Holt to Soon Offer New Health Management

While Arts and Sciences and the College of Professional Studies (CPS) have been abuzz with the new business majors, the Hamilton Holt School has been making strides to create more new programs at Rollins, this time with a focus on a rapidly rising field: healthcare.

Although not yet officially approved, the new Health Management major has been recommended for adoption. It will focus on health management, finance, law, ethics, and health care delivery systems, creating a new major at Holt for these courses while keeping true to the liberal arts nature of Rollins by requiring elective courses from various related departments including anthropology, business, communication, English, and psychology in addition to many community engagement courses.

A healthcare major is not new to Rollins; in fact, Rollins offered a Health Services Administration major through its Brevard campus in the 1990s. According to Dr. David Richard, professor of psychology and dean of the Hamilton Holt School, “in my view, having business leaders and health care leaders who are broadly educated in the liberal arts is an exceptionally good idea. I shudder a bit to think of a world in which business and healthcare professionals don’t have that kind of background in their schooling. This is a common sentiment among those of us who have supported bringing business and health care education back to Rollins.”

Majors in healthcare also have a rich background at other Florida universities as well as many of Rollins’ peer institutions. Both Elon University, the college which tied Rollins for number one college in the south this year, and Stetson University, another small, private, liberal arts college in Florida, offer a health sciences undergraduate degree.

The new major fits in with the rapidly growing healthcare field in the United States and in Orlando. “Health care is a rapidly growing employment sector in Orlando,” says Richard. “A new VA medical center, one of the largest in the country, will be opening shortly in Lake Nona Medical City. Because the Holt School’s mission focuses on serving the local community’s needs, a health management major made a lot of sense.”

Richard asked faculty in the communication department to write the original proposal for the health management major, and now the CPS faculty is considering the major for formal adoption into the Holt school. Even though faculty and administration have put in the effort to make this major happen, the idea for the major came from student interest: “Ultimately, all of these initiatives evolved because of a renewed focus on considering Holt students lifelong learners.”

Richard sees Holt as a breeding ground for many new initiatives at Rollins, including new majors and certification programs in addition to an increase in graduate level programs that may appeal to day students. “Holt has the capacity to grow in ways the day program cannot, especially through new programming and blended learning. Holt, first and foremost, needs to serve the surrounding community and deliver top notch educational programming in ways that make sense to people in today’s busy world. This will necessarily mean exploring innovative and unique ways of providing education. We also need to be mindful of our roots and the importance of interdisciplinary studies, the liberal arts, and practical application.”

Currently, the new major is not planned to become a part of the day program, though that will ultimately be up to the faculty. If approved, the Health Management major will be offered at the Hamilton Holt school starting in fall 2014.

[tabs tab1=”Learning Outcomes” tab2=”Proposed Major Map” tab3=”Course Descriptions”]

[tab id=1]At the completion of this program, graduates will be able to:

Identify participants in the health care system and describe their roles and responsibilities in relation to the larger organization;
Identify and describe recent trends and issues that impact the health care system and its participants;
Articulate the nature, scope, and importance of fundamental concepts of health care management;
Use vocabulary relevant to health care management in oral and written communications;
Understand fundamental principles of finance, operations, innovation, marketing, and management in the health care context;
Appreciate the importance of diversity in a health care organization and be able to address the implications of gender, ethnic, racial, socioeconomic, age, and lifestyle diversity within the health care system;
Articulate primary ethical values underlying health care management and delivery (i.e., respect for persons, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice, in managerial decision-making) and be able to discuss major ethical issues affecting health care;
Analyze problems and current issues related to health and health care in the United States generally, and Florida in particular, and generate innovative prospective solutions for the community;
Demonstrate research skills transferable to the health care industry;
Thoughtfully integrate theoretical and evidence-based knowledge with clinical experience when engaging in decision-making in health care organizations;
Demonstrate an understanding of how other disciplines impact, and are impacted by, health management.

