Master of Health Administration (MHA)

Program Overview and Mission Statement

The Master of Health Administration program prepares students for management and leadership positions dedicated to improving health and health service delivery across all sectors. The program emphasizes innovation and strategic problem-solving by applying analytical, technical, and management skills required to improve the quality, cost-effectiveness and integration of healthcare organizations and systems. The interdisciplinary curriculum brings students together with physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals creating a collaborative learning environment. The accelerated program includes one year of academic coursework followed by an 11-month compensated administrative residency with a choice of healthcare delivery systems or consulting partners.

The JHU MHA program focuses on the U.S. healthcare system. It is especially well-suited for early careerists including recent undergraduates, individuals with 1-5 years of work experience and professionals from non-healthcare fields who are looking for a career change interested in managerial and leadership positions within U.S. organizations including hospitals, health systems, health insurance and consulting firms.

Program Accreditation

The program's curriculum, accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME), provides for the development of conceptual, quantitative, and applied skills essential to lead contemporary health care organizations.

Master's Tuition Scholarship

All students enrolled in the MHA program are eligible for a Master’s Tuition Scholarship (MTS) during their second-year administrative residency. The MTS provides MHA students with a 75% tuition scholarship. More details on scholarship eligibility can be found in the Program Policies tab.

Program Administration

Program Director: Mark Bittle, DrPH, MBA, FACHE
Associate Director: Conan Dickson, PhD, FACHE
Assistant Director: Karen Charron, MPH, BSN
Sr. Academic Coordinator: LaKeasha Wormley, MA

BA/MHA

The BA/Master of Health Administration (BA/MHA) is designed exclusively for undergraduate students currently enrolled in the Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts and Sciences program in Public Health Studies. We encourage all other JHU undergraduates to apply to this program during the regular admissions cycle.

Public Health Studies students have the unique opportunity to seek early admission to the MHA degree.  The BA/MHA program emphasizes innovation and strategic problem-solving by applying analytical, technical and management skills required to improve the quality, cost-effectiveness, and integration of healthcare organizations and systems. Students in this program will receive co-advising from both schools to optimize their academic experience.

Requirements

Applications for the BA/MHA degree should be submitted through SOPAHS Express by July 1st between the junior and senior years. Students must be accepted before the start of their senior year. Please note that admitted students must complete the BA degree before formally enrolling in the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Applicants must submit the following:

• Transcripts from Johns Hopkins University and, if applicable, transcripts from any other college-level institutions you have attended.*
• Three letters of recommendation.
• Resume or curriculum vitae.
• Statement of purpose and objectives.
• A grade of "B" or better in the prerequisite courses listed below that must be achieved at the time of application:

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
AS.280.345	Public Health Biostatistics	4
AS.280.350	Fundamentals of Epidemiology	4
AS.180.102	Elements of Microeconomics	3

• While not required, it is also strongly recommended that students take EN.660.203 Financial Accounting. Students that earn a "B" in this course and pass a waiver exam do not need to take the required MHA course PH.312.617 Fundamentals of Financial Accounting.
• Standardized test scores are not required for admission review provided that a minimum GPA or 3.3 in the Public Health core is reached.

*You may upload unofficial transcripts in the document section to expedite the application review process; however, admitted students must submit an official transcript before they can matriculate into the program.

For more information on the BA/MHA program, contact Assistant Director, Karen Charron, or visit our website.

MHA Program Requirements

Course location and modality is found on the JHSPH website.

Core Curriculum

The MHA program requires a minimum 70 credits of didactic coursework. All required courses must be taken for a letter grade except for courses only offered as pass/fail.

