Argosy University Online MS Health Services Program Course List
Course List
Program Requirements
The Master of Science in Health Services Management program requires the satisfactory completion of 45 credit hours distributed as follows:
- 42 credit hours in core courses
- 3 credit hours in elective courses
All courses are 3 semester credit hours in length.
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Required Courses
Students are required to take 14 general education courses as follows:
This course provides an understanding of the organization and delivery of health services, drawing on theory from the social science and business disciplines. Topics include organization of healthcare delivery, organizational theory, integration/continuum of care perspectives, organizational models, adoption of innovations, provider relationships and network structures, and impact on efficacy.
This course offers a review of recent developments in healthcare liability, negligence theory, formation of contracts, law of agency, labor law, documentation procedures, evaluation of evidence in litigation, theory of the case, settlement of claims, values clarification, and current ethical issues in the practice of healthcare administration. lobbying practices in the healthcare industry.
This course provides understanding and skills in the development of policy analysis, recent legislative developments, federal health reform, state health plans, the regulatory processes, political forces in health policy, methods for influencing policy, and PAC.
This course covers the principles, practices, and strategies of negotiation and risk management within the context of contemporary healthcare administration, including facilities, services, personnel, real estate, and materials acquisitions, legal implications, labor management and collective bargaining, and insurance principles and practices.
This course considers outcomes, healthcare assessment in integrated delivery systems, risk adjustment methods, performance analysis design, development of health status indicators, evaluation techniques, results reporting, medical decision making, professional practice patterns and behaviors, professional behaviors, organizational structure analysis, and medical culture issues.
This seminar provides a group formatted experience in which the current issues and trends from across the health industry are presented, analyzed and discussed. Student products will vary from term to term and depending on the issues covered in the particular term.
This course requires writing of a capstone project that integrates research related to concepts, methodologies, policies, and regulations as it applies to the role of a health services manager.
This course covers an introduction to the business enterprise, current business practices applied to managed care, review of economic systems and basic economic principles, evolution of health- and managed care markets, cost/effectiveness analysis, medical care markets, economics of contract formation, economics of corporate.
This course focuses on the understanding and development of management skills for continued effectiveness. Topics include applied organization theory, organization design, applications of management theory, conceptual models, inter-organizational networks/coalitions, quality management strategies, change management and innovation, human resource policies, training management and communication skills, conflict management, dispute resolution techniques, and a review of behavioral science research that relates to organizational behavior.
This course provides accounting methods and finance principles for managers, including analysis of cost reports, payment capitation, corporate structure and taxation implications, governmental requirements, cost accounting, variance analysis, ratio analysis, marginal analysis, capital structure, utilization management, case mix/payer mix, severity of illness assignment, basic tools of capital budgeting and asset management arrangement, and financial ratio analysis.
This course provides a review of empirical research methods useful in healthcare management. Topics covered include survey and experimental design and implementation, statistical analysis through multivariate regression, data management, data quality assessment, and customary business analysis tools. Use of a standard statistical software package is required.
This course presents information systems design, management and maintenance applied to various healthcare settings, system architecture analysis and design, software evaluation and testing, system life cycle, replacement planning and electronic data interchange and reviews current software application.
This course offering focuses on elements and qualities of proactive leadership, including effective behaviors, communication strategies, time management, problem and dispute resolution, employee empowerment, leadership professional development, and leadership for continuous improvement initiatives.
This course focuses on multi-range planning strategies in the integrated healthcare industry. Topics covered include historical perspectives of planning, market demographic analysis, strategic decision making, and comparative analysis of planning models. These principles are applied to the specialized theories and methods of marketing and promoting in healthcare. Topics covered include strategic planning and marketing, market research, marketing of health programs, competitor analysis, healthcare advertising, provider referrals, and consumer behaviors.
Elective Requirements
Students are required to complete 1 elective course (3 credit hours).
Graduation Requirements
- Successful completion of all academic requirements set forth by the school and the HSM Department, with a minimum grade point average of 3.2 (on a 4.0 scale).
- Forty-five credits are required for award of the degree, which includes an integrated field work experience.
- A completed petition to graduate
- The program committee on academic progress is responsible for making final recommendations regarding award of the degree. Most students can complete the program in less than two years.
