B.S. in Healthcare Management

UNDERGRADUATE STUDY

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Fall Semester

Spring Semester

COURSE DESCRIPTION

HCM 100: Healthcare Terminology

This course is a primer for individuals with little or no healthcare experience. The course covers the broad range of topics discussed in public health policy and in the healthcare setting. Terminology is associated with finance and reimbursement, managed care, quality and patient safety, government regulations, legal issues and accreditation.

Prerequisite MATH 112

Prerequisite ENG 101

Prerequisite ACC 101

Prerequisite ACC 103

Prerequisite ECO 102

Prerequisite MKT 102

Prerequisite FIN 104

HCM 4305 African in the Health Care Environment

This is an introductory course designed to assist health care professionals in basic language skills, including appropriate pronunciations, terms and commonly used phrases that students may need in order to address and communicate to those individuals that speak the Spanish language. The course will integrate cultural awareness and sensitivity and the effective and identify the use of translators in order to make communication respectful and effective in the health care environment.

HCM 114: Healthcare Management

This course provides students with an overview of concepts and issues related to healthcare leadership. It is generally a required course for any subsequent healthcare management courses. Through the examination of management topics and healthcare situations, the student will explore the skills and knowledge needed to be successful in a diverse healthcare environment. Topics include healthcare leadership, organizational design as it relates to the uniqueness of healthcare organizations, managing professionals, and diversity in the workplace.

HCM 211: Healthcare Financial Management I

This is the first of two healthcare finance courses. Healthcare Financial Management I begins with an introduction to healthcare finance and a description of the current financial environment in which healthcare organizations function. It then will explore the basics of financial and managerial accounting, presenting concepts that are critical to making sound financial decisions to better the cost-effectiveness of the organization.

HCM 128: Community Health

Declining reimbursement impacts the role healthcare organizations play in community health and disease prevention. This course focuses on specific strategies healthcare managers can use to benefit the health of communities. Topics include the role of healthcare stakeholders in promoting community health, connecting with the community, and community benefit standards.

HCM 215: Healthcare Informatics

As an introductory course for non-information management students, this course will cover the history of healthcare informatics, current issues, basic informatics concepts, and health information management applications. Topics include HIPPA and other legislation, application of electronic health records, and other clinical and administrative applications of health information systems.

HCM 425: Healthcare Management Internship

This course provides qualified students with an opportunity to receive academic credit for supervised professional training and experience in an actual work environment. This Internship is an ongoing seminar between the student, the faculty member and the employment supervisor. It involves an Internship Application and Learning Agreement, periodic meetings with the faculty representative, professional experience at a level equivalent to other senior-level courses and submission of material as established in the Internship Application and Learning Agreement. Participation cannot be guaranteed for all applicants.

HCM 201: Healthcare Outcomes Management

This course will explore the essential principles and techniques of quality improvement applied to patient care and the management of services in healthcare organizations. The importance of quality management in leadership of organizations will be emphasized. Topics include fundamentals of quality management, system thinking and goal setting, improvement theories, data collection, statistical tools, medical errors and reporting, public perceptions and organizational accountability.

HCM 127: Healthcare Financial Management I

An extension of Healthcare Financial Management I, this course offers an advanced and in-depth look at how healthcare managers can apply financial management theory and principles learned in Healthcare Financial Management I to make sound decisions in an ever changing healthcare economic climate. The course will be supplemented by case studies which will focus on topics contained in the course.

HCM 401: Legal Aspects of Healthcare Management

Individuals in the healthcare industry face ever changing legal and ethical trends in their environment. Practitioners, therefore, need to develop specific skills to evolve into the role of a change agent in order to manage these trends. This course will provide the student with the skills necessary to mitigate liability through risk management principles, develop relationship management skills, apply an ethical decision-making framework, incorporate employment law procedures, and manage communication.

HCM 213: Contemporary Issues in Healthcare Management

This is an issues oriented course that examines the healthcare delivery system in the United States. The course examines the entire continuum of care and uses the construct of a fully integrated system as a means to evaluate the current system to develop recommendations for further developments. Our intent is to identify the key issues confronting healthcare today, examine the causes and develop reasonable solutions to the current set of problems.

HCM 427: Healthcare Management Capstone

The Healthcare Management Capstone is designed to assimilate and integrate knowledge and skills from previous coursework and field experiences. This class focuses on the key issues impacting the administration of today’s healthcare organizations and explores how those issues impact the delivery of care. The Healthcare Management Capstone prepares students to enter management positions in a healthcare setting. The goals of the course are to provide a solid foundation of applying managerial knowledge within the healthcare industry. The students will demonstrate the knowledge in a professionally competent manner conducive to the advancement of healthcare in the local community. This will include: the ability to express state-of-art knowledge about current issues facing the healthcare industry; and the ability to analyze and synthesize solutions to pressing healthcare issues. This course is designed to meet the Healthcare Management Program outcomes.

