Course Descriptions: Health Management Track

Recommended Prerequisites

The MPH Program faculty strongly recommend that students applying to the Health Management Track plan to complete an introductory course in Accounting and Finance. Also, introductory courses in Macro Economics and Business Finance may provide useful preparation for the Administration and Policy Development courses included in the Health Administration Track.

Recommended Sequence Of Courses

Students in this track are required to take the following Health Management Administration and Policy courses:

MPH-600: Organizational Management (3 credit hours)
Examine issues and principles in the management of individuals, groups and organizations. Topics include motivation and reward systems, group dynamics and organizational design and change.

MPH-721: Healthcare Strategy (3 credit hours)
Examination of strategy-making issues for health-care organizations, including analysis of economic incentives, financial strategies, development of mission and goals and formulation and implementation of long-range strategies to accomplish those goals.

MPH-722: Methods of Program Evaluation (3 credit hours)
Examination of methods for designing and conducting program evaluation and research in healthcare settings. Experimental, quasi-experimental and non-experimental procedures will be covered.

MPH-723: Policy and Politics of Health (3 credit hours)
An introduction to the policy process, frameworks for understanding health policy issues, background research necessary for policy implementation and implementation strategies.

MPH-733: Financing Healthcare (3 credit hours)
Students will examine financial evaluation of the healthcare industry, the source of funds and the effects of changing patient policies. Other topics of interest will be financial strategies, budgets and capital outlay.

Core Requirements (18 Credit Hours)

All MPH graduate students are required to take the following courses:

MPH-601: Introduction to Public Health (1 credit hour)
An introduction to the multi-disciplinary field of public health; will use a series of lectures, readings, discussions and interactive sessions to provide students with a framework for studies during the course of the program.

MPH-602: Introduction to Biostatistics (3 credit hours)
An introduction to the use of statistics in the health field. Emphasis is on descriptive statistics, estimation, linear regression and contingency tables. Lectures, readings, demonstrations, experiential activities in a laboratory setting and written and oral assignments.

MPH-603: Principles of Epidemiology (3 credit hours)
An introduction to epidemiology as a body of knowledge and a method for analyzing community health problems. Emphasis is on how to measure and describe the health of populations, the natural history of diseases in population groups, standardization of rates, sources of data, study designs, measurements of risk, evaluation of screening tests, causal inferences and outbreak investigation. Lectures, reading and individual and group assignments.

MPH-604: Health Education & Behavioral Science (3 credit hours)
An introduction to the underlying principles of health education and behavioral science as used in public health. Emphasis on the primary social-psychological variables that may influence health and disease, strategies that can influence behavior change, community assessment, risk communication and evaluation designs to measure outcomes of health education efforts. Lectures, reading and individual assignments.

MPH-605: Health Administration/Organization (3 credit hours)
An introduction to the understanding of the structure and functions of the American health-care system, public health practice in the United States and basic managerial responsibilities. Emphasis is on management tasks and styles, structure and trends in the health-care system, the legal and regulatory framework for public health, organizational and community assessment, public health settings and services. Lectures, reading and written assignments.

MPH-606: Environmental Health Science (3 credit hours)
An introduction to the chemical, physical and biological factors affecting human health and disease. Emphasis is on the skills to detect environmental factors in health problems and to determine methods of control to prevent disease and maximize environmental quality. Lectures, readings and required assignments.

MPH-609: Ethics in Public Health Practice (2 credit hours)
An examination of the central principles, concepts and values in public- health ethics. Emphasis is on identifying ethical issues in public-health practice using lectures, readings and group discussions.

Other Requirements (8 Credit Hours)

MPH-668: Internship (1 credit hour)
(Program Director may waive based on the student's prior experience.)
A supervised experience to acquaint the student with a public-health organization and its population-based programs for health promotion and disease prevention. Written report describing the experience.

MPH-768: Community Practicum (4 credit hours)
An opportunity to apply knowledge and skills gained in academic courses in a working environment or community setting under the supervision of a preceptor. Written report to the preceptor and the course director; oral presentation in the Capstone Seminar.

MPH-770: Capstone Seminar (3 credit hours)
A synthesis and integration of knowledge gained through the coursework and other learning experiences, with the application of theory and principle to various public-health issues. Students from both tracks will take this seminar.

Elective Courses

MPH-695/795: Selectives (1-3 credit hours)
Advanced study on selected topics in public health, under supervision of a faculty member. Requires approval of the Program Director. Course topics reflect professional requirements for certifications in various public health-related fields.

MPH-798: Research (3 credit Hours)
Research in public health, under supervision of a faculty member. Requires approval of the Program Director.

Educational Format

The educational program includes courses 46 total credit hours. Classes are taught in three terms per year. Students are expected to take six to eight credits hours per term. With this schedule, the required 46 credit hours can be completed in two years. Core courses consist of 18 credit hours in Principles of Epidemiology, Health Education & Behavioral Science, Ethics in Public Health Practice, Introduction to Biostatistics, Health Administration and Organization and Environmental Health.

After completing the core courses in a concentration, students take courses in either Epidemiology or Health Management/Policy for an additional 18 credit hours. The remaining 10 credit hours are earned through Selectives, an Internship (may be waived at the discretion of the Program Director), Community Practicum and the Capstone Seminar. All students are paired with an Academic Advisor.

Career Opportunities

The rapid changes occurring in both the private and public sectors of healthcare have created a need for qualified professionals to manage complex institutions, organizations and delivery systems. Opportunities exist in mid- to executive-level management positions in hospitals, ambulatory care clinics, home-health agencies, insurance companies, managed-care organizations, government agencies, consulting firms, professional organizations and international agencies. In particular demand are professionals with skills in cost containment, marketing, finance and economics, administration of long-term care agencies, quality control, technology and data assessment, and service delivery in developing countries.

Class Location

MD/MPH Dual Degree Program

View more information on the Joint M.D./MPH Program.

If you have further questions, contact:

Graduate Program in Public Health
Eastern Virginia Medical School
PO Box 1980
Norfolk, Virginia 23501-1980

Phone: (757) 446-6120
E-mail: MPHinfo@evms.edu

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