Public forum on impact of health policies, including privatization of medicare and social security

By Sandi Gettys

Leading health care experts will offer new information and insights about some of the most important health policy issues facing our society in a new six-week community education course beginning Tuesday, February 8, 2005, as part of the UCSF Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). Classes will address the impact of the possible privatization of Social Security and Medicare, hospital quality report cards, threats to the delivery of emergency care, interventions to prevent illness caused by tobacco products, efforts to improve health care of children, and emerging ideas about the relationship between work and health. This course is aimed at individuals who are interested in learning how social, economic, political, and clinical forces interact to affect the health of individuals and society as a whole.

Classes will meet from 7 to 8:45 pm on Tuesdays at UCSF, 513 Parnassus Ave., San Francisco. Tuition is $85. To register, visit Life Long Learning or call (415) 476-2557.

FEBRUARY 8—LATEST NEWS FROM THE TOBACCO WARS—Steven Schroeder, MD, distinguished professor of health and health care

FEBRUARY 15—THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE: THE IMPACT OF PRIVATIZATION—Carroll Estes, PhD, professor of sociology

FEBRUARY 22—SHOPPING FOR CARE: CAN WE DEVELOP HOSPITAL QUALITY REPORT CARDS?
—Arlyss Anderson Rothman, PhD, RN, assistant professor of nursing, and Adams Dudley, MD, MBA, associate professor of medicine and health policy

MARCH 1—DOCTOR ON DUTY: THE CRISIS IN EMERGENCY CARE—Ellen Weber, MD, professor of clinical medicine; clinical director, UCSF Emergency Department

MARCH 8—IMPROVING THE HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE OF CHILDREN—Paul Newacheck, DrPH, professor of health policy and pediatrics, and Dana Hughes, DrPH, associate professor of family and community medicine and health policy

MARCH 15—HOW WORK AFFECTS YOUR HEALTH—Edward Yelin, PhD, professor of medicine and health policy

UCSF Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) is a community education program for adult learners sponsored by the UCSF Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy, the UCSF Medical Center, the UCSF Public Affairs Department and the University of California Academic Geriatric Resource Program. The program is supported in party by a grant from the Bernard Osher Foundation.