This is the preliminary (or launch) version of the 2024-2025 VCU Bulletin. We may add courses that expose our students to cutting-edge content and transformative learning. We may also add content to the general education program that focuses on racial literacy and a racial literacy graduation requirement, and may receive notification of additional program approvals after the launch. The final edition and full PDF version will include these updates and will be available in August prior to the beginning of the fall semester.
HADE 602. Health Systems Organization, Financing and Performance. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 credits. Examines the structure, functioning and financing of the U.S. health services system. Emphasizes foundational concepts for understanding and analyzing patterns of health and illness; health care cost, quality, access and utilization; workforce; competition in health care markets; and supplier, provider and payer effectiveness and efficiency.
HADE 606. Health Care Managerial Accounting. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 credits. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor. A foundation course covering health care financial accounting, financial statement analysis, budgeting, reimbursement, costing and short-term decision making. Emphasizes accounting concepts and using financial data in management of providers and payers.
HADE 607. Financial Management in Health Organizations. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 credits. Prerequisite: HADE 606. Examines theory and techniques of managerial corporate management as applied to health service providers and insurers including time value of money, working capital management, capital budgeting techniques, cash flow analysis and capital structure planning.
HADE 608. Seminar in Health Care Finance. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 lecture hours (delivered online). 3 credits. Prerequisites: HADE 606 and HADE 607. Enrollment is restricted to students enrolled in the graduate certificate in health care financial management. Advanced studies of financial issues and the application of analytic tools in case studies and exercises. Designed to enhance and strengthen the knowledge and skills provided in the graduate program's foundation and required courses in accounting and finance.
HADE 609. Population Health Management. 2 Hours.
Semester course; 2 lecture hours. 2 credits. This course introduces students to the core concepts, methods and tools of population health management and improvement. The focus is on applications and considerations for health care managers and administrators in the United States.
HADE 610. Health Analytics and Decision Support. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisite: undergraduate course in statistics. Applications of analytics and decision support to health services institutions. Applications of operations research and industrial engineering techniques using large institutional data for health care planning, control and decision-making, including deterministic and stochastic decision analysis models and their use in health services administration.
HADE 611. Health Care Law and Bioethics. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 credits. Presents elements of law and legal principles as they apply to the administration of hospitals and heath care systems. Emphasizes medical malpractice, medical-legal issues, informed consent, antitrust, heath care business law and bioethics. Provides a legal foundation for the practice of health administration and clinical ethics through the use of case law and case analysis.
HADE 612. Information Systems for Health Care Management. 3 Hours.
Semester course; blended on-campus/online format. 3 credits. This course is restricted to majors only. Introduces and applies basic vocabulary, foundational principles and practical strategies associated with information systems relevant to the health care administrator. Examines health care information and information systems, technology standards and security, as well as management challenges.
HADE 614. Health Care Marketing. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 credits. Fundamental theories, concepts and techniques of marketing applied to the distinctive properties of health care services. Emphasizes the role of marketing and aligning organizational capacity and health care needs; market analysis and planning; strategic marketing management; tactical marketing mix design; designing and managing service delivery systems and developing new offerings.
HADE 615. Health Care Politics and Policy. 3 Hours.
Semester course; blended on-campus/online format. 3 credits. Examines the political process with particular emphasis on the impact of politics on health care. Focuses on current political issues in the health field, examining conflicts and anticipating effects on the health system.
HADE 621. Advanced Medical Informatics: Technology, Strategy and Performance. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisites: HADE 612 and permission of the instructor. Focuses on using technology for improving operational efficiencies, quality of care and market competitiveness. Explores various application technologies within the framework of technology-strategy-performance including: telemedicine, cyber surgery, Web-enabled clinical information systems, clinical decision support systems, artificial intelligence and expert systems, and risk-adjusted outcome assessment systems.
HADE 624. Health Economics. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 credits. Foundational concepts of microeconomic theory and their application in analyzing health care policy; understanding the structure and dynamics of health care markets; and monitoring and controlling the allocation of resources within health organizations.
HADE 646. Health Care Organization and Leadership. 3 Hours.
Semester course; blended on-campus/online format. 3 credits. Explores the challenges of managing and leading health care organizations in the 21st century. Introduces concepts, vocabulary and ways of thinking to enable students to be more effective and insightful participants in organizational life in health care. Intended to provide the student with the basic knowledge necessary to benefit from the more detailed and advanced courses that follow in the curriculum.
HADE 647. Management of Health Care Organizations. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisite: HADE 646. Analyzes the current state of management study and practice with the objective of achieving a balanced development of both knowledge and skills in solving the operations problems of health institutions. Critically examines the managerial process with emphasis on leadership behavior and development, performance improvement, structure and purpose of health care organization subunits, interfunctional coordination, and organizational processes.
HADE 648. Strategic Management in Health Care Organizations. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 credits. Focuses on the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of strategy in health care financing/delivery organizations. Emphasizes concepts dealing with industry structure; the strategic management process; achieving and sustaining competitive advantage.
HADE 649. Human Resources Management in Health Care. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Presents concepts in human resources management as applied to health care organizations. Explores relationships between human resources management and general management, nature of work and human resources, compensation and benefits, personnel planning, recruitment and selection, training and development, employee appraisal and discipline, organized labor issues, and employment and labor law.
HADE 651. Applications in Health Care Financial Management. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 independent study/practicum hours (delivered online). 3 credits. Enrollment is restricted to students in the M.H.A., the M.S.H.A. or the graduate certificate in health care financial management. Requires students to apply concepts introduced through earlier courses by completing an applied project within a health care organization. Instruction is provided through faculty advising on an applied project and independent study. In addition, this course will require students to prepare for the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Certified Healthcare Financial Professional examination. Students who pass the examination will have earned a certification from a recognized professional organization. This certification will help students communicate their newly acquired skills to current and future employers.
HADE 681. Special Topics in Health Administration. 1-3 Hours.
Variable hours. 1-3 credits. Investigate a specialized content area in a semester-long, seminar format. Topics may change from semester to semester.
HADE 691. Health Care Organization Diagnosis and Planning. 3 Hours.
1 credit. Provides an opportunity for students to integrate as well as apply knowledge gleaned from prior course work and to share individual experiences in assessment of and correction of organizational problems that are either operational or strategic.
HADE 692. Independent Study in Health Administration. 1-5 Hours.
Variable hours. Variable credit. Offered in all semesters for students to investigate and study topics of major interest.