Master of Science Health Care Leadership

WE ARE NO LONGER ADMITTING NEW STUDENTS TO THIS PROGRAM.

Health care is complex and undergoing a transformation toward a coordinated and wellness-focused system of care. Success within this evolving model requires fresh ways of thinking and insights beyond traditional management expertise. Our MSHCL program provides a unique online curriculum based on 55 years of success in transforming the lives of working adults. Developed to transform health care, this program fosters creative and ethical leadership through social entrepreneurship, health informatics, application of a population health framework, and individualized mentoring from successful professionals.

Each student will receive membership in the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), the premier international organization for more than 40,000 health leaders. Upon graduation, students leave with an e-portfolio of resources, and a plan for completing a self-selected and work-related project.

Total credits

$600

Cost per credit hour

N/A

Next Start Date

36 Credit Program
Designed for full-time study
January, May, and August start dates
Complete your degree in as little as 12 months

Cost of Program

Core Courses for Term I

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HCL 501

Health Care Leadership

3 credits

There is no blueprint or formula for transforming hospitals and health care systems from a focus on the sick care model to one that is focused on wellness. Even more daunting is successfully leading complex health care organizations within community settings with stakeholders who have either conflicting or missing views on the mission and vision for today’s health care organizations. Under these current circumstances, the leadership of health care systems and hospitals or even leadership within a department and a service line of a hospital requires creativity and innovation guided by a commitment to serving the needs of both the health care organization and the community. Therefore, this course is designed to examine roles and responsibilities of health care leadership; foster critical thinking about health care systems and organizational dynamics; survey the major schools of thought about leadership; and facilitate self-assessment and introspection about leadership that is tied to mentoring with senior health care leaders who can guide a personal and professional leadership development plan.
HCL 502

Ethics in Health Care Settings

3 credits

While acknowledging the importance of legal statutes, principles of bioethics, and the role of compliance, this course will focus on the need for individuals working in any health care setting and for health care organizations to clearly articulate an ethical framework. This course examines the role of ethics in decision-making processes within health care settings; emphasize the need for developing an ethical framework that reconciles competing values and mindsets; and prioritizes how dwindling resources can be fairly allocated among a competing segment of health care stakeholders. Furthermore, this course will enable health care leaders to appreciate the complexities and the transformational nature of health care.
HCL 503

Health Care Policy/Advocacy

3 credits

This course employs an interdisciplinary approach to health policy as it examines the social, environmental, economic, and political factors that shape disease and health across societies. We will explore the role of the state and civil society in promoting health and providing care and consider the ways in which structural factors create and maintain health inequities and health disparities including those relating to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and social class. Students will learn how to use policy analysis and advocacy strategies to influence health policy decisions at the local, state, national or international level.
HCL 504

Design Research

3 credits

The Design Thinking research method is an interdisciplinary approach to addressing challenges by applying the 4C’s - collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication - in order to develop new solutions to persistent health care problems. For too long, health care problems have been narrowly framed and conceptualized. As a result, the solutions that have emerged have been limited in scope. Design thinking is the methodology that may be used to introduce innovative, imaginative ways to the process of problem-solving in order to produce results that are broad-ranging, impactful, and more relevant to the situation at hand. Health care professionals are challenged to continually redesign today’s health care environment, which has been caught in the throes of rapid technological and consumer-driven changes. This course provides an overview of the design-thinking framework for health care management and innovation; uses case studies to examine issues related to health care management, innovation and practice; and explores alternate pathways to problem-solving in an industry that—historically—has been slow to change. Theory and practice will be seamlessly brought together to critically examine the emerging landscape of health care in the 21^st century.

Core Courses for Term II

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HCL 505

Program Evaluation

3 credits

Within this course, students will incorporate skills in the examination of multiple frameworks and methods used in designing program evaluations on a variety of policy issues including health and the environment. There is a focus on methods of evaluating program effectiveness, particularly within a changing health care industry and in light of social innovation and creative approaches to measuring program efficacy, as well as the fundamentals of types of program evaluation, designing program evaluation related to outcome data and ethical, political and cultural challenges when conducting program evaluation. A focus will be on health care development models, particularly those which are evidence-driven in a variety of fields (such as public health, mental health, etc.) as these are important aspects of creative and strategic leadership within the health care field.
HCL 506

EHR & Information Systems

3 credits

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) automate the activities of health care clinicians throughout health care systems, including physicians, nurses, physician assistants, and health care administrative staff. The use of EHRs presents both challenges and benefits to patients and staff, including the collection and management of data, HIPAA requirements and security, integration across systems and facilities, and the overall changes in roles and responsibilities of health care staff and leaders. This course will focus on understanding EHRs and health informatics, uses of technology, collection of data, and obtaining the skills to successfully manage those who utilize these systems. This will include developing a robust understanding of the role and function of information technology in operations and the ability to analyze and evaluate information to support decisions or recommendations.
HCL 508

Economics/Financial Management

3 credits

This course extends the concepts and insights addressed in HCL 503. With changing health care economics and reimbursement methods both on local and national levels, health care leaders must maintain an understanding of their internal financial management and be knowledgeable of how their organization organizes and reports financial data. Management and negotiation of insurance contracts, managing third-party payers and addressing different and identifying innovative payment streams (in private and/or public sectors) is an important aspect of health care leadership. This will enable them to make financial decisions regarding the cost-effectiveness of their organization and understand the broader environment of funding health care services. This course will focus on foundational and advanced economic and financial management theories, principles, and methods in health care financial management, as well as examine reimbursement methodologies, cost allocation strategies, and risk-sharing.
HCL 510

Marketing and Communication/Disruptive Innovation Technology

3 credits

This course provides students with a thorough understanding of traditional and non-traditional marketing methods (such as social media) enabling them to manage the development and deployment of their business models. This will include the overall design, development, and implementation of marketing strategies commensurate with their strategic plan to lead within health care organizations. The course will review the role of the disruptive innovation model and how these approaches specifically apply to health care allowing them to attract new consumers while continuing to support their existing clientele.

