Curriculum

The Master of Health Administration program integrates learning and experience. It emphasizes the key areas of organizational and financial management, human resources, ethical behavior, and leadership skills so important to developing effective health care managers for today and tomorrow. Courses are designed to build upon the foundation of experience students bring to the program. Students have flexibility in tailoring their programs by supplementing core curriculum courses with a selection of relevant elective courses that reflect their own needs and interests.

Candidates must satisfactorily complete 42 graduate credits, with an overall GPA of Saint Joseph’s College courses of 3.0 or higher, consisting of a core curriculum of ten courses, three elective courses chosen from a group of seven options, and a capstone course. For the capstone, students may choose an Applied Research Paper or Project or an Applied Management Project.

Additional Admission Requirements

Applicants are required to have a minimum of two years of relevant and substantive experience in a health related field; applicants without this experience must submit a letter explaining their interest and motivation for applying to the program. They must also successfully complete HA500: United States Health Care Systems and HA511: Leadership in Healthcare Administration, as provisional students before matriculating into the program.

Prerequisites

Students pursuing the Master of Health Administration must complete a three-credit undergraduate level accounting course prior to enrollment in HA 525 Health Care Financial Management, and a three-credit undergraduate level statistics course prior to enrollment in HA 545 Research Methods.  Most students with undergraduate business degrees will already have had such courses or their equivalents, as will some others.

Summer Program

Students may choose to earn credits during a residential summer session. Course offerings are announced prior to each residency session in a special summer catalog.

Fast Track to MHA

The Fast Track program allows students in specific Saint Joseph’s College undergraduate health administration programs (Health Administration Major and Long-Term Care Administration Major) to substitute certain courses from the Master of Health Administration (MHA) program in lieu of comparable undergraduate courses. Students will then be allowed to count these graduate courses toward their graduate degree requirements.

Qualified students in those undergraduate programs will be allowed to take up to 12 MHA credit hours (4 courses), which will apply toward an MHA degree and will also meet corresponding undergraduate degree course requirements. Certain restrictions apply. Students interested in taking advantage of the Fast Track Option should contact their Academic Advisor.