HCA - Healthcare Administration

Students in this course will examine managerial concepts and practices as they apply to the healthcare industry. They will learn the importance of developing a culture of continuous improvement, emotional intelligence, and the leadership behaviors that create a vision for stakeholders. Change management and requirements for effective and efficient operations are also discussed. Students will integrate virtuous business concepts into managerial decision-making in healthcare organizations.

Students in this course will establish biblically consistent policies and procedures that respect human dignity and patient wishes in end of life situations, ethically prioritize decisions concerning patients receiving scarce or expensive medical procedures, and evaluate medical information security for compliance with ethical and legal standards. Students will integrate a biblical perspective into policies and procedures that guide medical research, experimentation, and healthcare delivery. Students will design networks that support effective and ethical patient-provider relationships.

Students in this course will explain information technology as a transformational science in healthcare, compare and contrast the functions of business management systems and health information technology in healthcare organizations, and summarize the importance of controlled vocabulary in health information management. Students will identify risks associated with the privacy and security of health information, apply principles of knowledge management to the clinical decision support process, and model virtuous business concepts in the management of health information and technology.

Students in this course will apply the Pillars of Excellence model (quality/safety, finance, growth, patient experience, and workforce engagement) to leadership and governance of highly reliable healthcare organizations. Students will assess governance structures and performance outcomes for alignment with mission, vision, values, and goals. The impact of changing regulatory policies and marketplace dynamics on healthcare organizational governance and structures is discussed. Students will examine the influence of legal structures on governance systems and organizational design. The relationships between governing bodies, facility operations, and executive management are explored. Students will apply concepts of the Virtuous Business Model to the governance of highly reliable healthcare organizations.

This course provides an overview of the U.S. healthcare delivery system and the development of policy that guides that system. The financing of healthcare in the U.S. is examined and compared with that of other developed countries. Federal, state, and local legislative and regulatory processes are studied and their impact explored. Healthcare law, policy, and ethics are considered through a biblical worldview.

Students in this course will evaluate the current system of financing health care and the factors affecting it, analyze cost measurement and allocation processes, and determines the organization's financial condition and potential for the future. Students will analyze budgetary concepts and the differences between the goods and service industries and determine the pros and cons of single payer vs. third party systems. A biblical worldview will be integrated throughout the course.

This course provides an overview of epidemiology principles and tools applicable to decision-making in health administration. The content focuses on the application of epidemiology to management functions. Students will critically evaluate factors influencing the health status of populations served by healthcare organizations using clinical and administrative data and applying a virtuous business framework. Topics include study designs, population health, quality management, quantitative measurement, and terminology.

Students in this course examine the impact of healthcare trends and issues on organizations' people, performance, and policies from a strategic perspective. Relevant issues from government policy, politics, and stakeholder priorities are discussed. Topics include cultural competency, physician relationships, workforce engagement, and operational impacts. Students will compare organization strategic alignment with current trends and issues. Skill in examining current issues using professional and scholarly publications is developed. A Christian worldview of the ethical obligations of healthcare administrators, providers, and institutions is integrated and communicated throughout the course.

Students in this course will recognize the role of quality in the healthcare industry and its importance to patients, providers, payers, and regulators. Students will apply effective quality improvement tools and analyze available data to drive change in healthcare organizations. They will illustrate the use of change management practices to facilitate quality improvement in an organization's processes. Finally, students will relate biblical virtues to quality practices in the healthcare industry. Prerequisite: STA-320

Students in the course will examine the principles and applications of strategic and change management concepts necessary for healthcare organization sustainability. The course provides a structured approach to the strategic management process, including methods of assessing organization environments and competitive situations, approaches for developing strategic plans, and processes for ensuring the successful implementation of strategy within a virtuous business model.

This course presents opportunities for students to evaluate solutions and strategies for complex business problems and opportunities within the health care industry, evaluate personal management capabilities and design a plan for lifelong growth, and integrate critical analysis with healthcare administration disciplines. Students will synthesize ethical standards in decision making and strategy development, create appropriate communication strategies to achieve organizational goals, and integrate a biblical framework into the practice and standards that guides interactions within the healthcare industry. The assessment of technologies for implementation in healthcare organizations will be featured throughout the course. Prerequisite: successful completion of all core courses