June 17, 2008

Improving the business of health care

There\’s more to great health care than medicine. While physicians, nurses and hospital administrators are experts at patient care, they often lack the business skills needed to be effective managers. The new Vanderbilt Master of Management in Health Care is a one-year degree program designed to arm clinical professionals with the business fundamentals and decision-making skills needed to successfully manage people, programs and processes.

There’s more to great health care than medicine. While physicians, nurses and hospital administrators are experts at patient care, they often lack the business skills needed to be effective managers. The new Vanderbilt Master of Management in Health Care is a one-year degree program designed to arm clinical professionals with the business fundamentals and decision-making skills needed to successfully manage people, programs and processes.

Unlike other management programs, the part-time Vanderbilt MM Health Care provides a business education specifically tailored to the medical field. The Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management collaborated with top health care experts and an extensive health care management faculty to ensure an educational experience that offers immediate, tangible benefits to both students and their employers.

"The cost, quality and access problems facing the U.S. health care system are monumental. The clinician who understands the science of medicine and the science of business is in a position to create more value for our health care system," said Larry Van Horn, director of the Health Care MBA program.

Medical organizations will gain value from this one-of-a-kind program by sponsoring clinicians, physicians and nurse managers who have management responsibility, but need additional business skills to be more effective. Health care organizations can also get help with existing issues through a team capstone project in which students apply business concepts to a real problem, initiative or opportunity identified by their sponsoring employer.

"This program is designed to empower clinicians to make business decisions and effectively lead health care delivery organizations," said Van Horn.

Along with the MM Health Care, the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management offers a full-time Master of Business in Health Care, an Executive Master of Business, Executive Development Institute certificate courses in health care management and Executive Development Institute custom programs.

To learn more about the MM Health Care, an information session will be held at the Owen School on June 24 at 7:30 p.m. You can also log onto http://www.owen.vanderbilt.edu and click on MM Health Care.

Media Contact: Amy Wolf, (615) 322-NEWS
amy.wolf@vanderbilt.edu