Curriculum & Competencies

Overview

The MHA degree consists of a minimum of 54 credits for pre-career students, 51 credits for early-career students, and 48 credits for mid-career students. Student status is determined after program entry. Students are classified as pre-career (little or no experience working in the field of healthcare), early career (some experience working in the field of healthcare but little or no management experience) and mid-career (several years’ experience working in the field of healthcare and currently holding a management position in the field).

You should visit your faculty advisor to discuss your program of study before you first register. (Consult Banner to identify your advisor.) Return visits are encouraged, as updating your plan will likely be desirable as you progress through the program.    

Plan of Study

 

Introductory Health Administration Courses (Take 1st)

  • PNH 630 - Health Administration and Services (take 1st semester)
  • PNH 612 - Human Resources
  • PNH 614 - Organization Theory
  • PNH 632 - Health Services Financial Management
  • PNH 629 - Managerial Epidemiology (Required RCR training included)
  • PNH 649 - Project Management & Team Leadership

 

Intermediate Health Administration Courses

  • PNH 631- U.S. Health Politics and Policy
  • PNH 634 - Health Care Law and Ethics
  • PNH 635- Hospital Organization and Management
  • PNH 636- Healthcare Quality Improvement
  • PNH 640- Marketing for Public, Nonprofit and Health Organizations
  • PNH 643 - Strategic Management and Planning
  • PNH 648- Health Insurance & Managed Care
  • PNH 651 - Revenue Cycle Leadership

 

Choose 1:

  • CIS 665 Clinical Information Systems – OR –
  • CIS 661 Introduction to Health and Bioinformatics – OR –
  • NUR 703 Health Care Informatics

 

Experiential & Capstone Experiences (3-6 credits required)

  • PNH 690 - Internship (See internship waiver rules below)
  • PNH 685 - Public Service Leadership Seminar

 

Internships

Prerequisites: PNH 630 plus 15 additional credits 

PNH 690 is required for students with less than 3 years of professional experience. Early and mid-career students may, based on health care management experience, have the internship requirement waived.

  • Pre-career students must complete one internship. 
  • Early-career students may waive the internship based upon career experience and career plans.
  • Mid-career students are not required to complete an internship.

See our internship page for further details.

Capstone

  • PNH 685 - Public Service Leadership Seminar

This is the capstone course for the MHA program. It may be substituted with PNH 693 – Research Project with the approval of the MHA program director and the consent of a faculty advisor to supervise the project.


Competencies

Competency

Explanation

 

Boundary Spanning Domain 

Community Collaboration

Integrate one’s own and the organization’s priorities with the needs and values of the community, including its cultural and ethnocentric values, and efforts to support population health.

Organizational Awareness

Assess the formal and informal decision-making structures and power relationships in an organization or industry and to predict how new events will affect individuals and groups within the organization.

Relationship & Network Development

Build professional networks of people with similar goals and interests.

 

Executive Domain 

Accountability

Hold people accountable to standards of performance or ensure compliance with the long-term good of the team or organization in mind.

Analytical Thinking

Organize the parts of a situation or problem by comparing different features or aspects to set priorities on a rational basis, incorporating time sequences, and causal or if-then relationships.

Communications 1 (writing)

Construct communications in various media for formal and informal situations to convey meaning, build shared understanding, and move agendas forward.

Communications 2 (speaking & facilitating)

Demonstrate complex communication skills for formal and informal situations that tailor the message based on audience feedback to build shared understanding and advance agendas.

Performance Measurement

Choose and apply statistical and financial metrics and methods to set goals and measure clinical as well as organizational performance; support and defend the use of evidence-based techniques.

Process & Quality Improvement

Analyze and design or improve an organizational process, including incorporating the principles of high reliability, continuous quality improvement, and user-centered design.

Project Management

Complete a project effectively using phases of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and closing.

 

Relationships Domain 

Collaboration

Work cooperatively and inclusively with other individuals and/or teams they do not formally lead; working together, as opposed to working separately or competitively.

Impact & Influence

Persuade and influence others (individuals or groups) in order to get them to go along with or to support one’s opinion or position by respecting others’ interests and motivations.

Interpersonal Understanding

Hear and confirm the verbal, nonverbal, or partly expressed thoughts, feelings, and concerns of others, especially those who may represent diverse backgrounds and very different worldviews.

Talent Development

Identify and support opportunities for the organization’s employees to grow, personally and professionally.

Team Leadership

Cultivate the confidence, skills, and presence needed to lead teams to achieve prescribed outcomes.

 

Transformation Domain 

Change Leadership

Use a variety of approaches (e.g., leadership styles and roles, change management tools, communication skills) to build stakeholder commitment to a desired, accountable, and sustained outcome.

Information Seeking

Demonstrate an underlying curiosity and desire to increase knowledge through environmental scanning, using multiple types of information sources, and staying current on salient topics, trends, and developments. 

Innovation

Make improvements through exploring and adopting alternative approaches including those from different fields, cultures, or models.

Strategic Orientation

Consider the business, demographic, ethnocultural, political, socioeconomic and regulatory implications of decisions and develop strategies designed to continually improve long-term outcomes, impacts, and population health.

 

Values Domain

Professional & Social Responsibility

Demonstrate ethical and sound professional practices, social accountability, and community stewardship.

 

Health System Awareness & Business Literacy Domain

Financial Skills

Explain strategic and operational decisions based on financial and accounting information.

Human Resource Management

Promote the alignment of legal and ethical human resource practices, processes, and daily management to meet the strategic goals of the organization.

Information Technology Management

Explain strategic and operational opportunities of information technology management to more efficiently and effectively achieve organizational outcomes and impact.

 

Self-Awareness & Self-Development Domain

Self-awareness

Identify one’s own strengths, self-development activities, and the impact that one has on others.

Self-confidence

Demonstrate the ability to successfully accomplish one’s own tasks and confidence in the ability to achieve success.

Well-Being

Promote habits and work climates supporting physical, emotional, and mental well-being.

Grading and Assessment

The MHA program uses team-based learning pedagogy that results in students being placed in teams during the first night of class and remain in their assigned team throughout the semester.  Approximately 50% of a student’s grade will come from teamwork and the remining 50% comes from individual assessments.  All matters regarding grades and grading are aligned with the Graduate School policies found on pages 13 and 14.  The MHA program is also a competency based program with competencies assessed though assignments aligned to grading rubrics throughout the curriculum.  At the close of each semester students will receive course grades through the normal university process and a competency assessment report from the MHA Graduate Program Director.  Questions or concerns about a student’s grades or competency assessment should be directed to the student’s academic advisor or MHA Program Director.



Page last modified October 13, 2025