Master’s Programs: Health Services Management and Policy (for continuing students)
"We offer a supportive environment for students who are often, though not exclusively, professionals in the field of health service. What’s attractive to our students is not just the flexibility of the program, which allows us to address individual needs, but our focus on helping managers to make an immediate difference in a field of life and death consequences."
—Warren Balinsky, Associate Professor, Health Services Management and Policy
Preparing Tomorrow's Health Care Leaders
Today’s healthcare field will be something remarkably different in five years. Health services will undergo change in government policy and organizational change requiring broad participation and strategic analysis. Nonprofit organizations will take on new roles as intermediaries, as service providers, and as advocates for groups inadequately serviced by organizations with an economic stake in the system.
Milano acknowledges the need for new leadership in this changing environment and encourages interested students to shape a specialization in health.
Starting spring 2009, Milano will be offering a new focus on the policy and delivery of health care. Students will pursue the Urban Policy Analysis, Nonprofit Management or Organizational Change Management programs which provide foundational skills. For students intending to specialize in health, extensive courses are available in health services management and policy. Through these electives, Milano students can delve into issues of health policy, health delivery, and health services management.
No new students will be accepted to the MS program in Health Services Management starting spring 2009.
Although the program will no longer be accepting new students, we want to assure you that Milano is committed to all students currently enrolled in the program. We will continue to offer a full array of health service management and policy courses.
New students interested in this program are encouraged to explore
alternative programs at Milano. For prospective students who wish to develop competencies to support strategic change initiatives, please view the following programs:
For more information on shaping an area of study in health
services management and policy or other areas of study, we invite you
to explore our Areas of Specialization/Cross-Program Options.
Curriculum
Required Courses
To fulfill the master's degree requirement of 42 credits, students structure a program comprised of three components:
- A required schoolwide core of nine credits
- A required program core of fifteen credits
- Eighteen credits of elective courses
- Three credit international or cross-cultural elective
Schoolwide Core Courses
The Milano Schoolwide Core of three required courses equips students with critical thinking and problem solving skills. Students pursuing an MS degree must take all the schoolwide core courses within their first 24 credit hours of study.
Program Core
Building on the foundation of the five Milano School-wide Core courses, the required program core strengthens students' understanding of the fundamental aspects of the health care sector while sharpening their analytic and decision-making skills.
* Health program students whose professional interests are in the policy arena are strongly recommended to take Policy Analysis. Students with managerial interests should take Management and Organizational Behavior.
Electives
The third group of courses in the Masters program consists of six electives that students may organize, in consultation with an academic advisor, to suit their individual academic and professional interests and goals.