Master of Health Administration

Position yourself as a leader in healthcare management.

It takes a unique set of skills and specialized knowledge to succeed in today’s complex healthcare environment.

The Department of Health Policy and Management (HPM) offers a Master of Health Administration (MHA) degree program in full-time, part-time, and executive formats. These cohort-based programs integrate coursework in organizational leadership and management, health policy, and public health and health systems. Students take traditional management coursework in the context of the healthcare system and learn advanced skills in finance, strategy, leadership and analytics. Each course contains healthcare examples and case studies, and faculty discuss the healthcare environment, language and policies in class.

Students working towards their health administration masters degree develop competencies across a number of areas, including: analytical thinking, collaboration, communication, financial analysis, organizational awareness, resource management and allocation, and strategic thinking. This competency-based curriculum prepares graduates for management positions in hospitals, clinics, nonprofit organizations, local, state, and national government, and other health-related organizations, as well as jobs in consulting, bio-pharma, finance, and insurance companies.

Students have access to a deep network of professional contacts through alumni, faculty, and associated health-service organizations. The curriculum offers a number of integrated experiences designed to supplement coursework—including research, fieldwork, and professional interaction—in and around New York City.

HPM offers three distinct MHA degree programs: 

• Full-Time
• Part-Time
• Executive Program

HPM Management Program Mission Statement

The mission of HPM is to use our educational programs, academic research, and service activities to produce more effective, efficient, and equitable health systems, both in the United States and globally. The HPM management programs contribute to our departmental mission by educating and preparing entry, mid-level and executive healthcare professionals to manage systems, people and organizations across the healthcare industry. We achieve this by delivering a cohort-based, interdisciplinary education across three areas of expertise: 1) organizational leadership and management, 2) health policy development and implementation, and 3) public health and health systems administration and operations. In each of these areas, we expose graduate students to evidence-based practices that apply to work settings. We also use the New York City community and tri-state area to enhance the student experience and create opportunities with diverse healthcare and public health settings. Our competency-based curriculum prepares our students for leadership and management careers in a range of fields including government agencies, hospitals and integrated healthcare delivery systems, consulting firms, pharmaceutical corporations, insurance companies, financial institutions, foundations and other healthcare enterprises.  

HPM CAHME Accreditation

The Commission on Accreditation Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) is an interdisciplinary group of educational, professional, clinical, and commercial organizations devoted to accountability and quality improvement of education for healthcare management and administration professionals. HPM has created a competency model that supports HPM’s mission and meets the goals of HPM’s full-time (FTM), part-time (PTM) and executive (EXEC) management programs. HPM also has a competency program map that highlight the integration of HPM’s competencies and the core management curriculum across all three formats. Each of the core management courses covers at least two of the 17 competencies which are standardized across all three programs and are reinforced low, medium and high-level teaching and learning assessment methods throughout the management curriculum. For additional information about accreditation or competency-based healthcare management education regarding CAHME, please visit their website: www.cahme.org.  

HPM Teaching & Learning Methods + Assessment Methods

The management program uses a mix of higher and lower-level teaching and learning methods to engage students in their academic and professional development. Through the combination of knowledge, experiential learning and exposure to the world of practice, students become active participants in their learning. Ensuring multidisciplinary faculty are using an array of learning methods is essential to program goals. HPM’s pedagogy includes a rich mix of traditional didactics and intensive application through case review and feedback, team exercises and effectiveness assessments, individual and group presentations, peer assessments, journals, simulation and field projects. While a number of course assessments include papers and exams, the majority of classes include one or more of the aforementioned high-level methods. These assessment methods are designed to help students in the application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creation of the course material and competency attainment.

HPM Admissions Process

The department reviews each applicant’s personal statement, academic record, relevant experience, and recommendation letters carefully. It also evaluates applicants who show exceptional grit and passion through their application materials. This admissions review process is holistic and involves a careful consideration of, for example, the depth and breadth of courses taken, demonstrated connection to HPM and MSPH, and the relationship of prior education and experience to the applicant’s area of concentration and career objectives. Applicants to our full-time MHA format are not required to have full-time work experience prior to matriculation, but prior related internship or other work experience is helpful to support an applicant’s stated career and academic goals. Students in our part-time and executive formats require one and five years of related healthcare experience, respectively.

MHA At a Glance  

• In the 2020-21 academic year, HPM’s retention rates were 97%, 100% and 97% for its full-time, part-time, and executive formats, respectively. In the 2020-21 academic year, HPM’s graduation rates were also 97%, 100% and 97% for its full-time, part-time, and executive formats, respectively. Additionally, 96% of full-time students were employed within three months of graduation.
• HPM’s executive and part-time students are required to be employed as a condition of admission. HPM measures the placement rate of our executive and part-time students utilizing exit survey and career data. Examples of measures of success include: 100% of recently surveyed students stated the program improved their career marketability and improved their professional development.
• Graduates are employed in many sectors, including hospitals, community health organizations, insurers, pharmaceuticals, consulting, and health departments. According to alumni surveys, 98% of graduates of the full-time, part-time and executive formats continued to be employed 3-5 years after graduation.
• Students take a core management curriculum, including Managerial and Organizational Behavior, Strategic Management, Accounting and Budgeting, Healthcare Finance, Marketing, Health IT, Quality, and HR Management.