Doctor of Health Administration
(DHA)

This course provides a comprehensive overview of the United States (U.S.) healthcare delivery systems with emphasis placed on historical perspectives, characteristics, the various sectors, and functions. You will analyze current issues related to access, cost, and quality; financing and reimbursement; public policy and regulations; as well as the future of the healthcare delivery systems in the U.S.

This course provides an overview of approaches and processes involved in managing the health enterprise including value analysis, financial risk and required return. You will explore the roles of prices, production of health, demand for health care, theory of health insurance, health insurance and hospital markets, the market for physician services, and the role of government in the U.S. healthcare system.

This course provides an introduction to the health sector as it currently operates in the US. Through a historical review of this industry, you will learn how it has evolved and implications for its future. The complex structure of the health sector and dynamic interrelationships between various participants will also be explored. In addition, topics such as cost, quality, access, the financing of the healthcare system, and the uses of technology and data management will be investigated.

This course provides an overview of Human Resource Management in Healthcare Administration. You will examine pertinent employment and workplace safety laws used in healthcare organizations. You also will consider the impact of employee performance on the organization and its stakeholders. The challenges of effective recruitment and retention will be explored. In addition, you will learn the management skills needed by administrators and how to implement related policies.

In this course you will gain an understanding of mass communication, public relations, and marketing principles used in healthcare organizations. You will explore management oversight as it relates to marketing projects and strategies that support an organization’s image and mission. Areas to be examined include media relations, internal communications, crisis communications, and government and community relations. You also will examine how these elements assist in developing strategic partnerships in a global health marketplace.

This course will prepare you to understand theories, and develop, implement, and evaluate quality performance strategies within a healthcare organization. You will gain insights into indicators used to measure quality, in addition to exploring how quality assurance, measurement, and continuous quality improvement is implemented in healthcare organizations.

In this course, you will critique legal mandates and subsequent managerial responses within a healthcare setting. You will build knowledge and skills required to implement and impact policy development. This course will also explore ethical and non-ethical behaviors of health administrators. Key topics include professional and institutional liability, ethical decision making, and legal issues regarding fraud and abuse.

In this course you will assess trends and issues affecting senior healthcare administration management. You will evaluate how these trends/issues affect leadership at the highest organizational levels of healthcare settings.

Applied research projects in healthcare focus on using current evidence to address an identified problem.  In this course, you will gain an understanding of the process healthcare leaders use to respond to problems by learning how to integrate research skills with professional practice. This course introduces you to research processes and methods, including quantitative and qualitative designs. You will critically analyze and determine conceptual models and theoretical frameworks, as well as appropriate secondary data sources. Throughout the course, you will refine a possible topic for your applied doctoral project. 

In this course, you will examine the principles of quantitative reasoning and analysis used in healthcare research. You will explore quantitative research designs and techniques that can be used to support evidence-based decision making. Topics to be covered include data presentation, statistical analysis, description and testing of relationships, and survey research.  Common challenges within quantitative healthcare research will be explored.

The course covers key components of project management within integrated health systems. You will review concepts of project integration, project scope, project timeline and cost management. You also will examine leadership skills used in project management for healthcare. These include human resource considerations, marketing and communications, and risk and procurement management.

Using implementation science as a framework to disseminate research in clinical and community-based healthcare, this course you will examine study designs and methods used in this translational research approach that considers how to transfer evidence-based research into practice. You will learn how successful integration of this research, into contemporary application, requires both involvement and input from the end user.

This course examines how qualitative and quantitative research data informs decision-making in healthcare management. You will review statistical techniques used to analyze healthcare data. You will also evaluate and interpret findings of published research and technical reports to assess application in healthcare settings. Additionally, you will review the need to and methods used to protect health information when conducting and interpreting research.

In this course you will begin to assimilate the knowledge and skills gained throughout your program as you formulate your health administration/healthcare management project. Collaborating with your faculty member and/or Project Committee Chair, you will develop your project prospectus. You will also examine the Doctoral Student Experience (DSE) courses to inform development of appropriate project goals and timelines. You will evaluate and justify the value of your selection of previous course artifacts to support your health administration/healthcare management project and strengthen your professional portfolio.

*A minimum B-grade is required to move to the Doctoral Student Experience courses.

In this 12-week course, you will complete all relevant subsections of Section 1: Foundation. You will use your school-specific template and guidance from your chair to determine which subsections apply to your individual work. Section 1 must be completed and approved by your committee in order to pass the course and move forward. If you do not receive committee approval of Section 1, you will be able to take up to three supplemental 8-week courses to finalize and gain approval of Section 1.

In this 12-week course, you will compose all relevant subsections of Section 2: Methodology and Design and complete your proposal. Both of these components must be approved by your committee in order to pass the course and move forward. You will use your school-specific template and guidance from your chair to determine which subsections apply to your individual work. If you do not receive approval of Section 2 and the complete proposal, you will be able to take up to three 8-week supplementary courses to finalize and gain approval of Section 2 and your completed proposal.

In this course, you will prepare, submit, and obtain a determination from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) application before collecting data and, if applicable, executing your project modeling. You will also submit documentation that you have closed data collection. If you are still collecting data or modeling your project at the end of this 12-week course, you will be able to take up to three supplemental 8-week courses to complete the required components.

In this 12-week course, you will complete all relevant subsections of Section 3: Findings, Implications, and Recommendations, finalize your manuscript, and disseminate your findings. You will use your school-specific template and guidance from your chair to determine which subsections apply to your individual work. The final manuscript, which includes Section 3 and the dissemination of findings, must be approved by your committee in order to pass the course and be eligible to graduate. If you do not receive committee approval of all components, you will be able to take up to three supplemental 8-week courses to finalize these requirements and be eligible to graduate.