The Bachelor of Science in Health Care Administration (BSHA) is an undergraduate professional degree designed to prepare students for entry-level supervisory and mid-level management roles in health care organizations. Ideal candidates for the BSHA program are those students looking for career entry in health care administration and those looking to advance from clinical/technical roles to supervisory roles. The BSHA program also prepares students who wish to eventually seek their master's degree in order to obtain senior health care executive positions.
This health care administration degree emphasizes both the conceptual and analytical skills required to manage in contemporary health care organizations. Graduates may be prepared for administrative positions in hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities, outpatient facilities, physician offices, mental health organizations, insurance companies, public health agencies, government health departments, and other types of health organizations.
The Bachelor of Science in Health Care Administration degree features investigative and experiential opportunities in project management, teamwork, and leadership. Students will have the opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of the organization and structure of the health care sector. The implementation of successful management strategies within the industry along with the managerial skills needed to work in teams, lead teams, build cross-functional teams, and facilitate collaborative decision making are also topics of focus.
Students will learn about industry-specific business knowledge and skills related to finance management, human resources, strategic planning, marketing, information management, and quality improvement. Other topics include the impact that various dynamics have on health service organizations; the manner in which public, private, and social forces can shape the health care system; and financial options, including third party payers, and strategies within and between sectors of the health care industry.
General Education coursework prepares Grand Canyon University graduates to think critically, communicate clearly, live responsibly in a diverse world, and thoughtfully integrate their faith and ethical convictions into all dimensions of life. These competencies, essential to an effective and satisfying life, are outlined in the General Education Learner Outcomes. General Education courses embody the breadth of human understanding and creativity contained in the liberal arts and sciences tradition. Students take an array of foundational knowledge courses that promote expanded knowledge, insight, and the outcomes identified in the University‛s General Education Competencies. The knowledge and skills students acquire through these courses serve as a foundation for successful careers and lifelong journeys of growing understanding and wisdom.
| Competency | Requirements | GCU Course Options | Total Credits |
| University Foundations | Upon completion of the Grand Canyon University's University Foundation experience, students will be able to demonstrate competency in the areas of academic skills and self-leadership. They will be able to articulate the range of resources available to assist them, explore career options related to their area of study, and have knowledge of Grand Canyon's community. Students will be able to demonstrate foundational academic success skills, explore GCU resources (CLA, Library, Career Center, ADA office, etc), articulate strategies of self-leadership and management and recognize opportunities to engage in the GCU community. Students with fewer than 24 credits will fulfill the University Foundations requirement with a specified lower-division course. An upper-division selection will be made available to students that enter the university with more than 24 credits. | UNV-103/303, University Success: 4 credits | 4 credits |
| Effective Communication | Graduates of Grand Canyon University will be able to construct rhetorically effective communications appropriate to diverse audiences, purposes, and occasions (English composition, communication, critical reading, foreign language, sign language, etc.). Students are required to take 6 credits | ENG-105, English Composition I: 4 credits UNV-104, 21st Century Skills: Communication and Information Literacy: 4 credits |
6 credits |
| Critical Thinking | Graduates of Grand Canyon University will be able to use various analytic and problem-solving skills to examine, evaluate, and/or challenge ideas and arguments. Students are required to take 8 credits of intermediate algebra or higher mathematics. | MAT-134, Applications of Algebra: 4 credits MAT-260, College Geometry: 4 credits |
8 credits |
| Global Awareness, Perspectives, Ethics and Humanities | Graduates of Grand Canyon University will be able to demonstrate a global perspective and an awareness and appreciation of the scope and variety of literary works as expressions of individual or broader human values. Graduates will demonstrate information literacy which will enable them to locate and analyze information from a variety of sources. | CWV-101, Foundations of a Christian Worldview: 4 credits PHI-105, 21st Century Skills: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: 4 credits |
8 credits |
| Social Sciences | Graduates of Grand Canyon University will be able to demonstrate awareness and appreciation of and empathy for differences in arts and culture, values, experiences, historical perspectives, and other aspects of life, as well as examine social institutions and processes across a range of historical periods, social structures, and cultures. | SOC-100, Everyday Sociology: 4 credits PSY-100, Psychology in Everyday Life: 4 credits |
8 credits |
| Course # | Course Title | Course Description | Credits |
| HLT-205 | Health Care Systems and Transcultural Health Care | This course introduces the student to the complex organizational dynamics and structures that dictate the interaction among major components of the U.S. health care system along with the cultural beliefs and values, social factors, science and technology, economic forces, and political factors that have shaped the health care delivery system. This course also considers the ever growing global and diverse perspective of health care and introduces students to a multicultural perspective as it relates to developing professional competence in caring for individuals, families, groups, and communities with diverse cultural backgrounds. Culture is examined as a pervasive, determining "blueprint‟ for thought and action throughout the human health experience. Students will develop a vocabulary for understanding diversity as a concept that includes many different types of racial, ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic categories. Patterns of human interaction that foster health and quality of life are analyzed, and health-destroying patterns of interaction (e.g., stereotyping, discrimination, and marginalization) are examined and submitted to moral and ethical reflection. Throughout the course, students are exposed to real-life scenarios dealing with the various competing goals, priorities, and perspectives of the many participants in the health care arena, including financing entities, regulators, health care professionals, and patients, thereby developing the critical thinking skills needed to discuss and shape organizational policy related to systematic processes around health care delivery to a culturally diverse population. | 4 |