Plan of Study Grid

First Year		Credits
Summer Term
PH.550.860	Academic & Research Ethics at JHSPH
XXX.XXX	Introduction to Online Learning
XXX.XXX	Title IX and Harassment Prevention Training for Students
	Credits	0
First Term
PH.140.611	Statistical Reasoning in Public Health I 1	3
PH.300.651	Introduction to the U.S. Healthcare System	4
PH.312.602	Applied Methods for Optimizing Performance in Health Care Organizations	2
PH.312.617	Fundamentals of Financial Accounting	3
PH.312.700	Leading Organizations	3
PH.312.867	MHA Seminar in Health Finance and Management	1
PH.340.721	Epidemiologic Inference in Public Health I 1	5
	Credits	21
Second Term
PH.312.601	Fundamentals of Management for Health Care Organizations	3
PH.312.603	Fundamentals of Budgeting and Financial Management	3
PH.312.604	Quantitative Tools for Managers	3
PH.312.701	Leading Strategically: Creating and Leading Change in Organizations	3
PH.312.867	MHA Seminar in Health Finance and Management	1
PH.313.610	Health Economics for Managers	3
PH.315.703	Leading Change Through Health Informatics	3
	Credits	19
Third Term
PH.309.620	Managed Care and Health insurance	3
PH.312.623	Financial Management in Health Care I	3
PH.312.660	Marketing in Health Care Organizations	3
PH.312.675	Medical Practice Management	3
PH.312.678	Introduction to Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety: A Management Perspective	2
PH.312.867	MHA Seminar in Health Finance and Management	1
PH.312.869	Healthcare Consulting Practicum	2
	Credits	17
Fourth Term
PH.306.663	Legal and Ethical Issues in Health Services Management	3
PH.312.621	Strategic Planning	3
PH.312.624	Financial Management in Health Care II	3
PH.312.650	Non-Traditional & innovative Health Services Partnerships	1
PH.312.861	MHA Case Competition	2
PH.312.867	MHA Seminar in Health Finance and Management	1
In addition, choose one of the following
PH.312.635 or PH.312.670	Human Resources in Health Organizations or Negotiation in Health Care Settings	2-3
	Credits	15-16
Second Year
First Term
PH.312.810	MHA Residency	16
	Credits	16
Second Term
PH.312.810	MHA Residency	16
	Credits	16
Third Term
PH.312.810	MHA Residency	16
	Credits	16
Fourth Term
PH.312.810	MHA Residency	15
PH.312.862	MHA Capstone	1
	Credits	16
	Total Credits	136-137

1	Course meets one or more CEPH learning objectives.

CEPH Required Courses

The following online CEPH required courses may be taken in either Year 1 or 2. All eight courses are required before graduation. Some courses, indicated below, may be held prior to First Term. Those courses will count toward First Term registration.

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Summer Courses (Aug 8-23)
PH.552.601	Foundational Principles of Public Health	.5
PH.552.603	The Role of Qualitative Methods and Science in Describing and Assessing a Population's Health	.5
PH.552.607	Essentials of Environmental Health	.5
PH.552.608	Biologic, Genetic and Infectious Bases of Human Disease	.5
PH.552.610	The Social Determinants of Health	.5
Term 1B
PH.552.609	Psychological and Behavioral Factors That Affect A Population's Health	0.5
PH.552.611	Globalization and Population Health	0.5
PH.552.612	Essentials of One Health	0.5
Total Credits		4

Administrative Residency

In the second year of the program, students continue to register full-time while they complete their 11-month full-time, paid administrative residency in a healthcare management setting. A variety of settings are available including community hospitals, university-affiliate hospitals, investor-owned hospitals, physicians' medical practices, consulting firms, long-term care facilities and managed care organizations.

The MHA program has a match process partnering students with local and national organizations providing administrative residency positions, many exclusive to JHU students. Residency "showcases" are scheduled throughout the fall of the first year for students to meet the preceptors and discuss the organization and residency. Most residencies are only available to U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents.

The residency provides students with healthcare management experience in which the student applies the knowledge and skills learned in the program's coursework. The residency experience is supervised by an on-site faculty preceptor and an MHA program adviser. During the residency year, students are required to submit reports that consist of an educational goals paper, three progress reports, a residency critique, summary of accomplishments and a final capstone paper. In addition, students will have the opportunity to present their capstones to their classmates and program faculty during the 4th term.