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[tab id=2]

Core Courses (7 courses, 28 hours)

HMG 100: The Health Care System
HMG 200: Healthcare Management
HMG 250: Healthcare Management Law and Ethics
HMG 300: Healthcare Finance
HMG 310: Research Methods in Health Care
MBG 320: Health Care Statistics, Analytics, MIS
HMG 400: Capstone Practicum

Elective Courses (5 required, 4 at 300+ level, 20 hours)

ANT 280: Social Gerontology
ANT 306: Medicine and Culture
BUS 310: Management and Organizational Behavior
BUS 330: Managerial and Financial Accounting
BUS 330: Entrepreneurial Marketing
BUS 342: Human Resource Management
COM 221: Small Groups and Leadership
COM 301: Designing Effective Organizations
COM 302: New Media and Public Relations
COM 316: Training and Development
COM 325: Communication Campaigns
COM 421: Organizational Communication
ENG 300E: Expository Writing: Medical Communication
PSY 317: Group Dynamics
PSY 330: Organizational Behavior
PSY 337: Organizational Dysfunction
PSY 399: Organizational Change and Innovation
PSY 407: Organization Development

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[tab id=3]

Core Courses For The Major (7 courses; 28 credit hours)

Required core courses: HMG 100; HMG 200; HMG 250; HMG 300; HMG 310; HMG 320; HMG 400.

HMG 100: The Health Care System

This course provides students with an understanding of the current American health care system including its history and evolution. The structure of the health care system, financing of health care, provider components, and the legal and regulatory framework within which our system operates will be addressed. The American system will be compared to health care systems globally and national issues such as public health, consumerism, access to and quality of care, health care reform, pay for performance, and managed care organizations will be discussed.

HMG 200: Healthcare Management

This course explicates managerial functions, processes, and issues in health care using organizational theory within an industry-specific framework. Students will learn how to implement effective management despite common challenges of conflicting organizational goals and priorities and diverse health care professionals with different perspectives and orientations toward care. Topics include management principles and applications including leadership, planning, motivation, operations management, information management, and human resource management.

HMG 250: Healthcare Management Law and Ethics

This course addresses the intersection of law and ethics in healthcare management. Legal issues relevant to health care and how healthcare laws and regulations are implemented via legislature, the courts, and administrative agencies. Legal topics covered include public and private regulatory agencies, licensure, government regulation of false claims, malpractice, liability, informed consent, patient privacy, advance directives, individual or corporate negligence, labor laws, general contract law, and more. Ethical issues considered include caregiver responsibility and patient rights; advance care directives; allocation of health resources; access to health care; therapeutic privilege; medical experimentation; informed consent; genetic engineering; reproductive rights; and social justice and health care policy. Case studies and current events will frequently be utilized.

HMG 300: Healthcare Finance

Course objectives include providing students with an understanding of financial issues in the healthcare system, methods of reimbursement and provider payment, and financial reporting practices. Students will be exposed to both the vocabulary and software tools of healthcare finance. Managerial accounting, financial accounting, and financial reporting will be the main foci of the course. Students will also learn how to evaluate costs, differentiate the cost-effectiveness of different forms of medical intervention, raise capital for healthcare projects, and prepare and manage budgets.

HMG 310: Research Methods in Health Care (Prereq – HMG 100: The Health Care System)

This course provides an overview of research terminology and methodology, addressing both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Students will learn about the types of research questions, research designs, and data collection and analysis methods used in health care management. Students will become familiar with the form and function of research literature and learn how to critically evaluate research studies, design their own research projects, and adhere to ethical research principles and protection of human subjects. The connection between research, policy, and evidenced-based management practices in health care will be emphasized.

HMG 320 Health Care Statistics, Analytics, MIS (4 credit hours): This course introduces (1) the uses of information technology (MIS, Big Data) for data gathering in the health care context and (2) tools such as statistics, algorithms, and analytics for interpreting data and drawing conclusions. Areas covered include advanced research design, data mining, probability, statistics, information processing, decision support, self-directed systems, and an introduction to health informatics. Prerequisite: HMG 310

HMG 400: Capstone Practicum Prereq – The Health Care System

Knowledge and skills obtained throughout the curriculum are applied in a culminating three-week practicum at a local health organization or agency. Practicum is a planned, supervised, and evaluated opportunity. Students parlay learned discipline concepts into successful health management practice, are assessed by supervising personnel in the organization or agency, and must produce a written and oral report about their experience.

Elective Courses For The Major (5; 20 credit hours)

Select five (5) of the following to complete your major. At least four (4) of the courses must be taken at the 300-level. Courses not listed below may be approved on a case-by-case basis after consultation with the program coordinator. Some elective courses require prerequisites. Students may request a waiver of prerequisites from individual instructors.

ANT 280 Social Gerontology

Anthropological and sociological perspectives on the elderly in various societies, from “primitive” to industrialized; what human behaviors are universal in the culture of the elderly; the elderly’s living environments (i.e., the nursing facility, the rehabilitation hospital, and the retirement community); the effects of aging on sex and skills; the psychopathology of human aging; and death and bereavement. No prerequisites.

