Master of Business Administration – Health Systems Management Specialization Online

Financial Accounting: This course is an introductory study of financial accounting. This includes studying basic accounting language and concepts, recording financial transactions, and preparing and interpreting financial statements. Reporting and analyzing operating income, operating assets, and owner financing is also emphasized.

This course serves as an introduction to the financial system and its relationship to domestic and international business activity financing. Financial market components and phenomena such as financial instruments, institutions, the flow of funds, market efficiency, interest rate determination and term structure, exchange rates, and government policy are analyzed. An introduction is given to the concept of financial asset valuation and the time value of money.

This course explores issues pertaining to the operation of businesses and the markets in which they operate. Among these are the behavior of consumers, the determinants of prices and production levels, profit maximization, the efficiency of market outcomes, and market failures. The course applies economic thinking to issues like cost/benefit analysis, the maximization of consumer satisfaction, risk analysis, economic inequality, international trade, and government regulation of markets.

The course shows how the techniques of marketing management can be used to attract and satisfy customers while building long-term business profitability. Topics include (1) market, consumer and competitive analysis; (2) segmentation, targeting and positioning; (3) product development, pricing, promotion and distribution; and (4) marketing strategy and planning.

This course focuses on the firm's management accounting system as its primary information system. It examines the problems of cost measurement, planning, coordination, control and performance evaluation. It explores how accounting systems address business problems and evolve in response to the changing economic environment. The course will relate ethical and global issues to managerial accounting topics. Students will explore and analyze real-world data and apply their gained knowledge to contemporary managerial accounting problems and cases. Prerequisite: MBA 601, MBA 602 or equivalent course work.

This is a survey course focusing on how managers can construct a decision-making process that maximizes the value of the firm. Because the majority of financial decisions require an estimate of future events, considerable time will be spent investigating how to achieve the above objectives, subject to the constraints of an uncertain future. Outside readings, case studies, and text material will be used to integrate current financial theory with pragmatic financial decision making. A working knowledge of the basic concepts in finance, accounting and statistics is assumed. The use of an electronic spreadsheet is needed for homework assignments and case analysis. Prerequisite: MBA 601, MBA 602 or equivalent course work.

This course introduces students to the growing field of business analytics. Business analytics is the use of data, information technology, statistical analysis, and quantitative methods and models to support effective organizational problem solving and informed decision making. The course includes methods, tools and techniques for summarizing and visualizing historical data, which is relevant to descriptive analytics–the use of data to find out what has happened in the past or is currently happening; methods, tools and techniques for extracting information from existing data in order to determine patterns, which is relevant to predictive analytics–the use of data to find out what will happen in the future; and methods, tools and techniques for optimization, which is relevant to prescriptive analytics - the use of data to determine the best course of action in the future. Prerequisite: MBA 601, MBA 602 or equivalent course work.

Today’s healthcare organizations are under intense regulatory and financial pressures to improve quality, efficiency, patient safety, patient satisfaction, and positive outcomes. This course is concerned with the study of how descriptive, diagnostics, predictive, and prescriptive analytics tools and techniques can impact the overall performance of healthcare organizations. Students learn to extract, collect, analyze, visualize, and interpret data from patient health records, insurance claims, financial records, and tell a compelling and actionable story. Class exercises enable students to understand ways to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare organizations.

This course looks at the various financing mechanisms which impact the structure and delivery of health care in the United States with particular emphasis upon governmental financing, managed care, employer sponsored health plans, and emerging insurance models. The course examines the impact of these financing mechanisms upon diverse health delivery systems including acute care, medical practice organizations, long term care, and the pharmaceutical and medical devices sector.

This course provides students with a comprehensive macro approach to health delivery systems and the competencies required to manage this transforming industry. Students will examine current and future health utilization trends from the perspective of the provider, consumer, insurer and regulator. Particular attention will be given to how these stakeholders impact the role of the manager in a health systems organization. The course will examine the relative strengths and weaknesses of our current system compared to other nations. We will explore the delivery of health services associated with population and public health and how behavior influences the provision of these services. The course will highlight the logistics of the health care system, its organization, workforce makeup, finances, its cost and related value, and how technology and information systems impact the industry. The course will also provide an overview of the future of health care delivery in the United States and health care policy.

This experiential course emphasizes the importance of feedback and self-assessment for leadership development. It includes extensive assessment of each participant's management style and skills based on self-evaluations (using structured questionnaires, decision-making exercises, and role plays) and feedback from coworkers, faculty and other participants. Leadership development experiences emphasize time and stress management, individual and group problem solving, communication, power and influence, motivation, conflict management, empowerment and team leadership. Each participant identifies skills they need to develop and reports on efforts to develop those skills.

This course is about the manager's responsibilities for problem solving and decision making, and those areas in which information technology can be used to gain the insight needed to support selection of decision alternatives. Students learn about the role of data, information and knowledge in managerial problem solving and decision making. Transactional processing and database management systems (DBMS) are used to store, manage and retrieve data in organizations. Decision support system (DSS) tools and technologies (such as natural language programming and influence diagramming) are used to organize data into information for decision analytics. Expert systems (ES) are used to synthesize information into knowledge for knowledge management. Students are required to use DBMS, DSS and ES software packages in a hands-on environment.

This course integrates the areas of finance and accounting and is designed to provide students with the ability to analyze financial statements, understand the incentives of companies to manage earnings through their choices of accounting methods, understand the limitations to the usefulness of financial statements, and understand the value of financial statements in decision making from the perspective of investors, creditors and management. Prerequisite: completion of MBA core courses.

This course is designed to explore the complex ethical, legal, cultural, political, social and economic issues confronting individuals, groups and organizations. We will use various models and theories to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills to address the issues of a diverse set of organizational stakeholders. Prerequisite: Completion of MBA foundation courses.

This integrative capstone course is designed to expose students to strategies that companies use to build and sustain competitive advantage in the global market. The course provides students with industry, competitor and business-level analytic tools that help students to assess factors that influence strategy formulation and strategy implementation in both domestic and global markets. Prerequisite: all required (non-specialization) course work.