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Health Care Management
The Masters in Health Care Management
Requirements
Program of Study
Course Descriptions
The Master in Health Care Management
The masters program in Health Care Management combines graduate level training in health care systems and health
services study with training in a traditional business discipline.
Flexibly structured to respond to each student's goals and interests, the program prepares students for careers
in government and the private industry. Persons with undergraduate training in mathematics or social sciences who
wish to receive further education in health services, will find the program particularly appropriate and attractive.
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Requirements
- Core Courses (Four courses)
HCM8841 The Health Services System
HCM6653 Health Care Field Application Project
HCM8843 Operations Health Care Management
- HCM8844 Economics of Health Care and Policy
Concentration Courses (Four courses)
- HCM8845 Managed Care and Integrated Health Care
HCM8849 Financial Management of Health Institutions
HCM8865 Information Technology in the Integrated Health System
HCM8854 Legal Aspects of Health Care
Elective Courses
a) Three courses from following list
HCM8851 Models in Health Policy and Strategy
HCM8855 Management of Health Care for the Elderly
HCM8858 Health Care Marketing
HCM8859 Comparative Health Care Systems
HCM8863 Mgnt & Economics of the Pharmaceutical & Medical
b) One of the following alternatives
- HCM8890 Advanced Study Project Seminar
- HCM8899 Independent Study
(students can either do an Independent Study or an Advanced Study Project for the major, but
not both.)
Internship Requirement
A three-month administrative residency (or summer job) is required and is taken during the summer. The university
helps students to obtain summer positions. Students are encouraged to select residencies consistent with their
career objectives. Acceptable residency institutions include hospitals, consulting firms, government agencies,
and medical product companies.
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Program of Study
The MBA in Health Care Management requires a minimum of twelve graduate level courses, of which four at most
can be transferred from relevant graduate courses at other schools or universities.
The course requirements are as follows:
|
Type
|
No of Courses
|
| Core Course |
4
|
| Concentration Courses |
4
|
| Elective Courses |
4
|
| Total |
12
|
|
Internship
|
three-month administrative residency (or summer job) is required and is taken during the summer. |
BUonline's MBA is a two year program. The first year is dedicated to completing the core requirements curriculum,
which exposes the student to a breadth of subjects and approaches, that provide fundamental business skills, knowledge,
and perspectives. Students are required to complete the core requirements before taking courses in their specified
concentration.
During the second-year students build upon the foundation of the core curriculum as they develop expertise in
their chosen fields. Also students can gain deeper insight into a specific field or explore new disciplines through
elective courses available at BUonline's Graduate Studies.
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Course Descriptions
Core Courses
HCM6653 Health Care Management
This course focuses on leadership and management issues in health care organizations while providing students
with a practice setting to examine and develop their own management skills. The course organizes students into
project teams of four or five members. Each team consults to a local health care organization that has submitted
a project proposal to the course. The teams define the issue and negotiate a contract with the client organization.
By the end of the semester, teams present assessments and recommendations for action to their clients and share
their experience with the class in a series of workshops and cross-team consultations.
Format: Seminar and workshop.
Requirements: A written and oral presentation of the team management study.
Prerequisites: HCM6841. Health care management MBA students only.
HCM8841 The Health Services System
This course provides an overview of the evolution, structure and current issues in the health care system.
It examines the unique features of health care as a product, and the changing relationships between patients, physicians,
hospitals, insurers, employers, communities, and government. The course examines three broad segments of the health
care industry: payers, providers, and suppliers. Within the payer segment, the course examines the sources and
destinations of spending, payer strategy, and efforts to pay for the elderly, the poor, and the medically indigent.
Within the provider segment, the course examines the impact of cost containment and competition on hospitals, physician/hospital
integrated delivery systems, multi-hospital systems, physician practice management firms, and new ambulatory care
sites. This section will also explore efforts to foster a continuum of care across acute, chronic, and public health
care organizations, and the important role of epidemiology in assessing population health needs and risks. Within
the supplier segment, the course will examine developments in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, supplies and information
serving industries.
Format: Lectures. Weekly reading assignments.
HCM8843 Operations Health Care Management
This course introduces and reviews the field of operations management as it relates to the management of integrated
delivery systems. It demonstrates the important relationship between operations research and the management of
complex health care delivery organizations. It will focus on the formulation of competitive strategy in operations
management decision areas, including strategic planning, system design, quality measurement, and productivity analysis.
This course will be of interest to the future health care delivery system manager, operations consultants, and
decision-makers in organizations that support health care delivery.
HCM8844 Economics of Health Care and Policy
This course applies basic economic concepts to analyze the demand for health, the derived demand for medical
care and the demand for health insurance. The second part of the course examines the supply of medical care by
physicians and hospitals; medical technology, and the role of managed care organizations. The implication of adverse
selection, moral hazard, externalities, and asymmetric information will be explored. The third part of the course
examines the rationale for government intervention in medical markets as well as the effectiveness and efficiency
of various health policies, including: price regulation of hospitals, physician payment reform, medical malpractice,
uncompensated care, and physician manpower planning.
Format: Lecture and seminar.
Requirements: Class participation based on readings, and a paper on a topic of your choice.
HCM8845 Managed Care and Integrated Health Care
This course will focus on two interrelated topics: managed care and integrated health care. The section on
managed care will cover organizational models, operational issues in developing a managed care network, implications
of ownership (for-profit vs. non-profit plans), actuarial issues, and the management of physician behavior. The
section on integration will cover both hospital based models (mergers, vertical integration) and physician-based
models , operational issues in developing an integrated system, and the performance of these systems. The course
will also investigate how tightly linked these two topics are.
