| Course | HCD 420 Population Health Management |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | Writing workshop draft |
| Length | About 480 words, 4 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Arizona State University |
| Program | BS in Health Care Administration and Policy |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HCD 420 Module 1
Closing the Gaps That Let Measles Return: Policy Options for an Undervaccinated State
Student Name
BS in Health Care Administration and Policy, Arizona State University
HCD 420: Population Health Management
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Closing the Gaps That Let Measles Return: Policy Options for an Undervaccinated State
The Condition and Why It Matters
Twenty years after U.S. health officials certified measles as no longer endemic, 2019 brought 1,249 cases, the most in a single year since 1992, and most of them occurred in people who were unvaccinated or whose status was unknown (Patel et al., 2019). Because measles infects roughly nine in ten susceptible household contacts, small pockets of low coverage are enough to sustain an outbreak. That makes it a useful condition for a population health paper: the tool to prevent it exists, and the problem lies in who receives it.
Social Determinants Behind the Gaps
Vaccination is shaped by more than individual choice. Access matters: families without a regular source of care miss well-child visits where the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is given. Social networks matter: the largest outbreaks of 2019 spread within close-knit communities where undervaccination clustered (Patel et al., 2019). Information environments matter too, since organized anti-vaccine messaging has concentrated nonmedical exemptions in particular metropolitan counties (Olive et al., 2018). Policy that treats vaccination only as personal responsibility misses these drivers.
Health in All Policies
A health in all policies approach asks which sectors outside health care shape this outcome. For measles, schools are the most important: state school-entry laws decide who may enroll without vaccination. Housing and community organizations matter because outreach depends on trusted local institutions, and state legislatures matter because they write the exemption rules. Kindergarten surveillance for 2023-24 put measles vaccine coverage at 92.7%, below the levels seen before the pandemic, and found a record exemption rate of 3.3%, with fourteen jurisdictions where more than one child in twenty was exempt (Seither et al., 2024).
Assessing an Existing Policy
California removed personal belief exemptions for school entry when Senate Bill 277 took effect in 2016. In the law's first year, kindergartners starting school without all required doses dropped from 7.15% to 4.42%, but medical exemptions and exemptions for home-schooled or independent-study students partly replaced the personal belief exemptions, and earlier geographic clusters of refusal persisted (Delamater et al., 2019). The lesson is that ending nonmedical exemptions helps, but enforcement and the other entry routes decide how much.
Proposed Policy Package
| Policy | Sector | Expected effect |
|---|---|---|
| Limit nonmedical exemptions for school entry, with medical exemptions reviewed by the state health department | Education and legislature | Fewer unvaccinated entrants; less substitution into medical exemptions |
| Fund vaccination at schools and community sites in counties above 5% exemption | Public health and schools | Better access for families without a regular clinician |
| Partner with trusted community and faith leaders on outreach | Community organizations | More acceptance in close-knit communities |
Next Steps for the Paper
Later workshops will describe who, where and when measles has struck, the laws that shape outbreak investigations and the collaborations between public health and health care that the proposals require.
References
Delamater, P. L., Pingali, S. C., Buttenheim, A. M., Salmon, D. A., Klein, N. P., & Omer, S. B. (2019). Elimination of nonmedical immunization exemptions in California and school-entry vaccine status. Pediatrics, 143(6), e20183301. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-3301
Olive, J. K., Hotez, P. J., Damania, A., & Nolan, M. S. (2018). The state of the antivaccine movement in the United States: A focused examination of nonmedical exemptions in states and counties. PLOS Medicine, 15(6), e1002578. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002578
Patel, M., Lee, A. D., Clemmons, N. S., Redd, S. B., Poser, S., Blog, D., Zucker, J. R., Leung, J., Link-Gelles, R., Pham, H., Arciuolo, R. J., Rausch-Phung, E., Bankamp, B., Rota, P. A., Weinbaum, C. M., & Gastañaduy, P. A. (2019). National update on measles cases and outbreaks: United States, January 1-October 1, 2019. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 68(40), 893-896. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6840e2
Seither, R., Yusuf, O. B., Dramann, D., Calhoun, K., Mugerwa-Kasujja, A., Knighton, C. L., Kriss, J. L., Miller, R., & Peacock, G. (2024). Coverage with selected vaccines and exemption rates among children in kindergarten: United States, 2023-24 school year. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 73(41), 925-932. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7341a3
HCD 420 Module 1 instructions, in plain terms
HCD 420 builds one cumulative paper across the semester, and Writing Workshop #1 is its first section. It sits in Module 3, where the course introduces the health in all policies idea and the laws behind the American approach to health. The posted objective for the workshop is that students assess or propose policies for improving health outcomes, a skill that returns in the final paper. The specific prompt and rubric are in Canvas. Choose a disease or condition you can follow through every later workshop: you will need data on who it affects, where and when, laws that shape investigations of it and collaborations that could reduce it. A communicable disease with a clear prevention tool, or a chronic condition with strong social drivers, both work well.