HCM 415: Independent Studies in Healthcare

Independent studies courses allow students in good academic standing to pursue learning in areas not covered by the regular curriculum or to extend study in areas presently taught. Study is under faculty supervision and graded on either a Pass/No Credit or a letter grade basis. (See the “Independent Studies” section of the Academic Bulletin for more details.)

HCM 218: Health Care Delivery in Africa

This course provides an overview of the nature, organization, and function of the continuum of health services found in Africa. Emphasis is placed on the interrelation of cultural, economic, political and social aspects of health care delivery at the federal, state, and local level. Topics include health care costs, accessibility of services, governmental influence on health care delivery, private industry role in health care, services for the medically indigent and elderly, ethical issues regarding transplants, reproductive technology, end of life decisions and funding.

HCM 221: Health Care Economics

This course explores some of the major issues facing the health care industry and the effect that public policy and business environment has on a health care organization. Emphasis is on supply and demand theory, reimbursement systems, managed care, DRG prospective payment, insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, governmental regulations, accessibility, eligibility, budgeting and planning. Students learn to use informational and research tools to make effective management decisions..

HCM 224: Human Resources Management

This course analyzes human resources functions including recruitment, selection and retention strategies. Consideration is given to job satisfaction, design of work teams, job analysis, design, description and evaluation, collective bargaining, staffing, performance appraisal, employee discipline, management and staff education.

HCM 219: Principles of Management

This course combines classroom and clinical discussions/experiences to provide an overview of management functions including planning, organizing, directing and controlling. It studies the basics of leadership communication, motivation, change theories, organizational culture, problem solving, conflict and negotiation, decision-making, productivity measurement, the TQM process, resource allocation and mission and values development. This course requires two hours didactic and one hour clinical.

HCM 225: Marketing Strategies

This course examines variables and techniques for marketing organizations. Topics include customer behavior, competition in the market, advertising, promotion, branding, customer satisfaction strategies, consumer satisfaction measurement and reporting.

HCM 226: Information Resources in Health Care

This course explores the opportunities and challenges inherent in the use of health care management information systems in clinical and non-clinical applications. Subsystems include pathology, nursing, clinical laboratory, radiology, physiology, clinics, education, and financial management.

HCM 401: Legal/Ethical Aspects of Health Care

This course examines the contemporary application of legal and ethical issues involved in the management and delivery of health care services. Topics covered include contracts, torts, damages, negligence, risk management, patient rights, liability of hospital and staff for personal injury to patients, medical records and disclosure of patient information, informed consent, ethical billing and coding practices, medical staff credentialing and ethical issues in health care.

HCM 229: Special Topics in Health Care

This course consists of seminars, lectures, round table discussions and panel discussions reflecting contemporary issues and trends in the health care industry.

HCM 301: Long Term Care: Organization and Administration

This course focuses on the complexities of managing nursing homes and other long term and chronic care facilities within the context of public financing constraints. Topics include governmental rules and regulations, reimbursement policies, gerontology and geriatrics, nutrition care continuum concept, facility, purchasing inventory and financial analysis.

HCM 311: Hospitals: Organization and Administration

This course focuses on a variety of topics that are pertinent to the delivery of health care in a hospital setting. Topics include hospital governance, medical staff, nursing service, hospital programs, administrator’s tasks and functions, unionization and collective bargaining, government financial regulations and accreditation.

HCM 314: Ambulatory Care Services: Organization and Administration

This course explores the practical aspects of leadership in a primary care setting. Topics include transition from unmanaged to managed care systems, third party payers, physician-staff relationships including practice styles, scheduling, billing productivity, quality assurance and outcome management. Wellness promotion and marketing strategies will also be discussed.

HCM 315: Health Care Financial Management

This course explores the organizational and operational aspects of fiscal analysis and internal control of health care organization costs. Topics include planning, budgeting and cost finding including preparation and analysis of an operating budget trending, modeling, revenue, expenses, variance analysis and margins. Organizational and divisional performance will be measured against internal and external benchmarking tools, assessing capital equipment needs, building a capital budget and bids.

HCM 316: Practicum I

This course offers the opportunity to integrate and apply previously learned health management knowledge and skills. The student will become part of a health care organization, working closely with professional managers. Student, faculty member and preceptor will mutually agree on management area of study and practicum setting.

HCM 425: Practicum II

This course offers the opportunity to integrate and apply previously learned health management knowledge and skills in an area other than what was done in HCA 420. The student will become part of a health care organization, working closely with professional managers. Student, faculty member and preceptor will mutually agree on management area of study and practicum setting.

Course descriptions are listed numerically. Prerequisites, if any, are indicated in italics above the course descriptions. These prerequisites have been established to assure an adequate and uniform background for students in advanced classes. Franklin University reserves the right to alter course offerings or course content without notice. Not all courses are offered every trimester.

