What Do You Learn in a Healthcare Administration Degree Program?

Achieving success in healthcare administration’s complex field requires the kind of expertise learned in a graduate-level healthcare administration degree program. That includes a deep understanding of healthcare administration principles, theories on organizational behavior, governance of healthcare delivery systems, legal and ethical issues, and the impact of innovative technology on medical services.

Graduates from a Master’s Degree program position themselves to take leadership roles in healthcare; this is an industry now employing the most workers in the United States, surpassing retail and manufacturing.

Touro University World offers an online Master of Science in Healthcare Administration that provides students the knowledge and skills they need for success. The program offers students two concentrations: operations management and health informatics.

What Students Learn in a Master in Healthcare Administration Program

Those who earn a graduate healthcare administration degree move on to work at the highest levels of healthcare management. They also have a wealth of job options – the federal government estimates a 32% increase in the number of medical and health service managers between 2019 and 2029. Jobs requiring healthcare administration skills include everything from running a large hospital to managing a group of physician clinics.

Preparation for these jobs requires knowledge in every aspect of healthcare management. TUW covers these important areas in its online Master in Healthcare Administration program curriculum. They include the following.

Principles in Healthcare Administration

All aspects of organizational management focuses on achieving goals through an organized group of people. But healthcare delivery systems provide several unique challenges. Healthcare leaders need to understand how to plan, implement, monitor, and control successful strategic plans that make healthcare operations more efficient and medical services more effective. Students also learn the roles and responsibilities that healthcare administrators must address as part of their jobs. These concepts apply to jobs both in the public and private sectors.

Organizational Theory and Behavior

Understanding organizational behavior is critical in all industries, but none more so than healthcare. Wherever medical services are delivered, organizational behavior is key to ensure patients’ safety and ethical behavior by clinicians. Students explore various organizational behavior theories, learning how they impact employee attitudes, motivation, and behavior in healthcare settings. Students also learn how managers must set ambitious goals and enable teams to meet those goals.

Healthcare Systems Governance, Delivery

Many factors drive modern healthcare system management. Among these considerations are patient-centered care, cost efficiency, and navigating the challenges of changing government regulations on healthcare. Students take a deep dive into how government leaders impact healthcare through policy, the financial and reimbursement systems of private and public insurers, as well as healthcare resource management.

Healthcare Legal and Ethical Issues

In addition to the financial and regulatory challenges, healthcare also must operate with legal and ethical considerations in mind. Within this area, students learn specifically about ethics in healthcare and how they govern patient-provider relationships, compliance-related regulations (such as those governing end-of-life), and patient rights. Also, healthcare administration students learn about employment regulations such as sexual harassment, mental health, and institutional liability.

Innovative Technology

The explosion of healthcare innovations has led to the introduction of new medical devices and ways to deliver healthcare services, such as telehealth. Administrators must also understand health informatics systems containing healthcare records and the continuing efforts to remove barriers to sharing information between medical providers, among other issues.

Advantages to Online MS in Healthcare Administration

Touro University Worldwide designs all its online programs with working professionals in mind. By taking classes remotely, healthcare professionals can earn their graduate degree while maintaining their current job responsibilities.

Students also can focus on one of two concentrations.

  • Operations management. Students learn important areas of healthcare system management, including marketing and financial management.
  • Health informatics. Students focus on the uses of technology in healthcare, how to apply insights from data to the decision-making process, and patient privacy management.

Touro University also offers affordable tuition and does not require a GMAT or GRE score to apply to the program. Students can finish the program in one year, with no residency required.

Earning a healthcare administration degree sets graduates up for leadership jobs in the healthcare field. It also allows them the chance to impact how medical services are delivered in their communities. That’s a combination that draws ambitious healthcare professionals who want to make a difference in people’s lives.

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