ImproveHealthCare.org is an interactive website that presents a case-based curriculum focusing on health care policy and its effects on the practice of medicine. The curriculum is designed for medical students, residents, and practicing physicians and addresses current issues including quality of health care, access to care, and health care disparities.

On November 3, participants from ImproveHealthCare.org chapters gathered at Harvard Medical School and HCP for a day of strengthening ties and advancing the organization’s mission. The conference was organized by MD/MBA student Jordan Bohnen and Craig Szela, who was also conference chair. Second-year HMS students Rocky Samuel, Chitra Akileswaran, and Lior Braunstein were also part of the organizing team. Participants in the conference represented all 17 chapters of ImproveHealthCare.org, with some coming from as far away as the University of Oslo, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Washington, and Stanford.

The keynote speaker was Jerry Avorn, MD, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Avorn is author of the book Powerful Medicine: The Benefits, Risks, and Costs of Prescription Drugs.

A major component of the morning of the conference was the unveiling of two new cases that were codeveloped by Aaron Kesselheim of the Brigham and Women's Department of Pharmacoepidemiology and ImproveHealthCare.org. The cases focus on pharmaceutical policy and proper drug prescribing practices. The afternoon of the conference was devoted to launching health policy and health systems education initiatives at the 17 schools that sent premedical representatives. Each of the schools made a commitment to pursue enhanced health policy education. 

ImproveHealthCare.org, which is supported by HCP, was created in 2003 by Harvard Medical School students Sachin Jain, MBA’07, MD’08, and Kiran Kakarala. HCP Head Barbara J. McNeil, MD, PhD, is the faculty adviser of this student-led organization, and many of the student directors have close ties to HCP.