Master of Science in Health Care Administration
Earn Your Master’s in Health Care Administration Online
Entry-level healthcare managers, aspiring administrators and active healthcare providers may enhance their career qualifications with a Master of Science in Health Care Administration. The MHA degree, offered online by Grand Canyon University, provides a solid academic foundation on the business side of the healthcare field. Healthcare administration is a dynamic and rapidly growing career field. As medical technology, compliance regulations and patient populations change, healthcare administrators must prepare to meet new challenges.
This degree, from the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions, teaches the analytical and application skills that are essential in a contemporary medical organization. Examine modern healthcare institutions and their models of operation. Learn best practices in human resources, organizational structure and ethical principles. Acquire a firm understanding of your own leadership style and how to inspire others to strive for continual improvements.
Prepare to Lead with GCU’s MHA Degree Curriculum
During online courses that average eight weeks in length, you will learn key methods of analyzing and implementing effective healthcare models. Explore ways of delivering excellence in healthcare while balancing costs. Study efficient resource management and inspirational workforce leadership. GCU’s online learning platform lets you study anywhere, any time. Connect with instructors who are experts in their fields and learn from the diverse perspectives of your fellow students.
There is an emphasis on the value of servant leadership and on the Christian worldview. As a Christian university, GCU integrates a religious model of servant leadership into the curriculum. Students are inspired to pursue a purposeful career in service to others.
Master’s in Health Care Administration (MHA) Degree Requirements
The Master of Science in Health Care Administration degree requires a total of 48 credits for graduation. Some of the core program courses include the following:
- Essential Health Care Business Analysis
- Human Resource Management and Marketing Communication Strategies
- Analysis of Contemporary Health Care Delivery
- Health Care Policies and Economics
- Legal and Ethical Principles in Health Care
- Health Care Research Methods, Analysis and Utilization
The online MHA degree includes the Evidence-Based Research Project, a capstone course that completes the degree requirements. Students will work on a comprehensive project, plan or proposal that addresses a contemporary issue in the healthcare administration field. Successful capstone projects are those that include all the necessary information for real world implementation.
Discover a Career in Health Care
An MHA degree can prepare professionals to pursue mid- to high-level jobs in healthcare administration. Positions may be available in hospitals, long-term care facilities, physician groups or health insurance companies. Additionally, MHA graduates may pursue work in the following areas:
- Nonprofit health organizations
- Medical device companies
- Medical equipment manufacturers
- Governmental health agencies
- Ambulatory care
Some healthcare administrators are generalists and may perform work that affects the entire hospital or organization. Others are specialists and may hold a management position in a specific department or service line, such as oncology.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for medical and health services managers is projected to grow by 20 percent from 2016 through 2026, which is a much faster rate than average.
Program DomainsProgram Core Courses
Course Description
This course is designed to prepare students for the graduate learning experience at Grand Canyon University. Students have opportunities to develop and strengthen the skills necessary to succeed as graduate students in the College of Business. Emphasis is placed on utilizing the tools for graduate success.
Course Description
This course allows students to develop a comprehensive understanding of contemporary health care models from financial, economic, quality, access, and disparity perspectives, and to relate the ethical, cultural, political, and financial factors that drive and support them. It is from this broad, integrative, and comparative perspective that students begin defining their role and perspective as administrators within the health care system. Students begin to investigate their options and define their potential to serve as leaders of systematic improvement, within their health care discipline, based on changes in these driving factors.
Course Description
This course focuses on the practical financial-analysis skills that have immediate application within the health care industry, as well as managerial decision-making processes based on cost, service, and economic variables that influence market performance and outcome.
Course Description
Topics covered in this course include principles and models for the recognition, analysis, and resolution of ethical dilemmas in health occupations; legal responsibility; workplace safety; and the health care facility’s obligation to provide protection from injury for patients, their families, and staff.
Course Description
This course focuses on the critical analysis of health care research and its application to the administration and delivery of health care services. Emphasis is placed on strategies to access current and relevant data, synthesize the information, and translate new knowledge into practice. Students are introduced to concepts of measurement, reliability, and validity, as well as ethical issues in the design and conduct of research through an evaluative process of health care initiatives and projects.
