Health Care Management
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Online Degree Program

Management Information Systems is designed for business students who want an in-depth look at how business firms use information technologies and systems to achieve corporate objectives. Information systems are one of the major tools available to business managers for achieving operational excellence, developing new products and services, improving decision-making, and achieving competitive advantage.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Analyze the academic disciplines used to study information systems and how each contributes to an understanding of information systems.
• Assess the challenges posed by strategic information systems and how they should be addressed.
• Assess how the Internet and Internet technologies work and how they support communication and e-business.
• Examine the major factors that are driving the internationalization of business.

Human Resource Management examines the concepts, models, procedures, tools, and techniques of human resource management. Aspects of the individual and how the work environment influences people at work is explored, and the emphasis on recent and relevant findings from the behavioral sciences and other disciplines is discussed to help students apply appropriate human resource approaches in their organizational settings.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Distinguish the human resources responsibilities of line and staff (HR) managers.
• Cite specific discriminatory personnel management practices in recruitment, selection, promotion, transfer, layoffs, and benefits.
• Discern at least three methods of collecting job analysis information including interviews, questionnaires, and observation.
• Convey at least six factors that affect the usefulness of interviews.
• Analyze important factors that shape ethical behavior at work.

Marketing Management explores various marketing theories and practices with emphasis on four key dimensions of holistic marketing: internal marketing, integrated marketing, relationship marketing, and performance marketing. We will also discuss today’s economic, environmental, and technological changes in marketing, as well as address the topics of corporate social responsibility, business ethics, sustainability, and the importance of growth to organizations.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Analyze the various fundamental marketing concepts.
• Examine how marketing management has changed over time.
• Distinguish between the necessary tasks for successful marketing management.
• Evaluate the components of a modern marketing information system.

Financial Management is intended to be a practical guide for students with little to no prior knowledge in financial management. Through the use of real-world examples and case studies, financial concepts are applied and reviewed as they relate to various areas of business. Finally, the course is designed to help aspiring nonfinancial managers and executives to communicate better with financial managers, accountants, and controllers within their organizations.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Provide nonfinancial managers with insight into the various activities of a firm that affect cash flows.
• Assist current and future managers in developing the analytical skills necessary for evaluating business problems and opportunities from a financial perspective.
• Help nonfinancial managers better understand key concepts related to some of the major decisions facing financial managers.

Leadership focuses on leadership theories that seek to explain how traits, behaviors, or situational factors influence leadership style and effectiveness. Students will develop the competencies and skills to immediately start using these principles in their personal and professional lives. The course also explores the critical question of how well a leader is able to influence followers to achieve group objectives—this is what distinguishes effective from ineffective leaders.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Analyze classical and contemporary leadership theories.
• Examine the importance of managerial leadership skills.
• Differentiate between transformational and transactional leadership.
• Evaluate the relationships among negotiation and conflict, influencing tactics, power, and politics.
• Examine the importance of ethical principles, personal and company values, and socially responsible leadership practices.

Employee Training and Development provides students with insight into the different methods of training and development for company—as well as personal—success. New technologies, such as virtual learning and big data, allow for greater accessibility to various training content and revision of traditional training and development techniques. There are effective and relevant training and development methods for every stage of an employee’s career.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Understand the context of training and development.
• Grasp the fundamentals of training design.
• Identify different training and development methods available.
• Cite examples of social responsibility and the future of training.
• Propose how training can help with career management.

Strategic Management explores new strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation concepts and techniques in business organizations. Utilizing this new knowledge, coupled with knowledge acquired from other business courses, students will be able to chart the future direction of different organizations.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Assess the strategic management process.
• Analyze the benefits of good strategic management.
• Consider the value of establishing long-term objectives.
• Determine a three-stage framework for choosing among alternative strategies.
• Evaluate market segmentation and product positioning as strategy implementation tools.
• Determine a practical framework for evaluating strategies.

Modern Management provides insight into current management trends. Today, managers have more responsibility than ever. Meeting the needs of a growing customer base, a diverse workforce, and production challenges all pose unique problems for managers. Through new technology, there is more information available to help managers plan, control, and organize their business.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Comprehend the importance of management to society and individuals.
• Appreciate both arguments for and against the assumption of social responsibilities by businesses.
• Recognize the advantages of having diversity in the workforce.
• Distinguish what kind of changes should be made within an organization and how to implement those changes.
• Assess production, productivity and quality.