HCM 319: Health Law and Ethics

This course examines the ethical dimensions of public health policies and the role ethics plays in the administration of quality health care. The course introduces the application of ideas from philosophy, law, political science and economics to analyze the ethical basis of public health policies and programs. A comprehensive analysis of how the ethical aspects of the operation of health care organizations are central to the delivery of healthcare will be provided. Practical application of ethical theory will be discussed through case study analysis, study of various healthcare ethics codes, and student research of current ethical issues in healthcare.

HCM 312: Research Methods in Health Sciences

This is an introductory research methodology course that emphasizes the conceptualization and use of quantitative and qualitative approaches to answer a research question or explore the rationale in human behavior in health-related issues. The course is designed to provide an introduction to the entire research process including formulating research questions; understanding sampling methods and processes; and understanding various quantitative and qualitative research designs, general methodological principles, and major issues of research.

HCM 324: Health Delivery Systems

This course introduces students to the basics of health information management. It identifies the roles and responsibilities of Health Information professionals, the content of the health care record: administrative data e.g., billing, reimbursement, and consent forms and clinical data i.e., that information provided by the health care provider. Health information management nomenclature and classification systems also will be addressed.

HCM 325: Epidemiology

This course introduces students to basic principles of epidemiology as it relates to the natural history, determinants, research, and measurements of disease, health and selected, current social conditions. The course concentrates on conditions that affect global populations as opposed to individuals by defining mechanisms by which health conditions occur, are prevented, and are controlled. The course requires students to integrate knowledge and skills from previous statistics and research courses to analyze the current epidemiological research literature.

HCM 326: Health Care Management

Within the context of healthcare, this course will provide students with a fundamental understanding of the principles of management and managerial functions as a framework for organizing knowledge and techniques in the healthcare field. This will be done by relating each of the functions of management (planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling) to healthcare organization operations. Practical examples, applications, issues, and exercises requiring critical thinking and effective written and verbal presentations will be emphasized.

HCM 327: Community and Rural Health Services

This course is designed to help students identify regional and rural health care problems, needs, related health care delivery systems, and agencies. It is coordinated with several health care and social disciplines in mind to gain a comprehensive and interdisciplinary understanding of the needs, services, electronic and outreach resources, and referral mechanisms. Consideration is given to the economic, cultural, and psychosocial impact of health issues and services on individuals and families.

HCM 329: Global Understanding

This course is designed to introduce students to international experiences primarily through respectful and mature discussions in a virtual classroom setting; through "chat rooms" activities; through reflective writing; and through reading historical literature and current print media. The course intends to help students to understand profoundly and in "real time" social, economic, and political perspectives to grasp the impact of these on health care and health care management in foreign countries.

HCM 329: Professional Behavior

This course requires that students identify and demonstrate professional behaviors appropriate for the work environment. Students will self-assess specific abilities related to time and stress management, communication and interpersonal skills, critical thinking, professional conduct, problem-solving, and other behaviors and compare these to various time intervals during their course work. Students will review and discuss major components of the health care management program in order to take the comprehensive examination before engaging in the internship. The comprehensive examination is assessed by the faculty and requires insightful self-assessment to address strengths and weaknesses. The student records and completes intervention strategies to ensure success in internships.

HCM 414: Chronic Illness/Long Term Care Management

This course emphasizes chronic disease conditions from a developmental perspective (pediatric, middle age, and elderly) that may lead to extended, home, palliative and end-of-life care services. The program will introduce students to managerial roles and responsibilities and regulatory practices in these various care settings as well as services provided in assisted and independent living facilities.

HCM 417: Health Care Policy, Organization, and Finance

Within the context of health care policy, organization, and finance, the purpose of this course is to provide students with a practical understanding of how the American health care system works, while stimulating critical thinking about policy implications and how it may be improved across a range of organizational settings and outcomes. Practical examples, applications, issues, and exercises requiring critical thinking and effective written and verbal presentations will be emphasized.

HCM 426: Health Care Management Internship

This course requires that the comprehensive examination be taken before the student engages in the semester long experiential internship. The internship requires the application and integration of professionalism and health care management knowledge and skills at an agreed upon and assigned health care facility or health care related institution, agency or company.

HCM 421: Proposal Writing

The primary goal of the course is to help students apply basic principles of proposal writing. The course will identify funding agencies, review requests for funding, and identify the essential and appropriate features of a proposal. At the end of the course, students will prepare one proposal ready for submission.

HCM 424: Environmental Health

This course introduces students to the basic principles of environmental health that include identifying risk factors and hazards associated with natural/human and non-natural influences. Factors such as health, fitness, and wellness, training and education to reduce risk factors and risk management will be introduced.

HCM – 4304 Global Health Studies

This course explores worldwide agencies and their roles in disease and health models, prevention, and control. Cultural content, including awareness, sensitivity, cultural competence, and cultural proficiency is emphasized. Students who take this course are encouraged to participate in international studies abroad or UNC in Washington or national organizations, agencies or facilities that deal with global and international health issues.

HCM 499: Research Project