Format: Lecture
Requirements: Exam, orally-presented term project.
HCM8849 Financial Management of Health Institutions
This course focuses on the financial analysis that informs the strategic and operating decisions of health
care firms, including health insurers, integrated health systems, and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
The lectures will be used to discuss the relevance and mechanics of various analytic methods in health care, including
net present value, option pricing, Monte Carlo simulations, and regression analysis. Cases offer students the opportunity
to make decisions and support those decisions. Case topics include: valuing a physician practice, valuing a managed
care company for a proposed merger, estimating the value of a pharmaceutical drug that is being developed, deciding
whether a biotech company should go public, modeling health insurer profitability under various reimbursement methods,
estimating health system profitability by product line, and developing risk pools.
Format: Lecture and cases.
Requirements: Midterm, final and cases.
Prerequisites: FIN6601, ACC6620/6621 or permission of instructor.
HCM8851 Models in Health Policy and Strategy
This course will review and analyze selected extant and proposed health policy from the perspectives of economic,
sociological, and political theory, methodology, and models. Health care issues, strategies, and programs will
be the subject of comparative analysis for public and quasi public sector decision making. The format is interactive
with significant student participation. The divergence of perspectives on health affairs will be assumed as fundamental
to analysis of health policy and strategy.
Format: Three-hour seminar format facilitates class discussion and participation in the examination of issues.
Requirements: Term paper presenting an analysis of a health policy issue of the student's choosing is the
concentration basis for grading.
Prerequisites: HCM8841 or equivalent, or permission of instructor.
HCM8854 Legal Aspects of Health Care
This course offers a current and historical overview of the regulation of health care delivery in the developed
and developing countries. It examines principles and practical applications of the laws that affect the operational
decisions of health care providers, payers, and managers and that impact development of markets for health care
products and services. Also considered are the social, moral, and ethical issues encountered in trying to balance
the interests, needs and rights of citizens against those of society. For part of the term, the class will divide
into two groups so that students can focus on their choice of (a) health care management or (b) selected issues
of patients' rights.
Format: Lecture and group discussion. The setting is informal and members of the class are expected to participate
actively.
Requirements: The course includes a midterm exam (30 percent), a legal research project and paper (30 percent),
and a final exam (30 percent). Class participation is also considered in the grading (10 percent).
Prerequisites: Most HCM concentrations take the course in their second year and have already taken several
of the basic HCM courses. A background knowledge of the health care system is helpful for full appreciation of
the issues covered. Students need no prior background in law.
HCM8855 Management of Health Care for the Elderly
This course is designed to provide students with a survey of the long-term care industry and its past, current
and future role within the overall health care system in Europe and United States of America and one Arab country.
This will be accomplished through an overview of the elderly population in each region with special attention to
their health and social needs, a review of what "Long Term Care" really means and a look at selected
elderly programs/services with special emphasis on the hospital's evolving role in providing these services. The
future of health care services for the elderly in an era of managed care and integrated delivery systems, will
be discussed along with other new developments.
HCM8858 Health Care Marketing
This course focuses on strategic and tactical marketing issues facing health systems, physicians, and other
providers. The course is not a survey course and requires a basic understanding of marketing. (An undergraduate
or graduate general marketing course is required). Emphasis is placed on understanding branding, service line marketing,
measuring marketing effectiveness, patient retention, patient satisfaction, fraud and abuse restrictions, Internet
marketing, and marketing tactics. The course explores the practical application of these marketing concepts. The
course a group project in addition to the two papers.
HCM8859 Comparative Health Care Systems
Different nations have adopted different approaches to meeting the health care needs of their people. This
course will examine the health care systems of five countries - Lebanon, Saudi Arabia Canada, Japan and the United
States - to see how each accommodates the cultural, demographic and economic, as well as the medical dimensions
of their respective societies. A key objective of the course is to gain insight into Lebanon's system. Grading
will be based upon an exam, other written work, and class participation. Requirements: The course includes
an exam, written work and class participation.
Prerequisites: HCMG8841
HCM8863 Management & Economics of the Pharmaceutical Industry
This course examines managerial, economic and policy issues affecting the pharmaceutical and biotechnology
industries, which are characterized by rapid sales growth, high profitability and playing an important role in
the domestic and global economies. Key issues are the crucial role of R&D, relatively low production cost offset
by high distribution and promotional costs, and heavy intervention by government in quality assurance and pricing.
The approach is multidisciplinary and the focus is global. Industry experts from various disciplines address the
managerial, marketing, economic and public policy challenges faced by firms in these industries.
HCM8865 Information Technology in the Integrated Health System
This course is about the strategic role of health care information technology and its uses in the management
of health plans and delivery systems. Emphasis will be placed on learning how to link information tools to the
business mission of the health care organization. This course will be of interest to future health care delivery
system managers, consultants, and decision makers who must rely upon or manage information technology to accomplish
their strategic objectives. It will introduce key health care technologies, demonstrate how advances in other industries
can be beneficial to health care, explain cost-benefit analysis of information technology and facilitate independent
thought about the strengths and weaknesses of information technology in health care delivery.
HCM8890 Advanced Study Project Seminar
This seminar is run as a series of independent studies for students completing the advanced study project requirement.
Project proposals are submitted and reviewed by the course instructor. Individual supervision of work is provided
throughout the semester.
Prerequisites: Second-year health care management MBA students. This is the capstone course for health care
management concentration.
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