How this HCD 420 Module 1 example is built
The sample opens by explaining why measles is a good condition for a population health paper, with national case data. It then names three social determinants that shape vaccination and uses the health in all policies lens to show which sectors outside health care matter. An existing policy, California's repeal of nonmedical exemptions, is assessed with its mixed results rather than presented as a simple success. A table proposes three policies, each tied to a sector and an expected effect, and a short closing paragraph previews how later workshops will build on this section. Four checkable sources support the draft.
Where the marks sit in the HCD 420 Module 1 rubric
Faculty grade each workshop against a Canvas rubric, and the posted objective sets the bar at 80% on that rubric. Policy workshops are usually credited for a clearly chosen condition with data on its burden, accurate use of the social determinants of health, policies tied to specific causes rather than general wishes, honest assessment of evidence including mixed results and APA citations. Drafts lose credit for vague proposals such as "increase awareness," for ignoring sectors outside health care when the module is about health in all policies and for presenting a policy as proven when the evidence is partial.
HCD 420 Module 1 help from the desk
Pick your condition carefully, because changing it later means rewriting every workshop. Make each proposed policy answer a cause you named, and say which sector would carry it out. When you assess an existing policy, report what it did not achieve as well as what it did. Keep notes on your sources, since the final paper reuses them. If you are torn between two conditions, the desk can help you test which one gives you enough material for all five workshops. A short paragraph at the end previewing the later workshops, as the sample does, helps your instructor see that the condition can carry the whole semester and makes the final paper easier to assemble.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Arizona State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
More HCD 420 and BS in Health Care Administration and Policy sample papers
- HCD 420 Module 2: Writing Workshop 2: Person, Place and Time
- HCD 420 Module 3: Writing Workshop 3: Laws That Enhance and Limit Outbreak Investigation
- HCD 420 Module 4: Writing Workshop 4: Public Health and Health Care Collaboration
- HCD 420 Module 5: Writing Workshop 5: Population Health, Population Health Management and Public Health
- HCD 420 Module 6: Cumulative Final Paper: Measles Through a Systems Lens
- HCD 400 Module 3: Module 3 Assignment: Evaluating Methodological Rigor and Credibility
- HCD 332 Module 1: Health Policy Analysis Problem Statement
- HCD 303 Module 1: Team Charter for the Comparative Health System Project
- HCD 330 Module 1: News Update Initial Discussion: Medicare Drug Price Negotiation
HCD 420 Module 1 questions, answered
Where can I find a free HCD 420 Module 1 sample paper?
This page has a full HCD 420 Module 1 sample: a first writing workshop proposing policies to close measles vaccination gaps in the United States.
What is the HCD 420 cumulative paper?
A paper on one disease or condition built in stages through writing workshops across the semester and submitted as the final paper in Module 14.
What does health in all policies mean?
An approach that considers the health effects of decisions in sectors outside health care, such as education, housing and transportation.
How much are the HCD 420 writing workshops worth?
The posted syllabus counts four workshops for 12 points together and the final paper for 30 of 132 points.
Did California's vaccine exemption law work?
Partly: the share of kindergartners not up to date fell after SB277, but other exemptions partly replaced personal belief exemptions and local clusters persisted.