Graduate Certificate in Health Care Leadership

HSM 420 - Business Economics of the Health Care Industry

HSM 420 uses the tools of managerial economics to analyze the business institutions, practices, and regulation of the health care industry. The course covers the health care value chain including: i) purchasers of health care services (e.g., government, private insurers, and employers); ii) providers of health care services (e.g., hospitals and physicians); and iii) manufacturers of medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and supplies. Each unit of the course consists of an economic overview of the industry segment, including a review of the managerial economics issues that are currently important in the industry segment. Topics include the economic structure of the U.S. health care industry, including its vertical relations; placing the US healthcare system in international context and understanding the role that technology plays in driving long term change in the industry; the fiscal crises that beset Medicare and recent payment innovations that Medicare has made that may fundamentally change the organization and delivery of health care services; private health insurance in the U.S.; provider sector restructuring, both horizontally and vertically, to meet the challenges posed by population health and capitation; the evolution of managed care as embodied in Accountable Care Organizations and consumer driven health care; quality measurement and reward, disease management and pay-for-performance; management challenges of the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, including managing the flow of innovation and marketing and distributing new products; current trends in both the adoption of and payment for medical technology including cost-effectiveness analysis; and the likely effects of health care reform on the health economy.

HSM 454 - Leading Health Care Organizations

This course explores behavioral concepts including leadership, motivation, decision-making, communication, group dynamics, culture, and change management in the context of health care organizational and individual performance and engagement. Students systematically analyze health care organizational behavior issues and propose solutions that improve healthcare outcomes.

GBA 435*- Negotiation Theory and Practice: Bargaining Value

The course is subtitled “Bargaining for Value” because the notion of “bargaining” implies interaction and communication among self-interested players of diverse backgrounds and styles. “Bargaining for value” implies that the quantum of value extracted in a deal may vary within a range of potential values. “Negotiation” is a commonly accepted term that captures the essence of these processes in a competitive or cooperative environment. This course surveys the theoretical and behavioral underpinnings of negotiation practices and develops skills that enhance the ability to capture value in cooperative and competitive bargaining scenarios.
 

STR 403* - Organization and Strategy

This course teaches how to approach and solve a wide range of organizational design problems, whether as manager at any level, entrepreneur, or consultant. In a world in which most sources of competitive advantage are fleeting, organizational effectiveness has emerged as a key source of long-run competitive advantage. Conversely, many corporate failures can be traced to poor internal organization. Problems covered range from individual job design to the structure of entire organizations and the boundaries of the firm (e.g., M&A decisions or vertical integration). The course discusses in detail the assignment of decision rights (including centralization vs. decentralization of decisions), performance measurement, and incentives and rewards. These are the three elements of “organizational architecture,” a central framework of the course. Throughout, the course stresses the importance of fit between a firm’s internal organization and its strategy. The course adopts an analytical-economic perspective grounded in agency theory, motivated by a wealth of evidence that people respond to incentives (very broadly defined) in predictable ways. That said, it does not reduce organizational problems to economics, but addresses their managerial and behavioral dimensions too, drawing on insights from psychology and sociology as appropriate.

*Students choose GBA 435 or STR 403