Master of Health Administration (MHA)

Organizations and businesses need leadership from every individual who works or volunteers to advance its mission and goals. Regardless of style or approach, leadership starts with basic competencies that together create a portfolio for leadership effectiveness. The roster of competencies is fluid and can vary depending on the individual, the workplace and the goals, but the outcome is constant: they contribute significantly to an individual’s ability to lead people. In this course, we will examine what can arguably be considered among the most relevant and substantive competencies for effective leadership currently. Competencies may include emotional intelligence, authenticity, being present, character, creativity, courage and empathy. Incorporating a variety tools and techniques, such as presentations, research, essays and outreach to industry professionals, the course gives students the opportunity to understand, assess, and develop their own capacities and effectiveness in these areas of leadership competencies. Throughout the course, reflective practice, that aligns course theoretical knowledge with student workplace experiences and builds a supportive learning community, will be emphasized. 3 graduate credits. Prerequisite: None.

Leaders and managers achieve goals working with and through others. They must be skilled in developing individuals to work in teams, in facilitating teams, and in managing conflict. Leaders and managers must understand organizational and national cultures and how they affect the achievement of goals. They must not only hold strong ethical values, but also model them. This course examines the role of managers as leaders in organizations and develops knowledge and skills needed by managers in today’s business environment to successfully achieve organizational goals. This course focuses on who leaders are and what leaders do. It is important to know what accounts for effective leadership and how one can become an effective leader. Subsequently, course material will focus upon fundamental principles of leadership and how these principles relate to becoming an effective leader. Emphasis will be placed on self-reflection and analysis in regard to developing one’s own leadership skills. 3 graduate credits. Prerequisites: None.

This course examines the unique environment of healthcare and the challenges confronting managers in that environment. Topics examined include marketing healthcare services, recruiting and retaining staff necessary for meeting mission, the strategy of healthcare services delivery, healthcare informatics, and decision making in the healthcare marketplace. 3 graduate credits. Prerequisites: None.

In this course, students will study human health, both national and personal, from an economic perspective. Further, students will analyze the ways in which healthcare services are demanded and supplied. Topics include: the value of health from an individual and societal perspective; the demand for physicians’ and other health services; the supply of healthcare; the demand for and the supply of health insurance; international comparison of healthcare expenditures; cost-benefit analyses of public policies and medical interventions; and the role of government in related healthcare markets. 3 graduate credits. Prerequisites: None.

This course provides an overview of legal issues associated with healthcare, including HIPAA and Medicare fraud and abuse, and the regulatory and accreditation environments of Medicare, Medicaid, JCAHO, and OSHA. Ethical issues associated with the practice of medicine and decision-making in the healthcare environment is also examined. 3 graduate credits. Prerequisites: None.

This is an epidemiology methods course designed with the broad perspective required for determination of the distribution and determinants of health and illness in human population groups. One focus is on the information systems, data sets and algorithms used in solving health problems and finding solutions needed for evidence-based practice. Knowledge required for being a critical consumer of research reports in professional literature is an additional focus. Designing health promotion and disease prevention programs for important global and local health problems is also stressed. 3 graduate credits. Prerequisites: None.

This course provides an overview of policies that affect the quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness of healthcare. Students analyze the effects that paradigms, values, special interests, and economics have in the delivery and financing of healthcare that may or may not result in improvement of health of the public and of specific subsets of patients. 3 graduate credits. Prerequisites: None.

This course focuses on the synthesis of theoretical and practical principles of financial and investment decisions within healthcare organizations. Students utilize accounting and financial information to execute effective decisions that enhance organizational objectives and patient outcomes. Prerequisites: None.

Integrative Experience–Organizations are facing many environmental challenges including new technologies, new methods of organizing, diverse consumer demands, new competitors, and diverse employee skills and backgrounds. The common denominator is change. This course examines innovation and organizational change from a strategic and operational perspectives. Students’ knowledge and skills related to innovation and change management are developed with an emphasis on strategy and organizational goals. Applied projects with small businesses and not-for-profit organizations allow students to apply their knowledge of innovation and change management in the real world situations. 3 graduate credits. Prerequisite: Final semester status, or permission of instructor.

This course focuses on defining projects and identifying how to manage them within healthcare organizations. Students learn to identify project management process groups, methods to formulate and execute goals, break project components into work breakdown structure, and critique project case studies to assure performance improvement. 3 graduate credits. Prerequisites: None.

This course examines models of change within healthcare organizations and identify strategic and leadership decisions necessary to effect positive organizational outcomes. Factors that assure short-term and long-term success in a competitive healthcare environment, including developing partnerships and cultivating human and other resources are analyzed. Students utilize case studies to critique the strategic decision-making process and make recommendations for effective strategic change. Prerequisites: None.

This course focuses on developing skills in analyzing and improving healthcare systems and processes by integrating systems analysis, quality management, operations research techniques, exploratory data analytics and data visualization. Emphasis is placed on the use of organizational data, especially time­stamp data, to study processes and outcomes of care, particularly as it relates to flow analysis and improving work flow. The course relies heavily on hands­ on use of computer­ based modeling tools. Emphasis will be placed on formulating, designing, and constructing models, drawing conclusions from model results, and translating results into written end­user reports to support process improvement and quality improvement efforts. Prerequisite: None.