| HCA-255 | Health Policy and Economic Analysis | Through the application of basic economic principles, this course examines the impact of government, private sector, and special interest groups on the determination of health care policy. Prerequisite: HLT 205. | 4 |
| HCA-240 | Health Care Accounting and Billing | This course introduces students to the management and analysis of financial information in health care environments, as well as the fundamental principles of finance, accounting, and budgeting. It includes an overview of revenue sources for various health care entities and the Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG) system of service classification that is used to determine payment for providers and organizations. Students are also introduced to the fundamentals of strategic planning, cost concepts, and capital budgeting, and analyze issues surrounding the development and management of budgets. | 4 |
| HLT-305 | Legal and Ethical Principles in Health Care | This course provides a broad understanding of professional ethics, legal standards, and responsibilities as they relate to health care administration. The course introduces students to major ethical theory, principles, and models for the recognition, analysis, and resolution of ethical dilemmas in health occupations. This course also includes a review of classic cases in health care ethics and how they have shaped health policy. Students learn how to approach ethical dilemmas using theoretical frameworks and decision-making processes. Throughout the course, students are given the opportunity to evaluate real-life scenarios and arrive at calculated decisions, thereby developing the critical thinking skills needed for the moral decisions encountered in the health care environment. In addition to learning about the ethical principles in health care, students are introduced to the relationship between law and ethics, and the consequences and impact on individuals and the health care field. This course addresses the concerns of every health care professional regarding legal responsibility, workplace safety, and the health care facility‛s obligation to provide protection from injury for patients, their families, and staff. Through the use of case studies, students are exposed to real-life scenarios dealing with the development, understanding, and execution of the law; employee rights and responsibilities; and patient rights and responsibilities, thereby developing the critical thinking skills needed to evaluate the right and wrong courses of action when faced with complicated legal problems. | 4 |
| HLT-302 | Spirituality and Christian Values in Health Care and Wellness | This course explores the concepts of spirituality and Christian values as they relate to the role of the hospital or health care facility, the health care provider, and the patient. Since illness and stress can amplify spiritual concerns and needs, health care professionals are in a unique position to assist the patient/client in meeting those needs. Students explore and document the spiritual components of health care and wellness that permeate both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible as a foundation of understanding pain, suffering, health care, and wellness. From this foundation, students evaluate and reflect upon concepts such as a healing hospital/health care facility, the caregiver‛s role in giving care, the caregiver‛s need to care for self, dealing with grief, the role of prayer in health care, and the spiritual needs of patients and families dealing with chronic and acute illnesses. | 4 |
| HCA-360 | Health Information Technology and Management | This course provides information and skills necessary for managing information technology and systems with which the health care administrator must be familiar. In addition to understanding the various input systems that may be utilized, emphasis is placed on the efficiency, effectiveness, obstacles, and outcomes of integrating such systems into health care operations. Students also consider issues surrounding privacy and security of information, work within current laws affecting privacy and security, and evaluate the impact of IT on people and organizations. Prerequisite: HLT 205. | 4 |
| HCA-450 | Quality in Health Care | This course focuses on the knowledge and skills necessary to understand aspects of "quality‟ as they apply to patient care. Emphasis is on the development of quality and performance improvement activities designed to achieve desired outcomes, and the ability to analyze and interpret data for quality management purposes. Studies include general theory; practical applications; legal and regulatory issues in quality improvement, methodologies, and techniques that form the basis of patient safety; and quality management in medicine, such as group processes, process orientation, statistical process control, and statistical techniques. Throughout the course, students are exposed to real-life scenarios in which they demonstrate the ability to develop strategies for quality improvement that focus on the implementation of activities and tools necessary to evaluate and improve efforts related to quality of care. Prerequisites: HLT 205 and HLT 305. | 4 |
| HCA-455 | Organizational Behavior and Leadership in Health Care | This course introduces students to some basic behavioral science concepts, as they apply to health care settings and organizations such as content and process theories of motivation; attribution theory and motivation; and behavioral, contingency, and contemporary leadership theories. Students have the opportunity to explore the manager‛s role in relation to individuals, teams, and the overall health care organization system, and to analyze organization structures and design in order to develop strategies for improvement in operations and increase efficiency. Throughout the course, students are exposed to real-life scenarios in which they are asked to demonstrate the skills of motivation, workplace communication, conflict management, teamwork, decision making, and negotiation as they might be needed in a health care organizational framework to implement structural improvements. Prerequisites: HLT 305 and HLT 205. | 4 |
