Healthcare Administration

Students will learn the key principles and practices of healthcare management. The structure and personnel of various healthcare organizations will be examined, especially those aspects of the sector shaped by the ethical and legal responsibilities associated with various professional roles. The content is broadly applicable to healthcare enterprises of every kind, such as public health organizations, individual and group physician practices, hospitals and health systems, and third-party payers and administrators.

In this course, students focus on building their understanding and use of core medical vocabulary by analyzing word structure using prefix, suffix, root, and the principles of connecting and combining forms. Students will be able to categorize medical terms by their relation to human anatomy, to individual medical specialties, and to types of pathologies.

This course introduces students to the practice and processes of information management in various health care organizations. The main focus will be on the relation between information systems and the management of health care delivery processes. The intent of the course is to identify the key issues currently confronting the management of health care information systems and to suggest reasonable responses. Regulatory and financial implications are also examined.

The course applies theory and concepts from the field of Organizational Behavior to the function of various organizations found commonly in the healthcare delivery system. The student will develop a basis for understanding and analyzing issues, problems, and patterns of behavior that frequently develop within such organizations, as well as become familiar with systems for improving organizational performance. The course will emphasize the practical application of various theories of human behavior at work. Specific topics include healthcare organization leadership, motivation, teamwork, career issues, work roles, job enrichment, employee participation, and the integration of work and non-work lives.

Students will explore the extent to which law and regulatory policy affect the delivery of healthcare. Topics studied will include: (i) patient safety, medical error, and healthcare quality improvement; (ii) patient rights (e.g., provider disclosure); (iii) healthcare accountability (e.g., medical liability); and (iv) healthcare access (e.g., universal coverage), along with other pertinent issues. The roles of governmental and associational healthcare regulatory and licensure agencies are examined, as is their impact on the operation of healthcare as a business.

This course will provide an overview of the management strategies that are typically used by healthcare administrators to define, pursue, and achieve enterprise objectives. Students will examine the organizational structure and inter-relationships of the various components of the US healthcare delivery system. The focus will be on administrative processes such as planning, resource allocation, strategic partnering, evaluation and assessment, productivity measures, and continuous quality improvement. Students will also learn to identify strategic issues in complex environments and how to formulate effective responses.

This course undertakes to examine the healthcare sector using economic market and non-market models. The features of the market for health services are described, emphasizing the characteristics that make this market behave differently than those for other goods and services.

In this course, students will examine the role of HR professionals in meeting the staffing requirements of healthcare organizations. Issues to be covered include staffing, credentialing, maintaining professional standards, dispute resolution, risk management, and other functions critical to the viability of healthcare organizations.

This course integrates the principles of financial and managerial accounting as they apply to the healthcare sector. Students will become familiar with the standard system of accounts used by healthcare organizations. They will also learn to interpret the financial statements commonly employed to assess and manage the financial status of healthcare organizations.

This course provides an overview of the essential elements of the U.S. Healthcare System. It is designed to introduce students in the Bachelor of Healthcare Administration (BHA) Program to the system as a whole. Instruction will emphasize the historical development of the system and how over time it has been affected by cultural, political, economic, and technological trends. Upon completion of the course, students will better understand the uniqueness of the U.S. system as a result of the decentralized approach to financing and developing the distribution of healthcare resources throughout the society.

This course focuses on the collection and management of healthcare information at the system, institutional, and patient levels. It presents the role of such information in the management of healthcare organizations in terms of its use in determining provider reimbursement, evaluating healthcare quality, managing the use of resources, researching best practices, integrating provider systems, and managing the health status of large populations.

This course addresses the risk of diseases within the healthcare setting and methods for minimizing this risk. It offers an overview of medically important microbes and their transmission, basic infection control measures, effective workplace practice and procedures, and regulatory requirements for monitoring and reporting the incidence of infectious diseases occurring in healthcare settings.

This course surveys the development of the public health system and its historic impact on both the health and the healthcare delivery system of the United States. Using the epidemiological model, students will examine the impact of environmental factors on disease trends as well as communicable disease controls. Students will develop fundamental skills in community health assessment and health promotion strategies.

This course examines the critical nature of supply chain management in the effective and efficient provision of healthcare services. Matching supply with demand is a primary challenge for any enterprise but is vital in the healthcare system. Students will learn the basic principles of supply chain management and apply them to the challenges of maintaining the availability of critical services and materials in healthcare institutions.

Healthcare providers, both institutional and individual, are required to comply with a vast array of regulations. This course will examine the nature and purpose of those regulations and their impact on the planning, delivery, and organization of healthcare services.

This course examines the relationship between healthcare quality assurance and organizational performance assessment. The student is introduced to various methodologies for assessing both the processes and outcomes of health treatment, both in the aggregate and on a case basis. The role of the governing bodies of healthcare organizations in ensuring compliance with regulatory standards is investigated.

In this course, students will employ a case study approach to a common management issue in healthcare administration. Using the concepts and methodologies studied throughout the program, they will, in a series of papers and presentations, examine the facets of the issue they have chosen, project the consequences of various administrative approaches, and reflect on their personal ethical perspectives regarding managerial alternatives. Each student is expected to integrate knowledge and skills gained from previous courses in the program by formulating a variety of strategies to manage a challenge they will encounter in the healthcare environment. Students will also assess the impact of their educational experiences on their ethical perspectives and critical thinking skills through a process of self assessment.

This course will provide students with an integration of professional and academic experience through internships with healthcare organizations. This course serves as an alternative to HCA 410 Capstone course in Healthcare Administration. HCA 490 can be taken for three to six credit hours, depending on the amount of time the student engages with the internship site.