm exam, each worth 100.

Module/Week 5 brings Forum 4 and Group Blog 2, Module/Week 6 Forum 5, and Module/Week 7 Forum 6 with Group Blog 3.

Module/Week 8 ends with Case Study 2 and the final exam, each worth 100. The six forums together carry 300 points and the three blogs another 300, so participation and group work outweigh the exams.

Taking BUSI 304 means keeping a steady weekly rhythm. The coordinator dates each forum thread a few days before its window and marks Module/Week 4 and Module/Week 8 as exam weeks, so the case studies due in those weeks are finished early.

Forum threads apply the week's chapters to a current policy question, such as Medicaid expansion, drug price negotiation, certificate-of-need laws or nurse staffing mandates. Replies follow classmates' posts.

For each group blog, your group chooses a topic and divides the posts. The writer drafts your share in the blog's voice and format once it is assigned, so it fits beside your classmates' entries.

The two case studies are written as policy analyses: the problem, the stakeholders, the policy options, the criteria for judging them, the trade-offs and a recommendation, using McLaughlin and McLaughlin's framework.

You study for and sit both exams yourself, and the plan keeps those weeks clear of writing on your side.

Case studies follow a policy from its origin to its effect on providers and patients.

Blogs follow the group's plan.

Forums cite a current federal or state policy change.

The course is handled by someone who studied health policy at the graduate level and has worked where policy is made or lobbied, such as a hospital association, a state agency or a think tank.

The writer follows McLaughlin and McLaughlin's interdisciplinary approach, which draws on economics, political science, law and ethics, and applies it to the specific policy in each prompt.

Sources include the Congressional Budget Office, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, state legislatures and peer-reviewed health policy research, so facts and figures are current.

Case studies are checked a second time for accuracy, fairness and APA style.

Policy writing is kept even-handed. Arguments on more than one side are presented fairly before a recommendation is made, which is what the rubric rewards.

Many small deadlines are the first problem. Six forums with replies, three group blogs and two case studies spread across eight weeks leave few weeks without something due.

The second is analysis. Students often describe a policy without analyzing it: who benefits, who pays, what the evidence says and what the alternatives are. Case studies graded on analysis lose points for description alone.

The third is currency. Health policy changes quickly, and forum posts or case studies built on outdated rules or figures lose credibility.

The fourth is the group blogs. Coordinating topics, division of posts and a consistent voice with classmates takes time, and the blogs carry 300 points.

The last is the exams, which test McLaughlin and McLaughlin's framework and the policy process. Students who spend exam weeks writing case studies arrive underprepared.

A further trap is tone. Policy questions touch politics, and forum posts that read as partisan rather than analytical lose points even when their facts are right.

Hand over BUSI 304 before it opens and Forum 1 is ready for Module/Week 1. Each later forum thread arrives a few days ahead of its window, with replies after classmates post.

Your blog posts arrive within a few days of your group assigning them in Modules/Weeks 2, 5 and 7.

Case Study 1 reaches you early in Module/Week 3, a week before the midterm, and Case Study 2 early in Module/Week 7, a week before the final.

The quote lists six forums, your three blog shares and two case studies, each with its Module/Week. The exams and the checklist never appear on it.

If you start partway through, the price covers only what remains, and your remaining blog posts are written to match what your group has already published.

Those going on to BUSI 323 or 418 often keep their writer, since the later courses build on this one.