Academic Catalog - 2024-2025

The W. A. Franke College of Business

Business Administration

Healthcare, Master of Business Administration


Academic Information

The Northern Arizona University Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Healthcare program prepares students with the necessary management, consulting, and leadership skills required for a successful career in the healthcare business environment. The NAU MBA in Healthcare program is offered in an online instructional format. The online format is designed to offer our working professional students the flexibility to pursue an MBA while continuing to work and/or maintain other commitments.

In this program, our experienced and dedicated faculty and teaching professionals create an invigorating, experiential, and personalized learning experience in a diverse learning environment through various pedagogical approaches such as lectures, case studies, role plays, debates, and the involvement of guest speakers. Our graduates gain a deeper knowledge, experience, and understanding in the context of the healthcare industry. Experiential learning opportunities in conjunction with practical classroom instruction will provide each MBA student with the confidence and integrative business skills necessary to successfully manage and lead healthcare organizations in today's dynamic global business environment.

Our MBA in Healthcare graduates have several ways to advance in their careers regardless of whether they aspire to work for new startups or take on responsibilities in large firms. Because of a systemwide understanding of healthcare firms gained throughout this program, our graduates are a huge draw for firms looking to hire for leadership opportunities. The Healthcare industry is currently plagued with a shortage of managerial and leadership skills. Top it all off with the fact that it is one of the fastest-growing industries, and the need for leadership becomes quite pronounced. Several future opportunities open up for our students after this program. The students who come from clinical backgrounds (typically doctors, nurses, PAs, etc.) typically aren't groomed in skills such as change management, team building, accounting, economics, or financial acumen. The program prepares them with these foundational business skills and helps them not only manage their current work better but also makes them great prospects for career growth in leadership within and outside their organizations. On the other hand, Students from finance, accounting, pharmaceuticals, or insurance can integrate their experiences with the caregiving side, enhancing their ability to understand how the delivery of healthcare works as a system and not in silos. The program also exposes students to cutting-edge technologies such big data management, telemedicine, and blockchain technologies that are an integral part of the changing landscape of healthcare, biotech, pharmaceutical companies, and other related industries. Overall, our MBA in Healthcare prepares our graduates to run the business side of healthcare firms regardless of whether they come from clinical backgrounds or hospital administration.

Additionally, the NAU Master of Business Administration experience offers our students extraordinary opportunities to network; build, and maintain relationships with their student cohort, faculty, alumni, and very importantly, with industry, business, and community leaders. Through networking and relationship building, our graduates develop connections and professional relationships to support them in advancing their careers.

Finally, our tuition is extremely competitive, providing our graduates with a very attractive return on investment.

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Academic Catalog - 2024-2025

The W. A. Franke College of Business

Business Administration

Healthcare, Master of Business Administration


Careers

What Can I Do with a Master of Business Administration in Healthcare?

Our Master of Business Administration in Healthcare will provide you with a broad base of essential management skills required to make effective decisions in the increasingly complex healthcare setting. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS),

"Overall employment in healthcare occupations is projected to grow 13 percent from 2021 to 2031, much faster than the average for all occupations; this increase is expected to result in about 2 million new jobs over the decade."

An MBA in Healthcare opens up several career opportunities in managerial and leadership areas in medical and health services as master's degrees (especially an MBA) are preferred or even mandatory in most instances.

 

Career opportunities that might be pursued:
  • Clinician Leader
  • Consultant
  • Entrepreneur
  • Health Administrator or Executive
  • Project Manager

With further education, one of these paths is possible:
  • Chief Executive Officer
  • Chief Financial Officer
  • Chief Nursing Officer
  • Chief Operating Officer
  • Chief Patient Safety and Experience Officer
  • Economist for Healthcare Firms
  • Vice-president in Finance, Accounting
  • Vice-president of Human Resources
  • Vice-president Operations

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Academic Catalog - 2024-2025

The W. A. Franke College of Business

Business Administration

Healthcare, Master of Business Administration


University Requirements

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Academic Catalog - 2024-2025

The W. A. Franke College of Business

Business Administration

Healthcare, Master of Business Administration


Overview

In addition to University Requirements:

Minimum Units for Completion 36
Highest Mathematics Required MAT 119
Additional Admission Requirements

Individual program admission requirements over and above admission to NAU are required.

