Online Master of Healthcare Administration

Online Master of Healthcare Administration!

Developed with Industry.
Designed for You.

Take your Healthcare Career to the Next Level.

MHA Program Created Just for You

Boston College invites you to strengthen your career trajectory in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and other life science sectors with our online Master of Healthcare Administration degree. Our MHA program is designed for working professionals like you to accommodate competing professional and personal demands while having the flexibility that allows you to complete a graduate program. Our program is developed to provide graduates with a comprehensive understanding that can be applied across the health ecosystem.

Employment of healthcare occupations is projected to grow 15% from 2019 to 2029, making this an excellent time to advance your career with a graduate degree.

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Job Growth for Medical and Health Services Managers by 2029
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New Jobs in Life, Physical and Social Science Occupations by 2028
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Fellow Graduates in the Boston College Alumni Network
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Expected New Jobs in Healthcare Occupations by 2029

Yes, I want to know more about the

Online Master of Healthcare Administration Degree

A Degree Program Where Your Experience Counts

Boston College invites you to advance your leadership role in healthcare with our online Master of Healthcare Administration degree. Our program is designed for working professionals like you who need to balance an academic experience with full-time work and life. Our competency-based education model is developed in collaboration with top healthcare employers to ensure that you gain the knowledge and skills that you need to advance in the industry.

Employment of medical and health services managers is projected to grow 17% from 2014 to 2024, making this an excellent time to support your success with an advanced degree.

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Expected Job Growth for Healthcare Sector Jobs
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Job Openings for Healthcare Focused Master Degrees
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Fellow Graduates in the Boston College Alumni Network
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Salary Growth in the Healthcare Industry since 2006

What Makes the MHA Program at Boston College Unique?

REquired Core Requirements

Elective Courses

Provides students with an overview of healthcare services in the United States, including their historical development within a unique social, economic, and political environment. Current institutional structures and delivery systems are described, as are the evolving health needs of Americans. Emphasis is placed upon the basic concepts and issues associated with the management and regulation of healthcare providers and the delivery of services.

In today’s highly competitive healthcare environment, data-driven decision making is key to assuring quality, increasing access, minimizing cost, and supporting innovation. In an industry focused on evidence-based decisions, leaders must be able to understand current research and critically evaluate research presented in the media and in peer-reviewed publications. The course emphasizes the use of various data sources from across the health ecosystem, the development of research questions, hypotheses, study design, analytic approaches, and data visualization techniques. Students will learn how to assess the validity and reliability of information, and interpret data to optimize the decision-making process and assure that decisions are evidence-based.

Federal and state-level healthcare policies affect a wide range of issues, including access to care, quality, cost, and modes of delivery. Effective healthcare managers must interpret and anticipate a changing policy landscape, and strategically apply that interpretation as part of the process of organizational planning and execution. In this course, the social and economic implications of contemporary healthcare policies are explored. Emphasis is placed on how public policy (e.g., Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act of 2010) influences human resources/capacity, values, needs, reimbursements, and regulation of individuals, insurers, and medical and healthcare organizations.

Economics is a large driver of what happens in the health sector. The course provides an understanding of the economic drivers that effect patients, providers, and payers across the health-related industries. As a leader in these industries, it is important to understand and anticipate the economic challenges of spending growth, expensive new technologies, and how payment reform can promote lower cost high quality care. The course includes an overview of economic principles, including supply and demand and perfect markets, and explores the economic challenges of healthcare economics and how health and health services are different from other goods. Considerable attention is given to topics of current public concern, including market failure, government interventions, health insurance, rapidly increasing cost, value, and expensive new technologies.

This course explores the critical role of e-health and information systems in the planning, operation, and management of healthcare organizations. Students will learn how to assess and evaluate health information systems and business requirements in a variety of settings such as health systems, hospitals, and medical practices. Students will develop skills in healthcare technology implementation design that address industry-specific requirements such as translating HIPAA and other regulations into specific technology decisions while implementing medical systems (EMR, lab, clinical services, medical database providers, etc.). Students will also learn how to manage multi-institutional relationships as they are expressed in technology implementations, including the many vendor configurations, but also cross-provider organization relationships. Specific topics include data and systems integrations, communications protocols, security standards, procurement, and authentication and authorization.

Decisions involving strategy and marketing must be based on a manager’s overall understanding of the organization’s mission, goals, and objectives. This applied research project provides methods to evaluate organizational performance and productivity, analyze internal and external resources, and perform needs assessment. The course presents various models and methods for planning, branding, and positioning of healthcare services. It also emphasizes the importance of creating a strategic planning process.

As the culmination and synthesis of the program experience, the applied research project requires each individual student to develop a business plan for the expansion of or development of a new healthcare facility. The business plan must address the major themes of each prior course, including relevant policies, quality initiatives, financial planning, human resource planning, technology planning, and planning for regulatory compliance.

This course will provide an overview of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), explore the history of laws related to medical product development, commercialization, and clinical use, and will consider relevant cases whose decisions have been important in establishing precedents and current guidelines. Governing medical products are the beginning point for regulations that identify how research, development, and marketing should be pursued. Reviewing and analyzing the development to commercialization will follow the investigational device exemptions (IDE), premarket approval, 510(k) application process, and product development protocols and review processes.
Healthcare industry is undergoing transformation with innovative digital technologies and solutions driving care, improving operations, solving problems, and developing treatments and cures. Designed to address the rapidly changing healthcare landscape and increasing demand across the health ecosystem, the Product Development and Marketing course will provide a practical overview of the foundational marketing disciplines and communication channels and their applications to healthcare, pharma, biotech, and medtech industries in the digital age. Students will learn various marketing and communication strategies and planning, brand development, market research and analysis, market segmentation, targeting and positioning, user experiences and journey mapping, content marketing, and explore tools and methods to measure the impact and value of marketing and communications.

