The Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity and its Residency Fellowship in Policy stand
with our communities in grief and indignation at the tragic killing of George Floyd and the persistent
racism in our country. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is further heightening the urgency of change, as
it brutally exposes racial inequities, as well as other forms of systemic injustice in our society.
The late Fitzhugh Mullan described himself as a civil rights doctor, and our program honors his legacy.
We will continue to work tirelessly with others to enhance the capacity and courage of physicians in
training to address these, and other, structural and social determinates of health. Through education
and exposure, we aspire to inspire our course participants to become change agents in Dr. Mullan’s
likeness.
Let us highlight the final words of the Residency Fellowship in Health Policy co-founder, Dr. Fitzhugh
Mullan, as he reflected on his life as a civil rights doctor and the need for medical schools – and all
health professions schools – to reform.
" The civil rights doctor and many others have spent careers in pursuit of what we now call health
equity, but the world has not moved as far as he would have wanted. Racism is still very much
with us, as are massive and growing disparities in health and wealth. These disheartening
realities account for tens of thousands of deaths and uncounted days of unnecessary pain and
suffering every year. The civil rights doctor’s mission turned out to be changing the culture of
medicine, making the idea of health equity central to the character of medicine, and positioning
medicine as an agent of social as well as individual healing. Choices physicians make about
where and how to practice can bring more compassion to the system but, ultimately, it is the
U.S. medical education community that can do the most. Large, resourceful, and distributed, the
nation’s medical schools and teaching hospitals have early and strong leverage to change the
culture of medicine. The civil rights doctor may have worked hard and with purpose but it is only
with a forceful, enduring, and community-wide commitment to social mission that medical
education will realize its full 21st century capabilities to build a healing profession."
– Fitzhugh Mullan, MD
The Civil Rights Doctor Revisited (Dec. 17, 2019). Academic Medicine
with our communities in grief and indignation at the tragic killing of George Floyd and the persistent
racism in our country. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is further heightening the urgency of change, as
it brutally exposes racial inequities, as well as other forms of systemic injustice in our society.
The late Fitzhugh Mullan described himself as a civil rights doctor, and our program honors his legacy.
We will continue to work tirelessly with others to enhance the capacity and courage of physicians in
training to address these, and other, structural and social determinates of health. Through education
and exposure, we aspire to inspire our course participants to become change agents in Dr. Mullan’s
likeness.
Let us highlight the final words of the Residency Fellowship in Health Policy co-founder, Dr. Fitzhugh
Mullan, as he reflected on his life as a civil rights doctor and the need for medical schools – and all
health professions schools – to reform.
" The civil rights doctor and many others have spent careers in pursuit of what we now call health
equity, but the world has not moved as far as he would have wanted. Racism is still very much
with us, as are massive and growing disparities in health and wealth. These disheartening
realities account for tens of thousands of deaths and uncounted days of unnecessary pain and
suffering every year. The civil rights doctor’s mission turned out to be changing the culture of
medicine, making the idea of health equity central to the character of medicine, and positioning
medicine as an agent of social as well as individual healing. Choices physicians make about
where and how to practice can bring more compassion to the system but, ultimately, it is the
U.S. medical education community that can do the most. Large, resourceful, and distributed, the
nation’s medical schools and teaching hospitals have early and strong leverage to change the
culture of medicine. The civil rights doctor may have worked hard and with purpose but it is only
with a forceful, enduring, and community-wide commitment to social mission that medical
education will realize its full 21st century capabilities to build a healing profession."
– Fitzhugh Mullan, MD
The Civil Rights Doctor Revisited (Dec. 17, 2019). Academic Medicine
Final Assignment:
Choose one of the four health policy topics below and create a 1-2 page document that provides your analysis, using the framework provided (Background/Landscape/Options/Recommendation). See the “Health Policy Analysis” PowerPoint provided.
Question 1: COVID-19
With the wave of Coronavirus infections still to come, hospitals across the U.S. are preparing for a flood of critically ill patients who will strain their staff, equipment, and bed supplies.
Question 2: Health Reform
Health reform has been a key platform in the 2020 presidential election, and a significant campaign issue in the Democratic primary. Several candidates and Members of Congress have proposed or endorsed various permutations of a “public option” to expand health coverage and lower health care costs.
