The Healthcare MBA

The Healthcare MBA is a joint degree program offered by Portland State University’s School of Business and the Oregon Health Science University’s School of Medicine. The Healthcare MBA is only offered in a part-time, three-year format. Courses are online with two required residencies per term. Students in this program learn the knowledge, skills, and tools to become effective managers in healthcare organizations. Specifically, graduates will be able to:

• Manage healthcare organizations in a professional, business-like fashion in order to enhance compassionate care
• Understand the underlying processes and systems of health care organizations in order to improve care delivery and management practices
• Manage cross-professional teams and lead profound change in healthcare organizations.

The curriculum incorporates the Institute of Medicine’s six criteria (safe, effective, efficient, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable) for a 21st Century healthcare system. It consists of 72 credits of courses from these thematic categories: Understanding the Healthcare Industry, Leadership and Management in Healthcare, Financial Management in Healthcare, Operations and Quality in Healthcare Marketing, Business Planning, and Strategy Application Projects and Capstone. Healthcare is thoroughly integrated throughout the curriculum, and guest speakers, cases, and examples will be primarily from healthcare. However, where appropriate, attention will be called to best practices in other industries that could be beneficial in healthcare.