Online Bachelor’s in Healthcare Administration and Management

The opportunities for students, in this first course, for all majors are to learn personal and professional leadership styles and drivers by providing an overview of leadership basics. Leadership skills are utilized across fields of study. Regardless of the roles individuals assume in an organization, they will need to communicate effectively, influence others, and understand the way they respond to others and why. The course engages students in discussion, exploration, and application of leadership skills, principles, and practices. Students will learn about the relationships and connections leaders have with individuals and organizations. Topics include leadership communication, motivation, style, and characteristics.

Credits: 3

Students are introduced to the U.S. healthcare system. The historical background including reform, shift in hospital and ambulatory care, public health’s influence, and evolving roles of stakeholders are discussed. Impact of health information technology, privacy, and legal/ethical issues are assessed. For profit versus not-for-profit entities are examined and the US healthcare system is contrasted to several other developed nation’s health systems. The influence of quality and safety initiatives, competition within the healthcare industry, and impact on patient care are evaluated. Recommended Prior Course: ORG300. Students cannot receive credit for HCM310 and HSC300 as they are considered duplicative. 

Credits: 3

Students will focus on the historical context of health care delivery and policy-making procedures. Students will focus on the political, economic, and social aspects of health care policy impacting both providers and consumers of services. Further discussion will provide insight into the complexity of healthcare policy formation, how the policy-making process works, and how moral and ethical decision-making at the policy level influence health care providers within various institutional settings. Public health awareness and preparedness will also be discussed as related to influencing political officials to formalize policy-making efforts through legislative reform. Recommended Prior Course: HCM310

Credits: 3

This course will offer the student a basic overview regarding healthcare law in the United States and introduce students to the moral and ethical issues that healthcare providers are confronted with daily. It will provide a systemic analysis of healthcare provider services and moral, ethical, and legal issues that may involve healthcare professionals, patients, hospitals, clinics, and other organizations. Students will review legal, moral, and ethical constructs shaping today's healthcare environment, analyze the different types of reasoning in the decision-making process, and utilize various concepts to make identifiable analysis of healthcare challenges and issues. Readings and discussions will include the current standards surrounding the legal and ethical parameters impacting patients and healthcare workers. Topics include informed consent, patient confidentiality laws, elder care and abuse, end-of-life-planning, standard of care, and malpractice. Recommended Prior Course: HCM320. Students cannot receive credit for HCM345 and HSC320 as they are considered duplicative.

Credits: 3

In this course, students will explore finance, beginning with an introduction to basic health care finance concepts. Students will examine financial management and accounting principles in health care organizations. Students will also investigate claims processing, as well as government payer types. Topics will include managed care organizations, Medicare prospective payment systems, revenue cycle management (RCM) and health care fraud and abuse. Finally, students will take a closer look at government incentive programs for their final project. Recommended Prior Course: HCM310

Credits: 3

In this course the student is provided with an understanding of healthcare quality improvement including methods and tools to increase patient safety, improve healthcare outcomes and reduce risk in the healthcare setting.  It focuses on applying expert knowledge and management expertise to the multiple challenges’ managers face in healthcare organizations. Special emphasis is placed on the role of work teams in quality improvement and risk reduction, including understanding the critical success factors for effective team performance. Additional reading and course discussions include assessing risk in complex healthcare organizations, assessing the value of different management techniques to monitor, anticipate, reduce, and eliminate disruptive and dangerous risks. The fundamental objective of this course is for the student to be able to apply quality and risk management principles in diverse healthcare environments in order to improve patient safety and clinical outcomes. Recommended Prior Course: HCM310 

Credits: 3

Students are provided with practical knowledge and application of economic theories and principles for understanding healthcare economic issues related to the amount, organization, and distribution of healthcare resources in the United States. Content provides for comprehension and application of economic principles such as supply and demand, economic theories, resources allocation, competitive markets, market evaluation methods, and cost effectiveness analysis.  Material also examines decision making and the consequences of resource scarcity in the healthcare industry. Students will discuss issues and controversies surrounding the federal and state government’s role in financing and regulating health services. Recommended Prior Course: HCM310 

Credits: 3

Managed care and health insurance covers healthcare issues surrounding management, insurance, and changes in payment mechanisms. In this course, students will investigate the history of Managed Care; and about moral hazard and sale of health benefits coverage; governance, and administration; and provider networks. Topics include fundamentals of cost-containment measures, quality healthcare, and complexities of Medicare Advantage payment plans and Medicaid expansion that occurred under the Affordable Care Act. Recommended Prior Course: HCM310. Students cannot receive credit for HCM400 and HSC371 as they are considered duplicative.

Credits: 3

Throughout HRM300, students will explore the history and future of HRM practices. They will learn about HRM theories and how to apply them in a real-world environment. Details regarding HR functions such as recruitment, selection and onboarding, training and development, performance management, compensation and benefits, and the legal aspects of employee and labor relations will be addressed throughout this course.

Credits: 3

This course provides students with an overview of important aspects of managing both small and large projects, including assessment of needs, development of specifications, acquisition of labor and materials, optimization of schedules, controlling costs, and ensuring outcomes and deliverables. Students learn project management techniques, ways that projects can be managed and organized, and how to plan and control a project. Utilization of software tools providing efficient and effective processes is emphasized. Students who take MGT410 should not take PJM310. 

Credits: 3

In this course students will be introduced to healthcare management in various healthcare settings. Students will gain understanding of how to manage through strategy, planning, and directing with leadership. Workforce performance, quality management, process improvement, financial performance, healthcare analytics, and supply chain management are addressed. Current leadership roles in healthcare require the integration of a high level of patient care based on current standards and an understanding of how older models of management and leadership can be blended with contemporary practice. Recommended Prior Course: HCM310. Students cannot receive credit for HCM410 and HSC370 as they are considered duplicative.

Credits: 3

Students will be introduced to the multifaceted concepts of population health as it relates to stakeholders in the health system, determinants of health, and sociopolitical factors. Major topics include health care policy and reform, health behavior change, data analytics for population disease management, workplace health, and translation of effective research into practice. Special emphasis will be placed on developing basic skills relevant to community assessment and health promotion strategies. Assignments and discussions provide opportunities to apply epidemiological analysis techniques with an emphasis on assessment of challenges and benefits of population-based interventions. Recommended Prior Course: HCM310

Credits: 3

In this course students will examine concepts of knowledge creation, data management and stewardship, use of metrics, and clinical and administrative applications in the provision of health care. The critical nature of aligning health information systems (HIS) with strategy is explored. Methods and processes related to selection and application in use of technology needed to make informed business decisions are discussed as are HIS governance, regulatory compliance, and risk management. Students will gain understanding of the opportunities and challenges of implementing robust and effective information management systems in a healthcare setting. Recommended Prior Course: HCM310

Credits: 3

In this course students will examine aspects of strategy formulation and implementation in health care organizations. A multi-step process is presented for creating and managing a strategic plan and roles of finance, marketing, and human resource departments in the process are discussed. Legal implications and the impact on an organization’s culture are considered. Strategic options such as acquisition and reorganization are explored and tools commonly used for analyzing strategic situations such as Balanced Scorecard, Six Sigma, and SWOT are evaluated. Recommended Prior Courses: HCM310 and HCM410 

Credits: 3

In this course, students will analyze current and future alternatives to U.S. health policy. Economic, political science, management, communications, technology, and public health viewpoints are presented. The political process that influences planning in various health care settings are assessed. Roles, skills, and leadership that healthcare professionals can bring to the policy making process are discussed. Recommended Prior Courses: HCM460, ORG300. 

Credits: 3