Question 3: Gun Violence
Baltimore has historically been one of the most dangerous cities in the country for gun violence. Homicide, the leading cause of death for African-American males aged 15-24, has become a prominent public health concern for the city and the state of Maryland. The National Network of Hospital Based Violence Intervention Programs has succeeded in bringing forth a bill to the Maryland General Assembly which provides 10 million dollars in grant funding for its programs.
Question 4: Surprise Medical Billing
“Surprise medical bills” often refer to charges incurred when an insured individual inadvertently receives care from an out-of-network provider. Among adults struggling to pay medical bills, charges related to out-of-network care are a frequent contributing factor. Accordingly, a bipartisan Senate working group is developing legislation to protect patients from surprise medical bills.
Choose one of the four health policy topics below and create a 1-2 page document that provides your analysis, using the framework provided (Background/Landscape/Options/Recommendation). See the “Health Policy Analysis” PowerPoint provided.
Question 1: COVID-19
With the wave of Coronavirus infections still to come, hospitals across the U.S. are preparing for a flood of critically ill patients who will strain their staff, equipment, and bed supplies.
- You are the Chief Medical Officer at George Washington University Hospital. What contingency plans do you advise to increase capacity while maintaining staff and patient safety? Please provide at least three viable options and one final recommendation.
Question 2: Health Reform
Health reform has been a key platform in the 2020 presidential election, and a significant campaign issue in the Democratic primary. Several candidates and Members of Congress have proposed or endorsed various permutations of a “public option” to expand health coverage and lower health care costs.
- You are advising Joe Biden on his campaign against Bernie Sanders to win the 2020 Democratic Primary and eventually take on President Trump. He is interested in further detailing his support for a public option – what proposal would you recommend he adopt? In your response, define three “public options,” considering the need to assuage both Medicare for All supporters and conservatives alike.
Question 3: Gun Violence
Baltimore has historically been one of the most dangerous cities in the country for gun violence. Homicide, the leading cause of death for African-American males aged 15-24, has become a prominent public health concern for the city and the state of Maryland. The National Network of Hospital Based Violence Intervention Programs has succeeded in bringing forth a bill to the Maryland General Assembly which provides 10 million dollars in grant funding for its programs.
- You direct the Baltimore City Health Department. You anticipate receiving state funds to target gun violence in your jurisdiction. In considering the bill, your state legislature seeks your stakeholder input and asks, “is funding hospital based violence intervention programs the most effective way to mitigate gun violence in Baltimore?” In your response, consider the state’s limited financial resources, potential programmatic trade offs, and propose at least two state policy alternatives to address your local gun violence crisis.
Question 4: Surprise Medical Billing
“Surprise medical bills” often refer to charges incurred when an insured individual inadvertently receives care from an out-of-network provider. Among adults struggling to pay medical bills, charges related to out-of-network care are a frequent contributing factor. Accordingly, a bipartisan Senate working group is developing legislation to protect patients from surprise medical bills.
- You are the Vice President of Professional Satisfaction and Practice Sustainability at the American Medical Association (AMA). You have been asked to provide the Senate working group with technical assistance. What proposed policy solutions might the AMA endorse to protect patients from surprise out-of-network bills while preserving fair reimbursement for providers.
Speaker PowerPoints
STUDENT COURSE COORDINATOR
Rhea Korde is a third-year undergraduate student studying Public Health and Business Administration at the George Washington University. She has had experience working for the Centers for Disease Control and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Disease both as their Public Policy Intern. In addition to her affinity for health policy work, she has also been an EMT for the past 5 years and currently serves as a crew chief on her all-volunteer EMS agency.
