Although you are responsible for your career and the direction it will take, our faculty's industry ties will support your efforts. Course work focuses on health policy and administration and business administration with additional emphases on strategic decision-making, marketing, financial management, communication skills, human health and illness, epidemiology, managed care, health care financing, health care technology, health policy, and the health service system's structure. During the first year of the program, students take a core set of courses in the MBA program and one MHA course each semester. During the second year of the program, students are required to take an additional 15 credits in health administration and 12 credits of electives that may be selected in any combination from business or health administration. Students will also be expected to participate in periodic professional seminars to prepare them for the internship experience and to determine an area of professional emphasis.
Faculty invite top executives to visit their classrooms.
You will have the opportunity to meet and learn from executives representing organizations such as the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, the Penn State Geisinger Health System, Arthur Anderson Consulting, and Genesis Senior Care. The Penn State Alumni Association, among the largest in the nation, provides a network of professionals who can help you with internship and employment contacts. In addition to required course work in health administration and the health system, students can select field and functional emphases within health administration. Field emphases include hospital, long-term care, or ambulatory care administration. Functional emphases include strategic planning and marketing, accounting and finance, information systems, management science, human resources management, and health services research.