Health Care in America provides a comprehensive overview of the basic structures and operations of the U.S. health care system, from its historical origins and resources to its individual services, costs, and quality. Using a unique “systems” approach, it brings together an extraordinary breadth of information and a solid overview of how the various components fit together.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Emphasize why it is important for health care managers to understand the intricacies of the health care delivery system.
• Explore some of the developments and key forces that will likely shape the delivery of health services in the future.
• Differentiate between the concepts of group insurance, self-insurance, individual health insurance, and managed care.
• Develop an understanding of the various types of outpatient settings and services.
• Analyze the future challenges in wellness and prevention, chronic care, and long-term care.

Ethical and Legal Issues for Health Care Professionals will help students prepare for the ethical issues they will experience on the job and teach them how to evaluate the right and wrong courses of action when faced with complicated legal problems. Through contemporary topics presented with a real-world perspective, students will develop the critical thinking skills needed for the moral dilemmas they will encounter in the health care environment.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Analyze what ethics is, its importance, and its application to certain health care dilemmas.
• Evaluate relevant ethical theories and principles.
• Examine various historical events that have had an impact on the resolution of ethical dilemmas.
• Assess a variety of ethical and legal issues that arise in selected health care professions (e.g., nursing, emergency services, laboratory, pharmacy, and radiology).
• Evaluate how various codes of professional ethics address a patient’s right to informed consent and self-determination.

Multicultural Health Care explores multicultural models of health, illness, and treatments or therapies to deepen the student’s understanding of the scientific, sociocultural, philosophical, psychological, and spiritual foundations of various unconventional healing systems and their approaches to prevention, health promotion, healing, and maintenance of well-being. These multicultural or alternative approaches to health care and to modern conventional medicine are seen as complementary to the biomedical model as they blend body/mind/spirit, science, tradition, and cross-cultural avenues of diagnosis.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Examine how historical factors, behaviors, and belief systems within a particular culture influence a person’s views of health, illness, treatment, and health care.
• Analyze the major concepts and principles governing the multicultural healing approaches or alternative healing systems presented throughout this course.
• Define and explain common terms related to the various alternative-healing systems discussed.
• Compare and contrast some of the emotional, spiritual, psychological, physical, geographical, and behavioral factors influencing health, the manifestation of illnesses, and the therapeutic techniques used in the various cultural healing systems presented.
• Assess various approaches practitioners use to diagnose and treat illnesses within their particular medical system.

Organizational Behavior in Health Care integrates the study of organizational behavior and organizational theory within the dynamic context of the healthcare industry. Students will explore healthcare organizations from both the micro-level (individual behavior in leadership, intrapersonal and interpersonal issues, groups and teams, and managing organizational change), as well as the macro-level (the organization as a whole).

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Analyze the major challenges facing today and tomorrow’s health care organizations and health care managers.
• Evaluate why changes in U.S. demographics affect the healthcare industry.
• Classify the common barriers to communication and utilize various methods to overcome communication barriers.
• Apply the various contingency theories of leadership to today’s work environments.
• Examine how stress can negatively affect individuals and organizations.
• Analyze the importance of group dynamics.

The Research Process is a required course for all of the master’s degree programs offered at the University. This course provides an overview of the various research methods, research design, guidance in planning research strategy, and documentation of research data. It also explores and analyzes examples of research from many different disciplines, the development and use of computer-aided research, writing skills, and logical argumentation techniques required in the research field.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate competencies comparable to those achieved within traditional institutions of higher learning that require resident instruction and evaluation.
• Exhibit a broad comprehension of research methodologies utilized in the social sciences, health sciences, government, business, and other related fields.
• Analyze, synthesize and evaluate the knowledge acquired in this subject area and apply it in practical situations.

Students enrolled in the M.B.A. in Health Care Management degree program will complete a Final Comprehensive Examination. The final examination is a combination of essay, short answer and multiple choice examination questions, requiring students to integrate knowledge acquired across the educational program. The Final Comprehensive Examination is graded on a pass/no pass basis. Students may repeat any portion until they receive a passing score.