| HCA-460 | Operations and Risk Management in Health Care | This course introduces students to the roles of local, state, and federal regulatory agencies and accrediting bodies; the enforcement of federal guidelines, standards, and regulations; and the issues and demands of the regulatory environment that affect health care in the United States today. Throughout the course, students are asked to demonstrate understanding regarding legal responsibility, workplace safety, and the health care facility‛s obligation to provide protection from injury for patients, their families, and staff. Additionally, students are exposed to real-life scenarios in which they are asked to demonstrate the ability to develop strategic plans around risk management issues that would protect the health care organization from accidental injury costs or violations of safe health care regulations. Prerequisites: HCA 450. | 4 |
| HCA-465 | Health Care Administration and Management | This course explores the management of human resources, with particular focus on health care environments and provides the health care manager with a framework for human resource decision making. It includes topics such as job analysis, recruitment, selection and placement, training and development, retention, performance appraisal, and compensation, and provides the health care manager with popular concepts and theories in health care management, current topics in health care such as patient safety initiatives, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), revenue recovery efforts, and diversity training, and skills in using materials, references, tools, and technology central to health care management. Throughout the course, students are exposed to real-life scenarios in which they will be able to demonstrate basic management skills and the ability to work productively with others in multidisciplinary and ethnically diverse teams on relevant activities such as planning, organizing, decision making, staffing, motivating, budgeting, and more. Prerequisite: HCA 460. | 4 |
| BIO-365 | Biomedical Statistics | This course is an introduction to basic concepts of descriptive and inferential statistics, experimental design, and an exploration of chronic and infectious disease epidemiology. Students explore study and sampling designs by reviewing the steps of experiment design. Statistical methodologies include graphing, probability theory, estimation, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, correlation and regression, and analysis of variance. One-, two-, and multi-group parametric and nonparametric methods are introduced, requiring use of Z, t, F, and Chi-squared distributions. Epidemiology techniques include basic measures of disease frequency, exposure-disease associations, prevalence, and incidence relationships. Measures of effect, sources of bias, estimation, and hypothesis testing in epidemiology are discussed, along with estimation of risk and odds. Prerequisite: Grade C or better in MAT 134 or 3 years of high school algebra with a grade of C or better. | 4 |
| HLT-364 | Research and Communication Techniques in Health Care and Science | This writing-intensive course introduces students to the principles and processes of research and common types of communication utilized in health care and science. The course allows students to begin developing skills and acquiring the preliminary background information necessary to complete a well-developed (evidence-based) capstone project, the focus of which is the resolution of an issue or problem currently significant to health care administration. Within this course, students conduct a preliminary literature review on a topic of interest and relevance to their major. They create an annotated bibliography; investigate appropriate research design, data collection techniques, and statistical analysis; and practice professional writing skills. Writing focus in this course is on the essential strategy and skills required for written communication in the health care industry and science disciplines. The primary writing focus at this stage is the ability to effectively communicate clearly organized thoughts across a wide array of platforms and to do so with appropriate documentation and reporting style. Prerequisite: BIO 365. | 4 |
| HCA-470 | Strategic Planning and Implementation in Health Care | This course introduces students to the strategic environment that exists in health care and the models for planning effective programs, implementing programs, and program evaluation in health care settings. The course introduces special procedures and options available to health care organizations and provides methods for identifying, gathering, and utilizing data for decision making. Students are presented with the theory of health care administration using a strategic management framework and study the role played by the key business functions (finance, marketing, human resources, information technology, and law) as well as specific strategic options (merger/acquisition, reorganization, joint venture) and some of the popular tools for analyzing strategic situations (balanced scorecard, Six Sigma, SWOT). The culmination of efforts in the course is to complete the multistep process of creating strategic and implementation plans related to the work done in HLT 364 and the upcoming capstone project. A writing-intensive course. Prerequisites: HLT 364. | 4 |
| HLT-494 | Professional Capstone Project | This capstone project is the culmination of the learning experiences of students in the Health Care Administration program at Grand Canyon University. Students prepare written proposals for evidence-based projects focusing on the resolution of issues or problems significant to health care administration. Proposals include problem description, resolution, strategic and implementation plans, evaluation plans, and proposed dissemination of findings. Professional capstone project proposals need to reflect synthesis and integration of course content and professional practice. Capstone projects are guided by the baccalaureate program student learner outcomes and are intended to be presented to a senior-level administrator at a current or potential place of employment. A writing-intensive course. Prerequisites: HCA 470. | 4 |
| Required Course Total Credit: | 56 | ||
| General Education Requirements: | 34 |
| Courses: | 56 credits |
| Open Elective Credits: | 30 credits |
| Total Degree Requirements: | 120 credits |
This program is offered in the following formats or locations:
An online education allows you the flexibility to fulfill your educational goals without distracting you from your career. Full-time faculty members support our online students while our dynamic tools allow for engaging and challenging discussions with classmates. Classes start every month.
Program Disclosure
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* Please refer to the Academic Catalog for more information. Program subject to change.
Grand Canyon University © 2012 - All Rights Reserved. GCU is an accredited university founded in 1949. We are a Christian university and offer online degree programs and campus based classes. As a private university in Arizona, GCU has six colleges offering business degree programs including an Executive MBA, health science degrees, liberal arts degrees, doctorate degrees, nursing programs, and teaching programs. Our Performing Arts College offers fine arts and production degree programs. GCU is a military friendly school and offers military tuition rates.
