Health Policy & Management

(Note for Prospective Applicants: In fall 2012, the School will offer a specialized Master of Public Health in Healthcare Management degree designed to integrate timely and relevant management theory, academic excellence, and practical skills. Visit the Prospective Student site for more information.)

The Management Track is designed to meet the needs of students planning careers related to the delivery of health services. The curriculum prepares students for employment in many sectors, including hospitals, community health organizations, insurers, pharmaceuticals, consulting, and health departments.

Our full-time Management Track is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation Healthcare Management Education (CAHME).

Competencies

Graduates of the full-time management program will develop competencies in the following areas:

 Analytical Thinking
• Break down problems
• Understand and assess basic relationships
• Recognize and analyze complex relationships

Community Orientation
• Understand the needs and values of the community and the importance of gathering data for this understanding
• Recognize the importance of clear communication with stakeholders
• Learns to work with other organizations and constituencies who have the same goals

Financial Skills
• Ability to read and generate a balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement as well as to analyze and interpret statements of public companies at a basic level
• Understand basic costing concepts such as depreciation and techniques of cost allocation
• Develop models for financial analysis, budgeting and financial forecasting

Innovative Thinking
• Know and apply fundamental/basic rules and concepts
• Recognize, explain, and predict patterns
• Apply standard practices
• Create new concepts, analyses, approaches

Strategic Orientation
• Analyze and assess environmental context
• Develop vision and formulate strategy to achieve vision in environmental context
• Align organization, processes, people to achieve strategy

Accountability
• Sets high performance standards for oneself and others
• Monitors adherence to standards of performance and addresses associated problems

Collaboration
• Cooperate with others in pursuit of shared objectives/tasks
• Express support and confidence in expectations of team or team members
• Seek and apply input and counsel
• Encourage and recognize performance of others
• Commit to and work to develop team commitment

Communication
• Understand and use generally accepted terminology and grammar
• Prepare effective, clear, organized written reports and presentations
• Make organized, complete, persuasive oral presentations

Organizational Awareness
• Understand and work within formal/official structure
• Recognize and work with informal structure
• Recognize and differentiate patterns/variations in organizational climate/culture
• Identify/analyze/assess/act on underlying issues

Performance Measurement
• Use evidence based approaches
• Understand and use statistical and financial methods/metrics to monitor financial and basic operational performance and to monitor a scorecard of quantitative & qualitative measures

Project Management
• Prepare and execute a team project including managing obstacles

Professionalism
• Value and act openly and honestly
• Promote and sustain organizational and personal integrity
• Define, accept, and maintain accountability for persona/group performance

Relationship Building
• Participates in formal and informal relationships with others who have the potential to become future colleagues
• . Understands the importance of building relationships with people in their field, community, and other constituencies

Team Leadership
• Manage team/group relationships/responsibilities
• Keep members of team informed
• Keep members of team informed
• Define, pursue, and promote team effectiveness
• Secure and apply individual/team resources effectively

Resource Management and Allocation
• Use financial information in decision making
• Understand use of the balanced scorecard
• Understand techniques for performance improvement

Apply biostatistical and epidemiological methods to health policy and management problems on the population level
• Defines, assesses, and understands the health status of populations, determinants of health and disease, factors contributing to health promotion and disease prevention, and factors influencing the use of health services
• Apply biostatistical and epidemiological methods to health management problems on the population level
• Examine a wide range of public health issues, including environmental contaminants, on populations taking into account social, cultural, political, economic, and behavioral determinants of disparities in health status among populations

Health Policy
• Understand the history and structure of the US health care system and specify how social, political, legal, technological, economic, and cultural forces have shaped it
• Analyze the main options and methods for financing health services
• Explain the concerns of quality, access, and cost of health care
• Explain the workings of such policy mechanisms as insurance systems, quality monitoring, provider payment methods

In addition to gaining the track-specific competencies listed above, graduates will also achieve both Department-wide as well as School-wide MPH competencies.