ANT 306 Medicine and Culture

Examines how different cultures view disease and illness, how they explain illnesses, what they do about them, and how they use disease and illness as social controls. Discusses these issues in general and then as they apply to several specific cultures — including our own. No prerequisites.

BUS 330 Managerial and Financial Accounting

This course introduces theories and methods of using accounting systems & information technology to solve problems and evaluate performance throughout the business lifecycle. The course explores the role of accounting in providing timely and accurate information for external reporting and to support managerial planning, control, and decision making. Prerequisite: BUS 130 or 132.

BUS 310 Management and Organizational Behavior

Management is the process of understanding & motivating people to perform work to achieve objectives. Students focus on developing key competencies including responsible decision making, effective communication, leadership, broad & global perspectives, understanding human motivation, setting objectives, and analytical problem solving. Using case studies, we will explore applications such as performance, project, crisis, and conflict management. Prerequisite: Junior status.

BUS 330 Entrepreneurial Marketing

This course examines the marketing–entrepreneurship interface including opportunity recognition, taking and managing risks, innovation and value co-creation aimed at solving problems, whether for the customers in the marketplace or for people confronting complexities of social issues. Key concepts of situational-market analysis, segmentation, new product- solution development, pricing and channels of distribution and convention/digital communication strategies are integrated. Focuses on development of self, reflective practice, and skills for True Teamwork. Prerequisite: BUS 130

BUS 342 Human Resource Management

Examines how to optimize human resource strategies and the people who work for an organization. Links human resource strategies to organizational goals. Provides an overview of the main functions of human resources: employee and labor relations, staffing, development, compensation, and separation. Prerequisite: Junior status.

COM 221 Small Groups and Leadership

This course examines communication, leadership, participation, and decision making within groups and teams in all types of organizations. No prerequisites.

COM 301 Designing Effective Organizations

Explores strategic planning, management, organizational effectiveness, and organizational culture relevant to the design of effective organizations. No prerequisites.

COM 302 New Media and Public Relations

Explores new media communication practices in Public Relations to deconstruct the communication and business impact of these techniques. No prerequisites.

COM 316 Training and Development

Focuses on the role of communication in the training and development of human resources with a leadership and organizational focus. No prerequisites.

COM 325 Communication Campaigns

Introduces the planning, organizing, implementation, and evaluation of various educational, health, political, religious, and commercial campaigns. Communication campaigns are focused, large-scale efforts to exert social influence. No prerequisites.

COM 421 Organizational Communication

Analyzes the role and importance of communication in organizations with special emphasis on corporations, not-for-profit institutions, government agencies, and other structures in which people work. No prerequisites.

ENG 300E Expository Writing: Medical Communication

Investigates how medical communication and medical communication training has evolved, and how patients influence and are influenced by such communication. Use of short response and analysis papers, formal expository essays, oral presentations, and other assignments refine critical reading, researching, and writing skills and articulate the significance, principles, issues, science, and art of medical communication. Medical communication is systematically and thoughtfully constructed and deconstructed to help develop more effective communicators in healthcare (and other) situations. Prerequisite: ENG 140 or equivalent.

PSY 317 Group Dynamics

Investigates group leadership, decision making, communication, conflict, creativity, team building, power relationships, and personal growth within groups. Prerequisite: PSY 101.

Corequisite for psychology majors: PSY 301, 304.

PSY 330 Organizational Behavior

Surveys the field of industrial and organizational psychology as it applies to the world of work and business. The research and development methods of the field are examined. Operational applications of these methods are analyzed in terms of their use in organizations. The use of industrial-organizational psychology to aid individuals who work with others to solve human performance problems in the work environment are studied. Prerequisite: PSY 101. Corequisite for psychology majors: PSY 301, 304.

PSY 337 Organizational Dysfunction

This course examine factors within organizations that contribute to negative climates, poor

leadership, reduced teamwork, and disharmony. The emphasis of the course is on assessment of dysfunction and remedial steps that may be taken. Previously offered PSY 315 and 331.

Prerequisite: PSY 101. Corequisite for psychology majors: PSY 301, 304.

PSY 407 Organization Development

The purpose of this course is to provide the student with opportunities to learn the history,

theories, models, research and strategies for change in the development of organizations.

Prerequisite: PSY 101. Corequisite for psychology majors: PSY 301, 304.

PSY 399 Organizational Change and Innovation

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