Course Description
This course focuses on the analysis of health care organizational structure and effectiveness. Topics include the distributive leadership model, decision making through collaboration and teamwork, and the integrative analysis of how change impacts other components of the system.
Course Description
This course focuses on essential managerial communication skills. Human resource topics include conflict management, negotiation, mediation, and coaching, as well as change management principles and the types of communication required for paradigm modification. Marketing topics include interdepartmental, cross discipline, external partner, and consumer communication and collaboration techniques.
Course Description
This course explores the nature of business leadership models and theories, examines these models through a broad variety of insights and viewpoints, and provides a description and analysis of these approaches to leadership, giving special attention to how the models can improve leadership in real-world organizations.
Course Description
This course focuses on the critical analyses of health care business operations and performance. Topics include analysis of financial performance, operational process analysis, and quality of service evaluation.
Course Description
This course is designed to provide students with the foundational knowledge, skills, resources, and guidance to prepare for professional health care standards related to their future discipline within the industry. Emphasis is placed on critical thinking, awareness and identification of resources, communication strategies, and goal setting. Students apply learned face-to-face and electronic networking techniques and tactics to ensure professional readiness along with gaining knowledge of professional standards. Students prepare a professional portfolio and resume, and learn practical interviewing techniques to prepare for entry into/advancement within their chosen discipline-specific health care careers.
Course Description
The focus of this course is to begin integrating all previous study and to identify the focus of students' final capstone project. Students evaluate and integrate the methodologies, considerations, and strategies for project or program design, planning, implementation, and evaluation that are relevant or specifically required by their specific health care discipline. Topics of investigation and consideration include (but are not limited to) financial and economic impact; resource allocation; competition; public and private educational requirements; availability of information technology; impact assessment of change; process improvement assessment; social, behavioral, and environmental impact; legal/ethical issues; and any other factors that impact the provision of care or subsequent outcomes within an organization and community. A collaborative group project approach is emphasized to enhance contribution and consideration from diverse experiences within the health care field. Prerequisite: HLT-610, HCA-610, or HIM-650.
Course Description
This course provides an opportunity for students to envision the best possible future for the American health care system, and to understand what changes are necessary to achieve it. By focusing on and developing a set of recommendations for improving American health care, students appreciate the difference between forcing a current system to work harder, and redesigning a system in order to achieve desired outcomes. Students learn how transactional leaders can become transformational leaders, and begin the formal process of preparing for their capstone research project. Students gain understanding of how clinical data, knowledge, and practice are driving the development of health care surveillance systems through informatics. Topics of investigation include the role of informatics in improved patient care and research, organization and national bio-surveillance, and clinical decision support. Consideration is given to legal and regulatory issues in private and public health practice and as they apply to public health security and preparedness in response to bioterrorism and disasters. Prerequisite: HCA-620.
Course Description
This capstone course provides an opportunity for students to complete the development of a comprehensive evidence-based project, plan, or proposal that addresses a problem, issue, or concern in their professional practice and can be implemented upon completion of the program. Projects address a problem amenable to research-based intervention; include a relevant and comprehensive literature review; propose a solution; and include a fully developed program, project, or business plan. The project also contains all the necessary information to implement the proposed solution, evaluate its outcome(s), and disseminate the findings. Prerequisite: HCA-675.
Online
Evening
* Please note that this list may contain programs that are not presently offered as program availability may vary depending on class size, enrollment and other contributing factors. If you are interested in a program listed herein please first contact your University Counselor for the most current information regarding availability of the program.
* The Department of Education defines how an institution must calculate a program's On-Time Completion rate for federal disclosure purposes. The On-Time Completion rate is based on a program's published required number of months to complete all degree requirements as provided in the institution's catalog. Completion statistics are updated every January and are based on the cohort of students who started the program in the same year and then graduated within the published program length.
Online and Evening program disclosures (25 months)* Please refer to the Academic Catalog for more information. Program subject to change.