The Boston College Commitment

Located just west of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, Boston College is known for its highly regarded graduate programs and is consistently ranked as a top 40 school by U.S. News & World Report

• Best Colleges, #36, National Universities, U.S. News & World Report
• Best College Values Among Private Universities, #20, Kiplinger’s 2020
• America’s Top Colleges, #41, Forbes 2019

The Program 1
Here’s what students and alumni are saying about the program.

"The faculty, student and networking connections that Boston College offers, make it a top choice for a Master of Healthcare Administration program."

Amy, Student

"There were numerous opportunities to interact with students and professors in an online program. The program did not feel online with all of the resources I had available."

Olivia, Alumni

The Program 2
Here’s what students and alumni are saying about the program.

"The Master of Health Administration program covered all of the directions I could take in my career. It covered finance, innovation, quality improvement, process improvement, and everything in between."

Olivia, Alumni

"The Healthcare Administration graduate program at Boston College is the perfect blend of creative innovation rooted in emerging healthcare industry trend."

Kristen, Alumni

The Program 3
Here’s what students and alumni are saying about the program.

"I already leverage the skills I’ve developed in my first two courses of the program in my day-to-day work in the military."

Jorge, Student

"Both students and professors in the program come from various backgrounds and locations. It allows you to learn from so many talented people who work in the health ecosystem."

Olivia, Alumni

The Faculty 1
Here’s what students and alumni are saying about the faculty.

"The professors bring care and passion to their instruction, providing ongoing feedback and a real-time presence throughout the course. A weekly open discussion hour allows students to explore current issues with faculty and peers; although it’s optional, many students typically attend."

Kristen, Alumni

"The faculty are welcoming and open to connecting anytime. They often share their real-world expertise and are willing to provide connections to professional organizations and their network."

Andrew, Student

Connecting With Peers 1
Here’s what students and alumni are saying about connecting with their peers.

"What I enjoyed most about the program were the connections I made with my classmates. Not only did I form a strong bond with those I started the program with, but I met new people as I moved through it, resulting in a more substantial personal network."

Katrina, Alumni

"Connecting with peers started in my first course and continued throughout the program. I still have a group chat with several students from my introductory class and keep in touch about opportunities, networking and long-term plans for our futures."

Andrew, Student

Current Events 1
Here’s what students and alumni are saying about how current events are incorporated into classes.

"As someone who wants to be a healthcare leader, I want to learn from and about the people on the frontlines of healthcare dealing with today’s pandemic events and the decisions they are making. This program focused on the “here and now.”

Amy, Student

"The course content is continuously updated with articles and case studies to ensure they align with current events and trends. The program incorporates the many traditional components of the industry, as well as the ever-changing demands of the health ecosystem."

Kristen, Alumni

Pivot Career 1
Here’s what students and alumni are saying about how they’re using the program to pivot their career.

"As an undergraduate English major, the idea of working with datasets was initially daunting to me. After completing the data-related course, I am now the go-to data person in my office, and these skills will be beneficial as I pivot my career into the health ecosystem"

Kristen, Alumni

"Although I did not previously have a healthcare background, the program prepared me for the next steps in my career, which will focus on a pivot from the military into healthcare."

Jorge, Student

Getting Promoted 1
Here’s what students and alumni are saying about getting promoted after completing only four to six courses.

"I was a fellowship coordinator when I began the program and was unsure about my career’s next steps. The Master of Healthcare Administration program paved a new path for me and led me to advance into a new position after completing only six courses."

Courtney, Student

"During my time as a student, I had the opportunity to be promoted. I applied to a director position where I attribute my success in the interview to many of the lessons that I learned and the ability to think of things on a larger scale instead of on a tactical level."

Andrew, Student

Advice To Those Considering 1
Here’s what students and alumni are saying to those considering the program.

"If you are considering getting a Master of Healthcare Administration degree – go for it! The program at Boston College is wonderful, and you will learn from students across the country, and across the healthcare sectors. The program incorporates learning from news articles and case studies, as well as directly from the faculty."

Amy, Student

"The program gives you a solid education and a deeper understanding of what it takes to be in a leadership and management role. This program helped me become the leader I wanted to be and navigate the healthcare industry confidently."

Katrina, Alumni

Advice To Those Considering 1
Here’s what students and alumni are saying to those considering the program.

"The Master of Healthcare Administration program is directly applicable to healthcare. The skills you develop are also applicable to many other domains."

Courtney, Student

"The flexibility, in-depth curriculum and feeling of community of this online program are some of the unique qualities of the Boston College Master of Healthcare Administration."

Jorge, Student

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News & Insights

The New Face of Healthcare: Convenient Care

The rise of urgent care centers and retail clinics have changed the way healthcare demands are being met. Not only do these centers offer cutting edge technology and same-day appointments but they also provide a clear, up-front, pricing guide for care that is often a lower-cost than more traditional care options.

Yes, I want to know more about the

Online Master of Healthcare Administration Degree