Healthcare Administration

Master of Healthcare Administration

Program Director: Deanna Melton-Riddle, DHA MSA, CMA-AAMA, RPT-AMT, CDPLC

A graduate of the UP program will be a transformational leader in healthcare. Transformational leaders are critical thinkers who are able to operationalize innovative change projects, lead and inspire others, and are guided by legal and ethical principles. This leader is able to strategically leverage systems and informatics to optimize quality outcomes, improve operations, and create healthy person-centered environments.

The curriculum provides opportunities for students to prepare for a career in healthcare administration or to enhance their current career in this field. The following program themes are woven throughout the curriculum:

• Communication and listening
• Informatics and information technology
• Ethical and transformational leadership
• Critical thinking
• Complex systems, strategic planning and financial proficiency
• Practice competency

The following healthcare administration courses are offered sequentially following the core curriculum with the exception of the internship and capstone courses, which are offered concurrent with concentration courses.

Program Mission

Our mission is to partner with and support healthcare professionals who are seeking to advance their careers. Our curriculum and practitioner faculty translate theory to workplace application with a focus on knowledge and competency building, along with leadership development. Assignments and Capstone Projects reflect development of competencies required for healthcare leadership.

The curriculum was designed to nurture accountable leaders who approach challenges analytically, reviewing data and evidence, while integrating ethical, compassionate, cultural, regulatory, and legal considerations in decision-making. The program highlights intrapersonal understanding and self-development to support cultivating collaboration and leading teams to execute change. The central focus of the program is leadership development, with courses and concepts woven through the program to complement didactic learning about the health- care system.

Our program tracks serve two distinct segments of healthcare professionals. The Master of Healthcare Administration track supports early to mid-careerists who are interested in broadening their understanding of the healthcare system, financial and managerial approaches, and developing skills in analyzing data and evidence in decision-making. The Executive Master of Healthcare Administration track supports healthcare professionals who have advanced their careers and now seek to refine leadership competencies in aspects of anticipating, managing, and responding to industry changes. Both tracks are offered online to better accommodate the responsibilities of working healthcare professionals.

Program Values

The Master of Healthcare Administration program values reflect the university’s focus on character, competence, and commitment along with the university core themes of seeking to understand, living in community and searching together. We believe healthcare leaders must exemplify character, competence, and commitment to serve and lead. Together we seek to understand the healthcare environment, the inherent challenges of delivering quality care, and the diverse needs of stakeholders. We live in community with stakeholders - patients, their loved ones, and provider/caregivers from all specialties and settings. Together, we search daily for the best approaches to delivering quality care and for developing healthier communities.

Program Vision

Through an emphasis on workplace application focused on the development of character, competence and commitment, we will develop professionals well equipped to handle current and future healthcare needs and become the program of choice for working healthcare professionals who wish to prepare for the next steps in leadership.

Master of Healthcare Administration, Executive Track

The Executive Masters in Health Administration (Executive MHA) degree develops core health system knowledge, leadership skills and business acumen in high potential executives of the United States’ largest health systems. Created to prepare senior executives to respond to and manage organizational change, the program equips graduates to drive innovation, lead through collaboration, and practice adaptive and predictive thinking in the ever-changing healthcare environment. The executive MHA is designed to produce graduates prepared to take on corporate executive leadership positions at health systems across the country.

The Executive MHA degree was created in partnership between the University of Providence (the University) and The Health Management Academy (The Academy), an educational services organization with a long-standing relationship with Providence St. Joseph Health (PSJH). Cognizant of the dearth of interdisciplinary and collaborative leadership development programs in the healthcare industry, the Executive MHA enrolls nationwide cohorts of administrative, financial, nurse and physician executives, and is housed in the School of Health Professions at the University. This major has restricted enrollment and is not offered to the general public.

Healthcare Administration (MHA) Program Learning Outcomes

Graduates in the MHA degree program demonstrate the following program learning outcomes:

• Apply systems and leadership theories to affect change and meet strategic goals.
• Integrate ethical, compassionate, cultural, regulatory, and legal components in making leadership decisions.
• Synthesize and apply effective communication strategies and skills within organizations to create healthy person-centered environments.
• Demonstrate emotional intelligence, reflective personal growth when leading organizations.
• Apply data collection methods, applications, sampling systems and informatics to improve decision- making and accountability.
• Analyze data, evidence-based practice and financial systems to ensure quality and safety in processes.
• Improve competencies in healthcare knowledge, leadership skills, and business acumen to implement innovative initiatives;
• Problem solve and collaborate around challenges, trends and opportunities impacting US healthcare;
• Build a nationwide network of peers and foster collegial relationships;
• Engage in cross-disciplinary conversations with current and retired corporate health system executives;
• Access professional development and mentoring.

Degree Requirements

Master's Degree Requirements

Healthcare Administration (M.H.A)

Specialized Concentrations

Leadership Concentration

Health Justice Concentration

Community Health Investment Concentration

Healthcare Administration, Executive Track

Approved Electives

*Plan templates are based on the most current catalog and ideal route for degree completion, and should only be used to get an idea of what degree completion may look like. New and enrolled students should log into DegreeWorks to see their specific degree requirements.  

Healthcare Administration

Plan Template: Master in Healthcare Administration
Description: Master in Healthcare Administration
# of Terms: 6
Term Start: Fall/Spring