Trainees adhere to the requirements for the general and qualifying Ph.D. exams.
The core competencies consist of 36 credit hours of general health services knowledge, theory and methods. These courses emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of health services research. Trainees receive a grounding in theory and methods as applied to health services research from the disciplines of Health Services, Biostatistics, Economics and other Social and Behavioral Sciences, Epidemiology, and Policy Analysis. These courses provide trainees with a broad foundation in the theory and general methods of Health Services. Trainees entering the Ph.D. program with equivalent training in these disciplines are allowed to opt out of a specific course by passing an exam or presenting documentation of the level of course work completed.