In year two, students must register for 16 credits of PH.312.810, MHA Residency, in Terms 1-3 and 15 credits in Term 4 for a total of 63 MHA residency credits, but must have at least 16 credits per term to be eligible for the Master Tuition Scholarship. Student evaluation is based on the completed and timely submission of all assignments as well as continued satisfactory performance in the residency site as determined by the on-site preceptor and the program directors.

All students in the MHA program who have a minimum of three years of post-graduate clinical experience and plan to return to their clinical responsibilities after graduation may, with approval of the MHA Program Office, complete a case study or project at their workplace in lieu of a separate residency.

Capstone Guidelines

The MHA Capstone provides an opportunity for students to integrate the knowledge that they have gained through their course work and residency. The program offers three options for the Capstone: a case study of a major project from their administration residency, submission of an acceptable paper for the Stull competition, and participation in the UAB case competition. All students will register for 1 credit of PH.312.862 MHA Capstone in Term 4 and present their Capstone topics and findings by Zoom in May.

Option #1: A Case Study from the Administrative Residency

Students who choose the case study option will report on a major initiative in which they were involved during their administrative residency. They are expected to provide a thorough analysis of the situation or problem that the organization faced, a description of the alternative approaches that the organization considered (if it did so), a description of the initiative that was adopted, presentation of data regarding the results of the initiative, and a thorough analysis of whether or not the initiative succeeded (including lessons learned). The case study should incorporate theories, concepts, knowledge, and practice relevant to the healthcare management field of study. (This option differs from a classroom-based case studies in which issues are presented and questions provided to assist the student in resolving a problem.)

Deliverables

Students should submit their proposal for the case study to their CoursePlus portfolio by the first week of Term 2. The proposal (approximately 500 words) should describe the problem(s) facing the organization, the context of the problem within the healthcare system, the initiative undertaken by the organization, and the measures of success used by the organization. Students are encouraged to consult with their academic advisers throughout the year to ensure that the case study will meet expectations.

Students should submit their case studies to the CoursePlus Portfolio by the beginning of Term 3. Case studies should be written in MLA or APA Style format (12pt sans serif type face, e.g. Arial or Garamond, one-inch margins and double-spaced), and should be between 5,000 and 10,000 words (not including abstract, bibliography, tables and appendices). Students are expected to include references from sources outside the organization (such as peer-reviewed and scholarly journals as well as other periodicals, books, newspaper articles, and government documents).

Students should submit PowerPoint slides for the Capstone Symposium to the CoursePlus Portfolio by the last Friday in April.

Examples of excellent case studies from previous students are posted on the MHA Residency CoursePlus site.

Evaluation of Case Studies

Faculty will evaluate the case study using a quality rubric posted on the CoursePlus Portfolio focused on these four areas:

1. Central idea
2. Literature review and analytical support
3. Organization
4. Mechanics

Option #2: Submission of Paper for Stull Essay Competition

Students may choose to submit a paper for American College of Healthcare Executive's (ACHE's) Richard Stull Student Essay Competition in the Fall. The specifications for the paper are described on ACHE's website. Proposals should be submitted to the CoursePlus Portfolio no later than October 1. Final manuscripts should be submitted to the CoursePlus Portfolio no later than November 1. The program office will select the best paper for submission to ACHE in early December.

Option #3: Participation in the UAB Case Competition

Three students are selected to represent the program at the annual Health Administration Case Competition held at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in February. Participation in this event fulfills their capstone requirement. Team members will be identified in early October.

Capstone Symposium

All students are expected to present the results of their Capstone at a Zoom symposium in May, regardless of which option they choose. Each student will have no more than 15 minutes to present the topic and findings of his/her Capstone to classmates and faculty. The content should be no more than 10 minutes with approximately two (2) minutes of Q&A.

Special Guidelines for International Students

The MHA program prepares students exclusively for work in U.S.-based healthcare management positions. The program does not guarantee residency opportunities for international students. Organizations that participate in the match are available to U.S. citizens or permanent residents only.

