EMHCM Curriculum Course Descriptions

Small Group Management This course provides an experiential introduction to the dynamics of small group interaction and management. Students utilize self-assessment exercises designed to highlight individual differences and group exercises structured to develop students' abilities to work together in groups. Students will select a work group that will be maintained throughout the EMHCM program.

Organizational Behavior The behavioral sciences, as they apply to health care settings, are studied through a broad perspective. The course will consider culture and behavior within organizational contexts and from the perspective of external stakeholders and constituencies. Particular attention is devoted to team building, key human resource management issues (diversity, human capital theory, hiring, attrition), and influencing behavior through practical verbal and written presentation skills.

Accounting This course will include characteristics of accounting in non-profit organizations, financial reporting for hospitals and other health care organizations, full-cost accounting, measurement and use of differential costs, pricing decisions, the management control environment, programming and program analysis, operations budgeting, control of operations, measurement of output, reporting on performance, operations analysis and program evaluation, and system design and installation.

Economics The major issues in economics are taught and discussed as they pertain to the health care sector. The course includes basic economic tools, production of health from medical care, demand for medical care, the physician as agent and producer, health care labor markets, hospitals and other health care providers, health insurance asymmetric information, government health care programs, medical malpractice, externalities in health and medical care, regulation in the U.S. health care sector, and international comparisons of health systems.

Business Communications This course provides the skills and tools necessary for effective business communications. Written communications as well as oral presentations are discussed. Topics include grammar, sentence and paragraph structure, business report formats, presentation skills, and an introduction to use of Microsoft PowerPoint presentation software.

Health Law and Medical Ethics This course is an analysis of basic ethical principles and theories together with federal and state laws that regulate the practice of medicine, professional liability issues, informed consent, contemporary topics including the Americans with Disabilities Act, quality improvement, and resource allocation. Emphasis will be placed on application of these principles and laws to managed care settings.

Health Care Management The essential concepts and tools for managing people and the structure of health care organizations are surveyed. Course content includes quality issues, operations management, the management of information and technology, decision making, and other management concerns.

Strategic Management Issues Students will learn the initiation of the strategic management process, strategy formulation, strategic implementation (operational strategies), and controlling and creating the strategy through application of these concepts.

Marketing This course surveys the concepts, principles, and methods of marketing in health care, which includes assessment of market opportunities, development and implementation of marketing programs, promotion, market research, marketing information systems, understanding marketing in health care settings, planning the marketing mix, and supporting the marketing effort.

Financial Administration The financial aspects of health care and related organizations are analyzed. The course will include organization, ownership, goals, taxes, the third-party payer system, discounted cash flow analysis, long-term debt financing, bond valuation, refunding decisions, equity (fund) financing, lease financing, cost of capital, capital structure decisions, capital budgeting, break-even analysis, profitability measures, capital budgeting risk analysis, financial and operating analyses, financial forecasting, and cash management and short-term financing, receivables, and inventory management.

Epidemiology and the Language of Health Care The major objective of this course is to analyze the epidemiological approach to the review of medical literature, health care policy, management, communicable disease control, and issues of disease causation. A secondary objective is to acquire the basics of the language of health care. The course will be based on a series of illustrative problems, papers on topics of clinical and public health importance, and lectures. Topics will include basic concepts such as incidence and prevalence and other rates and ratios, surveillance, distribution and the control of diseases in populations, models of disease causation, disease classifications, and sources of data on community health.