Residency Fellowship in Health Policy (RFHP)

The Residency Fellowship in Health Policy (RFHP) is a special offering of the Department of Health Policy, made possible through the combined resources of the Milken Institute School of Public Health and the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, as well as a generous gift from Harold and Jane Hirsh. The RFHP is offered to GW SMHS residents from all disciplines who are interested in an intensive, short-term health policy rotation as part of their graduate medical education experience.

The goal of the Rotation in Health Policy is to provide residents with an understanding of U.S. health policy and its implications for medical practice and health care in the United States. The program, sponsored by the nationally ranked Department of Health Policy, is not available in any other U.S. health professions education setting and capitalizes on GW’s Washington, D.C. location and the extraordinary health policy resources available in this city.

The RFHP faculty is drawn from many disciplines and includes a number of individuals who are national experts in their respective fields. By the end of the rotation, participants will have received a basic grounding in key aspects of U.S. health policy and law through intensive seminars designed to build knowledge across the many fields of health policy, including health care access, financing, regulation, quality, disparities, education and workforce policy, public health protection, and critical fields of health law. Participants will also witness health policy-making first-hand, through field trips to a variety of health policy-making settings including Congress, the courts, federal agencies, and state and local government agencies. In these settings, participants will have the opportunity to meet with policy professionals involved in many of today’s critical debates and decisions. Finally, participants will learn and apply fundamental principles of health policy analysis in simulations designed to mirror real-world challenges in health policy.

The three-week RRHP is offered twice each academic year. Participants will be expected to have clear schedules for the rotation period. Night call (when required) and continuity clinics will be respected.