The healthcare industry is evolving rapidly, requiring skilled professionals who can navigate complex regulations, optimize financial performance, and improve patient outcomes. The Health Services Administration MBA specialization prepares students for leadership roles in hospital administration, insurance, and healthcare consulting, focusing on healthcare law, financial management, policy development, and quality control.
Transforming Healthcare Leadership
By gaining expertise in healthcare operations and strategic planning, graduates are equipped to enhance organizational efficiency and address the challenges of modern healthcare systems.
Core Course Descriptions
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This course focuses on the opportunities and risks of the complex environment of international business, with an emphasis on the unique problems involved in managing international operations. Main topics include foreign economic, political, legal, and cultural environments; international market analysis; foreign exchange; political risk assessment; international human resource management; and the mechanics of import and export transactions. Special emphasis is placed on leveraging core competencies in the global marketplace.
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This course examines the role of information systems in supporting a wide range of organizational functions. Areas to be explored include the use of information systems to support administrative operations, to support decision making and to support overall strategic initiatives and corporate philosophies. This course is oriented toward the general business student, not the technical specialist. The course will provide a managerial perspective on the use, design, and evaluation of information systems.
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The objective of this course is the development of the student's understanding of financial theory, and the ability to apply the techniques and methods of finance to business problems. Topics include the financial environment; value maximization; capital budgeting; valuation techniques; financial planning and forecasting; capital structure and the cost of capital; options theory; and corporate restructuring. Prerequisites: MBA 660 or permission of the instructor.
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This course will examine current marketing concepts and practices using an analytical approach to the development of marketing policies in a dynamic environment. Major topic areas that will be covered are: advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, pricing, product mix development and analysis; selection of distribution channels; marketing research; consumer behavior; and strategy development.
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Accounting cycle, relevance and limitations of cost information in managerial decision-making, emphasis on cost systems, determination and allocation of overhead, analysis of cost variances, direct costing, flexible budgets, break-even analysis, and capital budgeting.
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This course emphasizes the application of macroeconomic and microeconomic theory in management decision-making and in the development and implementation of business strategy and tactics. The course focuses on techniques and models for monitoring and analyzing macroeconomic conditions; international economic trends; and the production, cost, and pricing decision of firms under different market structures.
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This course introduces the graduate student to the global environment of business, the nature and state of competition and competitive strategy at the corporate, business and operational levels, the cross-relationship among business functions, entrepreneurial attitudes, the interests of the various stockholders in the firm, and the social and ethical responsibilities of business.
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Effective leadership in implementing strategy within organizations requires the ability to initiate and influence change, perhaps even radical transformation. This in turn requires understanding the dynamics of organizational learning and change, as well as the nature of collective action in organizations. This understanding will be pursued by using different theories and models to examine organizational processes, culture, knowledge, politics, ethics, and their relationship to each other and to the organization's external environment. Personal career development within this framework will also be discussed. Prerequisites: MBA 621, 681, 646, 617, 682.
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This course is structured to create an awareness of and sensitivity to the social, legal, and ethical issues which influence the management of business enterprises. Topics such as strategy and the nonmarket environment, nonmarket strategies and government institutions, government and markets, international business and nonmarket issues, and ethics and responsibility are considered.
Health Services Administration Specialization Electives
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The provision of healthcare services is one of the most regulated industries in the United States. As the law and healthcare delivery become more interconnected, it is essential for those in the industry to keep pace with the significant changes in health law and their impact on the healthcare system. A strong background in health regulation is therefore becoming increasingly relevant to both clinical practice and to organizational management. Completion of this course will provide a basic understanding of such legal issues as civil liabilities including medical malpractice, professional fees splitting, self—referrals, and licensing, administrative, and corporate law/ governance pertaining to health services. Appropriate health administration requires not only understanding of applicable laws and regulations, but of the distinct ethical and social issues presented by the provision of healthcare services. Administrators, health professionals, patients, and even communities as a whole are stakeholders in the ethical provision of health services. Qualified administrators and managers therefore are able to competently focus not only on the legal and business aspects of their field, but also on the social and behavioral aspects of the health administration from an ethical standpoint. This course therefore provides a practical and applicable framework to analyze the many complex issues and competing interests that arise in the modern healthcare industry.
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This course provides a foundation for the implementation of quality management activities in the health care industry. Examines theory, methods, and assessment tools health care managers and health professionals currently use, creating an environment in which quality can be measured and improved. The course introduces the process of performance improvement as continuous and dynamic through process design, data collection, analysis, implementation, and ongoing evaluation.
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This course examines the complex financial systems within today's healthcare environment and provides an understanding of the basics of health insurance and public funding programs, managed care contracting, and how services are paid. This course introduces the student to methods of healthcare reimbursement. An initiation of the student into the language of healthcare reimbursement is also included. Students will explore principles of reimbursement as it applies to various types of health care settings. This course is also designed to get students familiar with the most important principles and applications of healthcare finance, with roughly equal coverage of accounting and financial management, which will provide the student with an understanding of the health system from a financial management perspective. This perspective will enable the student to understand the complex nature of health system organization and to evaluate the financial performance of healthcare firms. Students will develop an understanding of the structure and function of health systems financing, as well as the interrelationships among the component parts. The topics include the types and nature of various health system processes and institutions; how they evolved; their current status and possible future development.