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:

• Evaluate the role and key terminology of information sytems in global business today.
• Demonstrate an understanding of information technology infrastructure.
• Evaluate key system applications for the digital age.
• Examine key components and best practices of building and managing information systems.
• Demonstrate proficiency with academic writing related to information systems.

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:

• Identify and define human resource management including commonly used terms, key principles, and best practices.
• Demonstrate an understanding of human resource management processes including recruitment, placement, training, and development.
• Examine the role of compensation in human resource management in regard to strategic pay plans, benefits and financial incentives.
• Discuss factors influencing the field of human resource management including, current trends, risk management, employee relations and global applications.
• Demonstrate proficiency with academic writing related to human resource management.

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:

• Define and understand the scope of marketing management.
• Examine the process of capturing marketing insights.
• Discuss forces influencing the field of marketing management including data collection, current trends, customer relationships, best practices, and globalization.
• Analyze the importance of creating, delivering and communicating value in marketing management.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the key elements of marketing including branding, positioning, identifying segments and targets, and research.
• Demonstrate proficiency with academic writing related to marketing management.

Financial Management is designed to help aspiring nonfinancial managers and executives communicate better with financial managers, accountants, and controllers within their organizations. Through the use of real-world examples and case studies, financial concepts are applied and reviewed as they relate to various areas of finance and management.

Course Objectives

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

• Identify and define financial management including commonly used terms, concepts, key principles, and best practices.
• Examine the processes related to valuing stock and bonds, and understanding risk and return.
• Analyze the processes for capital budgeting.
• Demonstrate an understanding of financial planning and evaluating performance.
• Demonstrate proficiency with academic writing related to financial management.

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:

• Identify and define leadership, and examine the importance of developing leadership skills.
• Trace the evolution of leadership and discuss historical approaches to leadership.
• Examine research perspectives, theories, and best practices related to leadership.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the personal side of leadership, the leader as a relationship builder and social architect.
• Demonstrate proficiency with academic writing related to leadership.

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:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the context of training and development.
• Identify and describe the fundamentals and best practices of training design.
• Evaluate different training and development methods available.
• Examine issues related to social responsibility, and analyze future trends and implications for training.
• Demonstrate proficiency with academic writing related to employee development and training.

Strategic Management explores strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation concepts and techniques in business organizations. Topics covered include the concept of a business model, the strategic significance of a company’s scope of operations, competing in international markets, and the role of corporate culture and leadership in reaching strategic objectives, as well as ethics, corporate social responsibility, and environmental sustainability as they pertain to strategy.

Course Objectives

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

• Identify and define the study of strategic management including commonly used terms and key principles.
• Demonstrate an understanding of processes related to strategic management including strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategy evaluation.
• Evaluate key issues in strategic management including business ethics, social responsibility, global applications, the environment, competition, and technology.
• Examine best practices for strategic management case analysis.
• Demonstrate proficiency with academic writing related to strategic management.

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:

• Identify and define the study of management including commonly used terms and key principles.
• Discuss the role and importance of management to society and individuals.
• Analyze the challenges related to modern management including sustainability, social responsibility, diversity, and global applications.
• Describe the key functions of the management process including planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.
• Demonstrate proficiency with academic writing related to modern management.

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:

• Understand the basic concepts of health and describe the nature of the U.S. healthcare system.
• Demonstrate an understanding of health system resources including financing, health service professionals, and medical technology.
• Examine the healthcare system processes regarding patient care.
• Describe healthcare system outcomes including cost, access, quality, and policy.
• Identify forces of future change in healthcare delivery and analyze global issues related to healthcare.
• Demonstrate proficiency with academic writing related to delivering health care in America.

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:

• Define ethics, and analyze its importance and application to certain health care dilemmas.
• Evaluate relevant ethical theories and principles.
• Demonstrate an understanding of contemporary ethical dilemmas and end-of-life dilemmas.
• Assess a variety of ethical and legal issues that arise in selected health care professions, and analyze the function and purpose of ethics committees.
• Examine patients rights and responsibilities as well as the issue of informed consent.
• Demonstrate proficiency with academic writing related to ethical and legal issues for health care professionals.

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:

• Define the foundations of multicultural health, and describe the importance of cultural competency.
• Demonstrate an understanding of theories and models related to multicultural health.
• Analyze issues related to specific cultural groups regarding their general philosophies of health, healing traditions, risk factors, and common health problems.
• Examine future trends for eliminating health disparities.
• Demonstrate proficiency with academic writing related to multicultural health care.

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:

• Define the history and important aspects of organizational behavior related to healthcare.
• Analyze behaviors from an individual, group, and team perspective as they relate to a healthcare organization.
• Evaluate theories of motivation and leadership, and their relationship to organizational behavior.
• Describe the role of organizational change, theory, and design in healthcare.
• Demonstrate proficiency with academic writing related to organizational behavior in health care.

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:

• Define research, analyze its importance, and examine the different types of research.
• Examine the role of ethics and informed consent in research.
• Evaluate the relationship between reliability and validity, and explain its importance in the research process.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the process of writing a research proposal and a manuscript.
• Demonstrate proficiency with academic writing related to the research process.

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.