Health Policy & Management

As one of the first health policy and management programs in the country the Department has a long history of participation in research, teaching, and service. Our faculty have focused on problems of medical care organization, financing, and administration in order to understand and improve the practice of health policy and management locally, nationally, and, most recently, globally.

We approach health policy and management issues, including access to healthcare, organization and administration of health care delivery, financing, and quality of care, from a range of disciplinary and professional perspectives, in historical and social context, and informed by empirical evidence. The Department is a member of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration and our full-time Management Track and the Executive MPH Program are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation Healthcare Management Education (CAHME).

Mission

The mission of the Department of Health Policy and Management of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health is to advance theory and practice that improve the public’s health, prevent disease, and strengthen the healthcare system and its component organizations.

Our mission is fulfilled through research, education, and service that address the development and implementation of health policy and the administrative functioning of health systems and services. We believe that health policy and healthcare management are interdependent, and this view informs our research and education programs.

We approach health policy and management issues, including access to health care, organization and administration of healthcare delivery, and financing and quality of care, from a range of disciplinary and professional perspectives informed by empirical evidence.

History

The Department of Health Policy and Management is successor to one of the nation’s first programs in health administration, Columbia University’s Institute of Administrative Medicine. For the past 75 years our faculty has participated in research, teaching, and service, carrying out the program’s mission by focusing on problems of medical care organization, financing, and administration in order to understand and improve the practice of health policy and management locally, nationally, and globally.

The Department of Health Policy Management originated in 1945 when the W.K. Kellogg Foundation focused on shaping the field of hospital administration with support for a two-year program in hospital administration at Columbia University’s newly named School of Public Health. The program thrived in the postwar environment and by 1950 had 126 graduate students, of whom 23 percent were physicians. Since its inception, the program has attracted students from throughout the United States and abroad, with graduates working in a diversity of settings. The curriculum was periodically evaluated and adjusted to make classes more effective and enhance the program’s reputation. Columbia’s program, in conjunction with those of several other universities, helped found the Association of University Programs in Health Administration. With funding from the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation in 1952, the School established an Institute of Administrative Medicine to conduct “an appraisal of the needs and problems of the hospitals, health services, medial care plans, industrial medicine and public health administration” and to train high-level health administration personnel.

By 1955, the School name was changed to School of Public Health and Administrative Medicine. In 1956, Ray E. Trussell, the School’s leader, directed its focus toward “the preparation of administrative leadership in the various aspects of community health administration.” He also worked diligently to expand the School’s research agenda. In the 1970s, recognizing the inseparability of medical care and other elements in the field of public health, the shorter, all-embracing name of School of Public Health was re-adopted.

Beginning in 1970, the School had the foresight to anticipate current trends and needs by amalgamating individual programs in public health practice, hospital administration, and administrative medicine under the umbrella of a unified Division of Health Administration. The School has had a long and close relationship with the New York City Department of Health, and several faculty members, including Lowell Bellin, also served as Commissioner of Health. The process of unifying the various programs has been advanced over the years by the successive leaders. A number of the dual degree programs were initiated, including the first MPH/MBA program in the country. The most recently approved dual program is the MPH/JD.