Healthcare Administration

Mission and Learning Outcomes

The mission of the Healthcare Administration program prepares students for a variety of career directions in the healthcare industry. This professional degree program will provide students with a firm academic foundation that is career relevant and establishes a viable bridge to graduate study in a variety of healthcare related fields. The curriculum develops critical thinking skills, knowledge acquisition and values clarification; key to transitioning into the complex and dynamic landscape of healthcare. An internship requirement provides for experiential learning outside the classroom and allows students to acquire the knowledge and practical skills that prepare them for positions in the field of healthcare administration.

  • Students will describe the U.S. healthcare system and understand the social, cultural, political, strategic, and economic issues that impact the system
  • Students will demonstrate an understanding of micro and management and leadership principles and practices, focusing on healthcare organizational systems in the United States
  • Students will articulate the concepts of quality and the process of quality improvement across the healthcare continuum
  • Students will identify the role, functions, and applications of strategic planning in healthcare organizations; applying qualitative and quantitative research principles to a capstone project
  • Students will explain how policymaking interacts with legal and ethical issues in the healthcare environment

Majors, Minors and Certificates

Courses

HCA201: Introduction to Healthcare Mgmt

Credits 3
This course introduces the contemporary and historical nature, organization, functions, policies, processes, structures, tasks, roles, and personnel within the complex inter-related healthcare systems in the United States. Global healthcare systems and perspectives will also be explored. It includes a general overview of fundamental management principles and practices within the healthcare environment, as well as the ever-changing infrastructure of the health-services industry. Current political, economic, ethical, professional, legal, financial, patient, and technological topics will be explored

HCA315: Fundamentals of Epidemiology

Credits 3
Epidemiology is one of the pillars of public health. Epidemiologists study the distribution and determinants of disease in human populations; they also develop and test ways to prevent and control disease. The discipline covers the full range of disease occurrence, including genetic and environmental causes for both infectious and noninfectious diseases. Increasingly, epidemiologists view causation in the broadest sense, as extending from molecular factors at the one extreme, to social and cultural determinants at the other.

HCA340: Healthcare Finance

Credits 3

This course offers a systemic overview of the financial operations common of healthcare organizations, both in the private and public sector. Upon completion students will have gained an understanding of various day-to-day financial components enabling healthcare service delivery. Student will acquire a foundational understanding of healthcare financial tools and how to apply these tools. Prerequisites: HCA201 Introduction to Healthcare Administration and FM224 Principles of Financial Management.

HCA350: Healthcare Systems & Quality Mgmt

Credits 3

This course explores issues related to organized delivery systems and the role of healthcare organizations within them. The course blends practice with theory, introducing issues common to the success or failure of health care systems. Additionally, this course introduces the concept of quality and the process of quality improvement across the health care continuum. This course focuses on the history and evolution of quality; its terms, principles, theories, and practices. The student is introduced to a diverse collection of methods of improving quality; including but not limited to: continuous quality improvement, total quality management, and to the guidelines for implementing these quality improvement processes. Prerequisite- HCA201 Introduction to Healthcare Management

HCA360: Healthcare Ethics, Policy, and Law

Credits 3

Engaging students in critical thinking, this class combines an overview of how policymaking interacts with legal and ethical issues in the healthcare environment. This course provides a framework for exploring how the interrelationship of policy making in the United States embedded in our legal system has ethical implications for all stakeholders. Students will develop an understanding of approaches and methods in policy making and how policy affects and is affected by our legal system. There will be an emphasis on analyzing healthcare ethical issues that arise in the enactment of policy and law. Prerequisites: HCA201 or EMSP300.

HCA390: Healthcare Admin Internship

Credits 3
This course provides an opportunity to gain exposure to and experience in the administration of healthcare organizations. The internship typically is completed during the junior or senior year but can be completed earlier with the approval of the academic advisor. The internship should be arranged with the assistance of the major internship advisor. An agreement is drawn up and approved by the student, the proposed employer, and the major internship advisor. Internships require a minimum of 55 hours of on-the-job work for each hour of credit. Evaluation is made by the major internship advisor and in consultation with the employer. Prerequisites: junior class standing, permission of the academic advisor and the Dean or Dean’s designee.

HCA450: Leadership & Management Healthcare

Credits 3

This course provides a micro and macro-overview of management and leadership principles and practices focusing on healthcare organizational systems in the United States. Global perspectives will be introduced as well. Students will develop an appreciation and awareness for the complexities of healthcare institutions and their roles as leaders interacting with a myriad of constituencies embedded within complex systems. Combining theory, an examination of their own behavior, and individual and group experiential exercises, students will learn to apply their knowledge to address organizational, systemic and leadership challenges inherent within the healthcare arena. Prerequisites- HCA201 Introduction to Healthcare Management, MN321 Organizational Behavior and MN201 Principles of Management.

HCA495: Senior Independent Project

Credits 4
The student will develop a project arranged with the assistance of the major advisor and the approval of the Dean or Dean’s designee. Projects include a thesis, business plan, or other significant research project. Prerequisites: senior class standing; declared major in the School of Business or permission of the Dean or Dean’s designee.