| Course | HS810 Advanced Health Policy |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 9 |
| Paper type | Policy brief |
| Length | About 460 words, 4 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | Doctor of Health Science (DHSc) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HS810 Unit 9
Act Before the Legislature Does: A Unit 9 One-Page Policy Brief Recommending a Pass-Through Pharmacy Benefit Contract
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HS810: Advanced Health Policy
Unit 9 Policy Brief
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The composite state, its plan, board and every figure are composite; the federal facts and sources cited are real.
Recommendation
Put the plan's pharmacy benefit contract out to bid on a pass-through basis: a flat administrative fee per claim, full pass-through of rebates and discounts, audit rights, and no spread between what the plan pays and what pharmacies receive.
The Problem in the Plan's Own Contract
Under the current contract, the benefit manager may charge the plan more for a prescription than it pays the pharmacy and keep the difference, a practice called spread pricing. Because the contract also pays the manager a percentage tied to drug prices, the manager earns more when the plan pays more. The board does not need a new law to change this; it needs new contract terms when the current contract ends.
Evidence
When Ohio's auditor examined spread pricing in that state's Medicaid managed care pharmacy programs, the report found that benefit managers kept substantial spreads over a single year, and the state moved to pass-through arrangements afterward (Ohio Auditor of State, 2018). Federal regulators have described spread pricing and incentives tied to list prices as practices that can raise costs for plans and squeeze pharmacies (Federal Trade Commission [FTC], 2024). For our plan, an analysis of claims data against published pharmacy acquisition costs suggests a spread of about 18 to 26 million dollars a year.
The board controls its own contract, and contract terms can end spread pricing fourteen months before any bill could take effect.
Why Not Wait for the Bill
The pending bill would require the same terms but could not take effect before the current contract renews, and it may be amended. Acting through the contract secures the savings regardless of the bill's fate.
What It Would Cost
A flat administrative fee may raise the plan's visible administrative cost by about 3 to 5 million dollars a year, but net savings should exceed that once the spread is removed.
Timeline
Months 1 to 3: approve pass-through requirements and hire an independent pharmacy benefit consultant. Months 4 to 7: issue the request for proposals. Months 8 to 10: evaluate bids. Months 11 to 14: transition.
Legal Note
Because the plan is a government plan, federal ERISA preemption does not apply to its contracting choices, and the Supreme Court has upheld some state regulation of benefit manager reimbursement (Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, 2020).
Decision Requested
Approve pass-through terms for the next contract at the board's next meeting.
References
Federal Trade Commission. (2024). Pharmacy benefit managers: The powerful middlemen inflating drug costs and squeezing Main Street pharmacies (Interim staff report). Federal Trade Commission.
Ohio Auditor of State. (2018). Ohio's Medicaid managed care pharmacy services: Auditor of State report. Ohio Auditor of State.
Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, 592 U.S. 80 (2020).
The Purdue Global HS810 Unit 9 instructions
Unit 9 typically asks for a one- or two-page policy brief for a specific decision maker. Expect a recommendation, a short statement of the problem, evidence, costs, a timeline and the decision requested. Put the recommendation in the first line, because the reader may stop there. Frame the problem around what this reader controls rather than the national debate. Choose evidence relevant to the reader, such as actions by similar organizations. Keep legal or technical notes brief. State costs honestly, including any new cost the recommendation creates. Give a timeline tied to a real deadline, and end with the specific decision you want. Keep sources in a short appendix if space is tight. Test the page on someone who has not read your earlier work.
How this HS810 Unit 9 example is built
The brief's first line recommends pass-through terms. A paragraph explains spread pricing as it operates in the plan's own contract. The evidence section cites Ohio's auditor and federal regulators and gives the plan's estimated spread, and the highlighted sentence notes the board can act fourteen months before any bill. A section explains why not to wait for the legislature. Short sections cover the added administrative fee, a fourteen-month timeline, a two-sentence legal note citing a Supreme Court ruling, and the decision requested. The page ends with a single decision and the meeting at which to make it. Sources sit in a brief appendix.
Where the points sit in the HS810 Unit 9 rubric
Policy briefs are commonly graded on clarity of the recommendation, relevance to the reader, quality and selection of evidence, concision and actionability. Relevance and actionability often weigh most: graders reward briefs that frame the issue around what the reader can actually do and end with a specific decision and date. Evidence earns credit when it is selected for the reader rather than exhaustive. Concision is part of the grade; a brief that runs long defeats its purpose. Honest treatment of costs adds credibility. Correct citations complete the grade. Briefs that open with background, or recommend actions the reader cannot take, tend to lose points.
Common HS810 Unit 9 mistakes, and how to avoid them
A common reason briefs are returned is a recommendation placed after pages of background. Another is framing the problem around national politics the reader cannot affect. Some students cite many sources instead of the few that matter to this reader. Costs of the recommendation are often omitted. Timelines may lack a real deadline. Legal notes can grow into full analyses. If your reader is different, perhaps a county health board or a hospital executive, tell us what they control and when they must decide, and we will fit the brief to one page around that decision. A brief that asks for several decisions at once is harder for a board to act on.
Get an HS810 Unit 9 example written to your instructions
Say who reads your Unit 9 brief, what that reader controls and the page limit, and include the rubric. The recommendation will open the page, evidence will be selected for that reader's authority, and costs will be stated without promising savings the data cannot show. Expect it within 24-48h; a first custom sample costs nothing. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More HS810 papers and DHSc samples
- HS810 Unit 1: Policy Problem Definition
- HS810 Unit 2: Discussion Board Post
- HS810 Unit 3: Stakeholder Power Map
- HS810 Unit 4: Legislative History Brief
- HS810 Unit 5: Policy Alternatives Memo
- HS810 Unit 6: Cost and Equity Appraisal
- HS810 Unit 7: Seminar Reflection
- HS810 Unit 8: Testimony Draft
- HS810 Unit 10: Policy Analysis Paper
HS810 Unit 9 questions, answered
Why address the brief to a plan board instead of legislators?
Because the board holds a lever it can pull without new law: its own contract. Briefs gain force when the recommendation matches the reader's authority, and a legislature would be the right audience only if the brief asked for a statute. A different decision maker would change the ask, not the one-page form, and the sample shows how the first line would shift.
What is spread pricing?
It is the difference between what a PBM charges the plan for a prescription and what it pays the pharmacy that filled it, kept by the PBM as revenue. Under traditional contracts the spread is often undisclosed. Pass-through contracts eliminate it and pay the PBM a disclosed administrative fee instead, which makes costs visible but not automatically lower.
How does a one-page brief fit its sources?
Short citations sit in the text and full references go in a brief appendix or on the reverse side, depending on the section's rules. The sample keeps three sources on the page, the Ohio audit, the FTC report and one state plan's contract terms, because a reader with one page needs the evidence that bears on the decision, not a literature review.
Where can I find a free HS810 Unit 9 sample paper?
You can read the full Unit 9 brief here, one page recommending pass-through pharmacy benefit terms to a public plan board.
What is spread pricing in a pharmacy benefit contract?
It is when the benefit manager charges the plan more for a prescription than it pays the pharmacy and keeps the difference.