MHA

The MHA program offers students a competency-based curriculum and an array of professional development resources and activities to prepare graduates for managerial roles in health care systems and networks, managed care, health insurance, and long-term care organizations. The broad curriculum provides students with a foundation of knowledge, analytical and communication skills, and core values for ongoing career growth and professional and leadership development. Upon completion of the MHA program, our graduates obtain post-graduate fellowships or full-time employment in hospitals, academic medical centers, physician practices, long-term care facilities, health plans, and consulting firms.

MHA Program Mission, Vision, Values, and Goals

Mission: The mission of the masters in health administration (MHA) program is to provide students with the competencies necessary for early to mid-level management positions and provide the foundation for subsequent professional development, leadership and executive management in organizations involved in the delivery or financing of health care services. The program’s curriculum is based on evidence-based practice enriched by the research activity of the faculty.

Vision: The program strives to be the premier provider of graduate level health management education in partnership with health care organizations of national prominence.

Values: The core values of the program are: professionalism, life-long learning, and commitment to  

Goals: Consistent with the Mission and Vision Statements and Core Values stated above the following broad goals have been established for the Program as the foundation for its strategic planning process and commitment to continuing improvement. These are presented in recognition of our need to be responsive to a fast-changing, complex health care environment and accelerated competition among health care management programs internationally.

Recent Essay Titles

• Sustaining a Pediatric Burn Program in an Adult Care Hospital: A Case Study of UPMC Mercy
• Reducing Patient Wait Times in the Surgical Unit: Applying Basic Six Sigma Methodology
• Infection Control in Nursing Homes
• The Importance of Pay-For-Performance for Providers in Healthcare
• Implementing A Culture of Change: Gaining Employee Acceptance for the Use and Application of Productivity Algorithms
• The Role of Telehealth in the US Healthcare System

Competencies

• Assess their own professional strengths and weaknesses relative to the HPM competency model based on criteria from National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL) competencies and ACHE competencies used as the basis for Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) accreditation upon completion of their management residency or practicum
• As part of their preparation for the world of practice and prior to the initiation of their job search, students will be prepared to: 
  a) enhance their professionalism and employment prospects by developing a professional portfolio. 
  b) develop more effective interviewing and self-marketing skills by participating in mock job interviews by telephone and in-person. 
  Both these capabilities address the HPM competency model of communication skills (L6), impact and influence (L10), and relationship building (L21.
• Enhanced analytic competencies and tools by strengthening the quantitative/analytical components of the curriculum. The changes include adding a required coursed in cost-effectiveness analysis (HPM 2220), and increasing the rigor of the financial management sequence (HPM 2012/2014). Students have the option of substituting BIOST 2041 (3 crs.) for BIOST 2011 (3 crs.), and/or enrolling in the newly-created health systems engineering certificate.
• Plan, design, implement and present as applied study in organization management (MHA) of professional quality and potentially publishable. Not only will this product satisfy the required master's essay, it should be a useful component of their professional portfolio.  

Requirements

• 60 credits of coursework and essay research
• Coursework in health policy and management
• Coursework in public health foundations
• Advanced coursework in organizational studies and management
• On-site management residency in a healthcare organization
• Advanced thesis research and coursework in an area of focus