Fieldwork Experience/Internship Required
Some online/blended coursework Required
Progression Plan Link View Program of Study

Purpose Statement

Our Master of Business Administration in Healthcare program is already into its second cohort within six months of launch. The program is meant for working professionals in the healthcare sector and is offered online to provide flexibility with their work-family balance needs. The goal of this program is to offer excellent graduate-level education for students who aspire to business knowledge and skills for their career growth and success in the field of healthcare. Our goal in providing high-quality, business-related training and education is to prepare these students to make valuable contributions to their chosen professions and communities.

The content studied is very similar to any other Master of Business Administration program except we have contextualized it for the healthcare setting. Typically, an MBA program is a generalized degree covering various business fields such as accounting, finance, business ethics, business law, management, marketing, economics, information systems, operations management, leadership, etc. We are providing the same functional and integrative understanding of business functions in this program as well as two significant additions that make the program unique:

  1. The partnership with OpusVi allows us to tap into their vast network of healthcare experts and with their help, we can bring well-renowned leaders in this field to the classrooms as guest speakers and contributors. This provides a great networking opportunity and also provides our students direct access to domain-specific examples and best practices that are otherwise difficult to find.
  2. Even more importantly, our faculty are actively contextualizing their business knowledge to healthcare by adopting healthcare-specific causes and articles and working with healthcare experts as they develop their courses.
The Healthcare industry is currently plagued with a shortage of managerial and leadership skills. Top it all off with the fact that it is one of the fastest-growing industries, and the need for leadership becomes quite pronounced.

The Northern Arizona University Masters of Business Administration (MBA) in Healthcare program prepares students with the necessary management, consulting, and leadership skills required for a successful career in the healthcare business environment. The NAU MBA in Healthcare program is offered in an online instructional format. The online format is designed to offer our working professional students the flexibility to pursue an MBA while continuing to work and/or maintain other commitments.

In this program, our experienced and dedicated faculty and teaching professionals create an invigorating, experiential, and personalized learning experience in a diverse learning environment through various pedagogical approaches such as lectures, case studies, role plays, debates, and the involvement of guest speakers. Our graduates gain a deeper knowledge, experience, and understanding in the context of the healthcare industry. Experiential learning opportunities in conjunction with practical classroom instruction will provide each MBA student with the confidence and integrative business skills necessary to successfully manage and lead healthcare organizations in today's dynamic global business environment.

Our MBA in Healthcare graduates have several ways to advance in their careers regardless of whether they aspire to work for new startups or take on responsibilities in large firms. Because of a systemwide understanding of healthcare firms gained throughout this program, our graduates are a huge draw for firms looking to hire for leadership opportunities. The Healthcare industry is currently plagued with a shortage of managerial and leadership skills. Top it all off with the fact that it is one of the fastest-growing industries, and the need for leadership becomes quite pronounced. Several future opportunities open up for our students after this program. The students who come from clinical backgrounds (doctors, nurses, PAs, etc.) typically aren't groomed in skills such as change management, team building, accounting, economics, or financial acumen. The program prepares them with these foundational business skills and helps them not only manage their current work better but also makes them great prospects for career growth in leadership within and outside their organizations. On the other hand, Students from finance, accounting, pharmaceuticals, or insurance can integrate their experiences with the caregiving side, enhancing their ability to understand how the delivery of healthcare works as a system and not in silos. The program also exposes students to cutting-edge technologies such as big data management, telemedicine, and blockchain technologies that are an integral part of the changing landscape of healthcare, biotech, pharmaceutical companies, and other related industries. Overall, our MBA in Healthcare prepares our graduates to run the business side of healthcare firms regardless of whether they come from clinical backgrounds or hospital administration.

In pursuit of these goals, we commit to the following:


Student Learning OutcomesIn addition to the above learning outcomes common to both the full-time and the MBA program in partnership with OpusVi, the following learning outcomes are added to the OpusVi MBA program measuring outcomes specific to healthcare:

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Academic Catalog - 2024-2025

The W. A. Franke College of Business

Business Administration

Healthcare, Master of Business Administration


Details

Graduate Admission Information
Additional Admission Requirements
Master's Requirements
Additional Information
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Academic Catalog - 2024-2025

The W. A. Franke College of Business

Business Administration

Healthcare, Master of Business Administration


Campus Availability

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