Rhea Korde
rfhp founder
Dr. Mullan was an original founder of the RFHP and has been running the course for over 15 years. He was a professor of Health Policy and Pediatrics at the George Washington University. He was a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Chicago Medical School and served 23 years in the United States Public Health Service, starting as an NHSC physician in New Mexico and later as director of the program. Subsequently, he directed the Bureau of Health Professions and attained the rank of Assistant Surgeon General. He also served as the Secretary of Health and Environment for the state of New Mexico. He was the Founding President of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, the Founding Board Chair of Seed Global Health, Board Chair of the Beyond Flexner Alliance, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
Fitzhugh Mullan, MD
Course Surveys
Groups for Culminating Project Fall 2019
|
Group one:
Joel Willis Ashley Lucke Ameet Piryani Brett Linowes Caitlin Davis Carl Quesnell Sheena Chen |
Group two:
Danielle Gladstone Laura O'Neill Caroline Schulman Dan Beatty Elizabeth (Liza) Ebetts Marisa Dowling Rose Kleiman |
Group three:
Catherine Njru-Sewer Amy Komure Robin "Carolyn" Lanam Puya Jafari John Fatollahi Drew Morton Jade Sanders |
Group four:
Geoff Guenther Sara Haley Sarah Schlatterer Sonia Silnsky-Krupnika Zain Qazi Andre Morgan Chukwuka Ojako Tae Yeon Kim |
Dembi Iyekegbe
Dana Hines, PhD, MSN
Chief Nurse Consultant HIV AIDS Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration
Dr. Hines currently serves as the Chief Nurse Consultant in the HIV AIDS Bureau in the Division of Community HIV AIDS Programs at HRSA. Dr. Hines earned her MSN and PhD from Indiana University Purdue University in Indianapolis, Indiana, and her BSN from the University of Evansville. Dr. Hines is a previous recipient of the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31 NR013864-01) research-training grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research, the Midwest Nursing Research Society and Council on the Advancement of Nursing’s dissertation grant award and the Sigma Theta Tau International small grant award.
Prior to joining the George Washington University School of Nursing faculty, Dr. Hines was the Quality Program Manager for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Services Program at the Marion County Public Health Department in Indianapolis, Indiana, where she spearheaded many quality improvement initiatives aimed at improving access to HIV care for vulnerable populations. Dr. Hines is a member of the DC Center for AIDS Research and her research interests include social determinants of health, health disparities and strategies to improve access to care among sexual and gender minorities — transgender women in particular — living with or at risk HIV.
Chief Nurse Consultant HIV AIDS Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration
Dr. Hines currently serves as the Chief Nurse Consultant in the HIV AIDS Bureau in the Division of Community HIV AIDS Programs at HRSA. Dr. Hines earned her MSN and PhD from Indiana University Purdue University in Indianapolis, Indiana, and her BSN from the University of Evansville. Dr. Hines is a previous recipient of the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31 NR013864-01) research-training grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research, the Midwest Nursing Research Society and Council on the Advancement of Nursing’s dissertation grant award and the Sigma Theta Tau International small grant award.
Prior to joining the George Washington University School of Nursing faculty, Dr. Hines was the Quality Program Manager for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Services Program at the Marion County Public Health Department in Indianapolis, Indiana, where she spearheaded many quality improvement initiatives aimed at improving access to HIV care for vulnerable populations. Dr. Hines is a member of the DC Center for AIDS Research and her research interests include social determinants of health, health disparities and strategies to improve access to care among sexual and gender minorities — transgender women in particular — living with or at risk HIV.
For decades, the practice of medicine has slipped through doctors' hands, outsourced to executives and industry special interests. This is where RFHP offers hope. Physicians are exposed to the constellation of comorbidities operating behind the proverbial curtain. From the structure of Medicare and reimbursements to drug pricing, workforce shortages, and the evolving needs of GME. The remedy of RHFP has made me a higher producer for my department, a more valuable resource to my colleagues, and a better doctor to my patients.
- Luis Dominguez, Senior Fellow 2018
Gerard Cox
Gerard Cox
- Emergency Medicine Residents Association EMRA-ACEP Mini-Fellowship
- Georgetown University Department of Family Medicine The Robert L. Phillips, Jr. Health Policy Fellowship
- American College of Radiology J.T. Rutherford Government Relations Fellowship
- American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons Washington Health Policy Fellows Program
- American College of Physicians Health Policy Internship Program
- American Medical Association offers several fellowships and internships in government relations.
- Association of American Medical Colleges The Electronic Residency Application Service® (ERAS®) streamlines the application and document delivery process for U.S. fellowship positions.
- The Commonwealth Fund Mongan Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health Policy and Harkness Fellowships in Health Care Policy and Practice
- HHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Luther Terry Fellowship
- The Kraft Center for Community Health Kraft Fellowship in Community Health Leadership
- National Academy of Medicine various Fellowships
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship
- White House White House Fellowship
The Residency Fellowship in Health Policy (RFHP), offered by the George Washington University, is a comprehensive three-week course offered to medical residents. RFHP combines classroom sessions and site visits with some of the most influential medical, legal, governmental, and public health policymakers in the nation's capital that drive national and local policies.