The following alternatives are available to international students who are unable to obtain or choose not to obtain an 11-month residency in the U.S.:

• A single 11-month placement with a preceptor in the student's native country (to be arranged by the student and reviewed and approved by the MHA Program Office).
• An unpaid 3-month placement with a preceptor in the Baltimore area (subject to availability of a residency preceptor) followed by an 8-month placement in the student's native country. This placement must be arranged by the student and must be reviewed and approved by the MHA Program Office.

All international students, regardless of whether they complete their residency in the U.S. or not, must consult with the University's Office of International Services (OIS) before starting their residency position.

MHA Program Policies

MHA Program Prerequisites

1. Prior to matriculation into the program, students are required to take a microeconomics course. The MHA program office will provide online course options to help you fulfill this prerequisite. Please contact the program office for more information.
2. In order to take required online courses, students must complete Introduction to Online Learning, which is offered through the Center for Teaching and Learning at the Bloomberg School. This non-credit course is a pre-requisite that must be completed in the summer prior to matriculation.
3. All students must take the required course PH.550.860 Academic & Research Ethics at JHSPH. This is an online offering that must be completed in the summer prior to matriculation. Failure to complete this course will prevent students from registering for 2nd term.
4. It is strongly recommend that interested applicants take a business accounting course equivalent to EN.660.203 Financial Accounting. Students who earn a "B" or better and pass a waiver exam do not need to take the MHA required course PH.312.617 Fundamentals of Financial Accounting.

Master's Tuition Scholarship

The MTS provides eligible second year MHA students with a 75% tuition scholarship. Students are eligible if they have successfully completed all Year 1 required coursework, are in good academic standing, and have accumulated a minimum of 64 credits. Once the scholarship has been awarded, the student must maintain a full-time registration for the entire period of the award. Upon completion of the administrative residency, the scholarship will be concluded. Students are not permitted to enroll in courses using the scholarship once they have completed the program.

Satisfactory Academic Progress

Students must meet minimum standards to remain in the MHA program. A student's failure to meet the criteria is grounds for being placed on academic warning and/or being dismissed from the program.

Any student enrolled in the MHA who does not achieve the minimum 2.75 GPA by the end of the 4th Term (or upon completion of all required course work) may be prevented from initiating their 2nd year residency. In this situation, the program directors, in consultation with the HPM Student Matters Committee, will determine the appropriate course of action.

HPM Policy on Course Waivers

In rare cases, courses may be waived if an equivalent graduate course was completed at another institution within the last 5 years.

Any request for a course waiver must be submitted an approved by the program director in writing at least one week prior to the start of the term.

Procedure: In order for any course(s) to be considered for a waiver the student must submit a formal written request with all documentation justifying the request to the Program Director. The decisions on granting approvals for such requests are totally at the discretion of the Program Director in conjunction with the course faculty and will be communicated in writing to the student. The documentation necessary to grant a waiver will, in general, require the the title of previous course(s), textbook(s) used, summary of course syllabi, course format (semester or term), grade(s) received, year completed, and institution where course was  completed.

HPM Guidelines for Student Employment

Hours of Work and Overtime

Full-time master's students who work for the Bloomberg School are eligible to work a maximum of 19.99 hours per week during each academic term. During periods of academic non-enrollment (i.e., summer, spring break, etc.) student employees may work up to 40 hours per week. This work hour limit does not apply to the Year 2 residency.

For FICA TAX purposes, "summer" begins on June 1st and ends on the last day of August prior to the first day of Term 1. During this time, students may work up to 40 hours per week.

MHA Learning Outcomes

Program Competencies

It is the program's goal that by the time students have successfully completed the course work and administrative residency, they will have mastered the competencies outlined in the following domains.

Health and Healthcare Environment

• Legal and Regulatory Environment: Explain federal, state and local laws and regulations affecting the delivery of health care and related services.
• Financing Environments: Analyze the healthcare financing and economic environments, including regulation and processes applicable to public and private payers.
• Health Policy Environment: Analyze the effects of health policy on providers, payers and populations and its implications for organizational response and change.
• Provider Environment: Describe the array of key provider organizations and health professions and their implications for the quality and cost of care of individuals and populations.
• Public Health: Establish goals and objectives for improving health outcomes that incorporate an understanding of the social determinants of health and the socioeconomic environment in which the organization functions.