Core Courses for Term III

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HCL 507

Health Informatics: Role & Purpose

3 credits

Leaders within health care organizations, whether they manage for-profit, nonprofit, or government organizations, must be business savvy while being socially responsible. Accessing available information and understanding that data works to drive improvements in health care and demonstrate efficacy to payers is a crucial aspect of health care leadership. In light of global economic strategies and world health care trends, this course addresses complex issues pertaining to organizational operations, financial management, and organizational performance within the health care industry. Central to this examination is the use of organizational research and statistics in forecasting, strategic planning, problem-solving, critical decision making, and innovation. This course will help students better understand the existing data related to population health and to build upon this data to impact issues of health care disparities within the population and how to meet the needs of the community served.
HCL 509

Organizational Research, Analytics and Innovative Solution Building (3 credits)

3 credits

Organizational analytics that draw upon quantitative and qualitative data is critical for leading and successfully analyzing health care operations, making decisive decisions, and innovatively solving problems. Building upon work in HCL 506 and HCL 507, this course synthesizes the learning about research methods throughout the program, as well as further prepares students to develop and utilize various forms of data collection, statistical analysis, and reporting to make organizational decisions and the needed changes to health care organizational operations, with a focus on developing leadership skills to enhance creative solutions to problems within the health care field.
HCL 511

Social Entrepreneurship

3 credits

Social entrepreneurship is emerging as an aspect of organizational leadership that is important within the health care field, as these methods help address social and environmental challenges. Social entrepreneurship marries the business realties of health care organizations and the need to contribute to the social good. Effective leaders are challenged to fulfill a mission of addressing the needs of the surrounding community and social-environmental challenges while also operating organizations in a fiscally responsible manner. More than ever, health care leaders are charged with finding opportunities and stepping beyond the traditional profit-driven business models, and engaging in innovative problem-solving approaches. This course will introduce these concepts and tools needed to operate in today’s health care landscape while encouraging students to find ways to fulfill the health care needs of a population while also engaging in sustainable economic practices.
HCL 512

Capstone

3 credits

The MS-HCL program invites students to identify a problem related to their own real-world organization or experiences and work on generating innovative solutions to address this problem by generating practical, applied, and creative strategies. Work is ongoing throughout the program and culminates with a graduate-level capstone project that demonstrates one’s knowledge and practical skills in the field of health care leadership and addressing the health care problem they have been grappling with over the course of the program. The project draws upon and integrates conceptual and analytical work throughout the program. The capstone project is designed to engage in research and analysis that describes one’s own perspective on health care leadership and how today’s leader enables health care organizations to operate effectively and creatively to meet both short-term and long-term challenges.
HCL 550

Mentorship

0 credits

Students register for this course each 8-week session throughout the program to coincide with the mentorship experience. It is expected that students meet or have contact with their mentors at least monthly. Mentor meetings will focus on developing ideas and social processes, as well as financial perspectives important to support and create change. Other key foci will be on developing the personal and interpersonal skills necessary in creating change and developing into an effective leader. Methods of mentoring may include discussion, case study analysis, development of strategic plans, addressing competencies, and responding to semi-structured prompts. Students will be expected to create a summary of each meeting, documenting the process and progress of the mentoring experience. This work will be documented in an e-portfolio, which will allow the university to follow the progress of the mentor relationship and the student’s developmental progress, is tied to program competencies, and will serve as a culminating artifact at the end of the program.

Designed for Current & Emerging Health Care Leaders

Union Institute & University’s MSHCL program graduates social justice-oriented health care leaders committed to improving population health and delivering health care systematically. View the program outline here or apply now.

Mentorship-Based Learning Model

The MSHCL program will offer the most important determinant of long-term leadership success: mentoring. Mentors will guide and demonstrate through example how to understand one’s own skills, limitations and ambitions while fulfilling the needs of the healthcare organization. Mentors will also be able to model how to maintain positive working relationships with all of the key stakeholders connected to that healthcare organization, including community members, employees, board members and patients. Interested in becoming a mentor?

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Skills & Benefits Union Students Gain

The cohort-based learning model creates a connected learning community.
The online format provides flexibility for today’s adults in health care.
One-on-one mentorship model allows students to benefit from direct connection to guidance.

Relate ethical or social and cultural implications of leadership within health care.
Propose innovative solutions to challenges identified in health care leadership literature.
Analyze how power and privilege shape global health care practices and challenges.

Meet Our Faculty

Dr. Kim Byas, Program Director

Dr. Kim Byas brings insights and expertise from 40+ years of leadership in various health care settings, including a national hospital trade association, direct patient care, public health, health insurance, strategic health care consulting and national health care policy. Dr. Byas is committed to educating and nurturing the next generation of health care leaders who embrace the ethical framework of reducing health disparities and advancing health equity.

In addition to his role with Union Institute & University, Dr. Byas conducts Grounded Theory research on leadership; speaks nationally and internationally on leadership; teaches health care ethics; and serves on various boards of not-for-profit organizations - including universities, voluntary health care organizations and health care professional associations on state and national levels.

Dr. Byas received his Ph.D. in Ethical and Creative Leadership from Union Institute & University, Cincinnati; Master of Public Health from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and B.A. from Wittenberg University, Springfield, OH. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Funding Your Future

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Master of Science Health Care Leadership

Designed for Current & Emerging Health Care Leaders

Mentorship-Based Learning Model

Skills & Benefits Union Students Gain

Meet Our Faculty

Dr. Kim Byas, Program Director

Funding Your Future

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