MHA Curriculum
The MHA degree is designed to meet the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) accreditation standards.
Current
The UNM MHA program requires 48 credit hours of graduate study and the curriculum is prescribed. The revised curriculum (effective Fall 2021) includes:
- Core (33 credits)
- Electives (9 credits)
- Practicum (3 credits)
- Capstone (3 credits)
*All PADM courses require department permission to register.
Core
The following core curriculum of 33 credit hours (11 courses):
(First Fall Semester)
This course provides an overview of the evolving structure of the U.S. public health and health care delivery systems and is designed for graduate students in health policy and management.
(Fall Only)
Survey of theories of public organization, principles for planning in the public sector, methods of developing organizations, implementing changes, and adapting to operational demands. Major issues of human behavior related to ethics and productivity.
(Fall Only)
Survey of human resources management principles and practices in public sector organizations.
(Spring Only)
This course will examine critical issues currently facing health care managers and policymakers. Key areas of discussion are structure, financing, and delivery of health services in the U.S.
(Fall Only)
Health Finance helps students develop an understanding of the managerial aspects of financial analysis in health care organizations. It explores the concepts, principles, and applications of financial management and decision-making in modern hospitals and healthcare organizations.
(Spring Only)
This course focuses on concepts and methods of analysis used in health economics, with a strong emphasis on health care evaluation and health policy decision-making, in particular its impact on patient care and health care delivery.
(Spring Only)
The course is designed to prepare future healthcare leaders of healthcare organizations to deal with ethical issues and dilemmas. The course does not cover medical ethics but focuses on management ethics.
(Spring Only)
This course builds on PADM 595 and focuses on data analysis prevalent in public and health administration, including descriptive and inferential statistics, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, correlation, cross-tabulation, mean comparison with significance testing, regression, ANOVA.
Prerequisite: MATH 1350 Introduction to Statistics (or equivalent)
(Spring Only)
This course is intended to provide an advanced introduction to the theory and practice of program evaluation, along with policy analysis and evaluation.
Prerequisite: PADM 596
(Fall Only)
This course will discuss the concept of culture, how it changes and how it influences everyday life, as well as health disparity, and what healthcare organizations/systems can do to implement strategies for enhancing cultural competence.
(Fall Only)
This course is designed to help students develop a comprehensive understanding of the design, use, and evaluation issues and methodologies of health informatics applications.
Electives
Electives consist of any PADM courses outside the core, practicum, and capstone curriculum. Electives not on this list must be pre-approved by the SPA Director. If you are interested in a graduate course outside of PADM course offerings, please submit an elective substitution form for approval to spadvise@unm.edu. Select 9 credit hours (3 courses):
A topic relevant to health administration is developed, resulting in a paper of substantial length.
Must receive instructor approval to register for this course.
This course is designed for future leaders of health care organizations. The course provides students with the knowledge of how the best health care organizations deliver high-quality and cost-effective health care services.
Introduces key concepts in disability-related public policies in the United States and New Mexico, explores critical topics in disability and public policy, and increases understanding of the interactions between disability, public policy, and public health.
Complex policy problems defy traditional boundaries. The governance of inter-organizational and cross-sectoral networks is a crucial skill for effective leaders. Topics include network design, leadership, informal accountability, managing competition, innovation, social capital, and network resilience.
Seminars scheduled from time to time on issues and topics requiring additional focus in public and health administration. See course offerings each semester for seminars.
The course focuses on the fundamentals of establishing compliance programs to identify and prevent fraud and abuse and familiarize students with various payment systems such as Medicare's prospective payment systems for hospitals and other provider reimbursements.
This course is designed for future leaders of health care organizations. The course provides students with knowledge about how the best health care organizations deliver high-quality cost-effective healthcare.
Second and Third Year Course.
Contact UNM School of Law for more information and approval to register.
Provides an overview of the methods of epidemiologic research. Designed to provide students with the capability of understanding epidemiologic measures of disease occurrence, interpreting the findings of epidemiologic studies, and integrating the results of epidemiologic research into public health practice.
Prerequisite: MATH 1350 with a grade of "B" or better. Contact UNM College of Population Health for more information.
Social Epidemiology provides students with principles and methods of design, conduct analysis, and interpretation of epidemiologic research using a social epidemiology approach.
Prerequisite: PH 502 with a grade of "B" or better. Contact UNM College of Population Health for more information and instructor's permission.
Provides students with an understanding of factors within and outside of the health care system. Reviews social policy in addressing coverage of uninsured, improving population health, and reducing social inequities. Examination of frameworks and politics of policy programs.
Contact UNM College of Population Health for more information.
Contact UNM College of Population Health for more information.
Gives students an applied understanding of public health disparities, equity challenges, and assets in the U.S.-Mexico border region. Community-based learning via site visit to the border region with Web-CT enhanced instruction.
Contact UNM College of Population Health for more information.
Contact UNM Political Science Department for offerings.
Practicum
Click below for the MHA Practicum Policy to complete your MHA Practicum Plan (3 credit hours / 1 course):
M.H.A. practicums are typically offered mid-program, offering opportunities to apply program learning during the practicum experience and to bring practicum experience into the classroom.
MHA Practicum Policy guidelines.Offered on a CR/NC basis only.
Capstone
3 credit hours (3 credit hours / 1 course):
(Spring Only)
This course features an analysis of selected healthcare administration cases. Students will develop analytical writing skills via case analyses critically applying knowledge and skills to challenges faced by public and nonprofit health policy and administrative professionals.
Legacy
MHA Program Curriculum for students admitted before Fall 2021 is prescribed.
If you were admitted before Fall 2021, please follow this MHA course completion checklist.
A MHA candidate admitted before Fall 2021 must choose and follow a term plan found in the MHA Course Sequencing document. Please refer to this document when selecting courses per a given semester.