Management

• Financial Capability: Apply financial and accounting information and analytical tools to evaluate short and long term options and goals and monitor financial performance.
• Budget Management: Apply key accounting principles to prepare, monitor and manage budgets.
• Market Analysis: Apply economic models to analyze health care sector events, developments and trends, and plan accordingly.
• Operatives Management and Performance Measurement: Apply quantitative and qualitative tools and models to analyze, evaluate and improve an organization's service orientation, patient safety and quality processes and outcomes.
• Knowledge Management: Create management structures that apply, analyze, evaluate and convey information (gathered from both human and technological sources) to facilitate organizational decision making.
• Population Health Management: Apply epidemiological, biostatistical and evidence-based methods to improve health system performance at the population-level. Use vital statistics and core health indicators to guide decision-making and analyze health trends of the population to guide the provision of health services.
• Workforce Systems: Organize and manage the workforce utilizing key performance indicators and employee engagement metrics.
• Workforce Management: Direct the operation of a business segment through the development of the workforce's knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies.
• Health Services Management: Explain the various organizational structures of health care delivery, funding mechanisms and the way that health care services are delivered.
• Strategic Thinking and Management: Provide overall direction to the enterprise, including specifying the organization's objectives, developing policies and plans designed to achieve these objectives, and then allocating resources to implement the plans.
• Systems Thinking: Describe the analyze an organization form a systems perspective (i.e., as a complex set of cause and effect relationships).
• Governance: Explain how to create and maintain a system of governance that ensures appropriate oversight of the organization.

Leadership

• Innovation and Creativity: Facilitate diversity of thought in pursuit of developing new ideas, creating an entrepreneurial spirit and identifying break-through opportunities to significantly enhance organization performance.
• Leading Change: Promote ongoing organizational learning, champion organizational change when necessary and manage the resources necessary to accomplish the change.
• Influence: Promote the ideas and help shape the opinions and actions of others by: Understanding their needs, interests and concerns through questioning thoughtfully and listening empathetically; Communicating clearly both in writing and orally; and Delivering persuasive and organized presentations.
• Team Leadership: Develop team-oriented structures and systems to promote team performance, balance giving direction and support for team processes and promote consensus to achieve goals.
• Organizational Leadership: Articulate and communicate the mission, objectives and priorities of the organization to internal and external stakeholders and entities.
• Cultural Engagement: Create an organizational climate built on mutual trust and transparency, establish and communicate a compelling vision and hold oneself and others accountable for achieving organizational goals.

Relationship Management

• Interpersonal Understanding: Exercise the use of empathy, listening and diagnostic behavior in order to understand others' interests, concerns, needs and non-verbal behavior.
• Relationship Management: Develop and maintain collaborative relationships and shared decision-making with key leaders, colleagues and stakeholders to achieve organization and personal goals.
• Collaboration: Facilitate a work environment focused on a shared purpose or goal, encouraging colleagues to work effectively with others, demonstrating enthusiasm for a collaborative solution and communicating a shared sense of ownership and autonomy.

Standards of Professional Behavior

• Professionalism: Demonstrate high ethical conduct, integrity, transparency and accountability for one's actions and respect for others.
• Initiative: Take action without being asked and offer solutions/options when presenting problems.
• Advocacy: Advocate for the rights and responsibilities of patients and their families.
• Professional Development: Demonstrate commitment to self-development including continuing education, networking, reflection and personal improvement.
• Self-Awareness: Be aware of one's own assumptions, values, strengths and limitations.
• Mentoring: Develop others by mentoring, advising, coaching and serving as a role model.

CEPH-Defined Foundational Public Health Learning Objectives

The curriculum for the MHA program includes coursework that has been approved to meet the foundational public health knowledge learning objectives in the Profession & Science of Public Health and Factors Related to Human Health domains as required by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).