The Department of Health Care Administration offers the Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) to provide evidence-based training in micro and macro theory and practice to advance the health of individuals and communities—local, national, and international. The program enables students to understand the complex interrelationships between health organizations, societal and cultural contexts, and biological systems, and emphasizes the well-being of the individuals and populations affected by these complex interrelationships. The UWM MHA program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) and is the only CAHME-accredited MHA program in the State of Wisconsin.
Admission Requirements
Application Deadlines
Application deadlines vary by program, please review the application deadline chart for specific programs. Other important dates and deadlines can be found by using the One Stop calendars.
Admission
An applicant must meet Graduate School requirements, have a minimum cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (or an equivalent measure on a grading system that does not use a 4.0 scale), and submit the following materials:
- Resume or CV
- Transcripts: All applicants, including UWM students, must upload transcripts from all academic institutions where a bachelor's degree or above has been or will be earned.
- Reason Statement: An essential part of your application, the reason statement is used to determine the appropriateness of your educational and professional goals and serves as an example of your ability to express yourself in writing. In the statement:
- Explain your reasons for pursuing graduate study.
- Describe specific interests and your background in the field.
- List any relevant skills or training you have acquired.
- List relevant academic awards or honors you have received.
- Two Letters of Recommendation: Letters of recommendation should come from academic sources and/or supervisors. The letters should address the applicant's academic and professional strengths, and the applicant's potential for success in graduate study.
Credits and Courses
MHA Options
There are four options for the MHA:
Option 1: Face-to-Face Program
(39 credits required for graduation)
All courses are offered in face-to-face sections; 30 credits of required courses, a 2-credit internship, 1-credit MHA capstone course and 6 credits of electives are required.
Option 2: Online Program
(39 credits required for graduation)
All courses are offered online; 30 credits of required courses, a 2-credit internship, 1-credit MHA capstone course and 6 credits of electives are required.
Option 3: Executive Online Program
(33 credits required for graduation)
All courses are offered online; 30 credits of required courses, a 2-credit internship and 1-credit MHA capstone course required. Admission to the Executive Online program requires previous health-related administrative experience and/or an advanced professional degree. Examples of acceptable degrees include MBA, PharmD, PhD, MD, JD, DO, DPT, and APRN.
Option 4: Executive Online Program with the Pharmacy Leadership Academy
(30 credits required for graduation)
All courses are offered online; 27 credits of required courses, a 2-credit internship and 1-credit MHA capstone course required. Admission to this program requires concurrent enrollment in the Pharmacy Leadership Academy (PLA) program. *HCA 866 is not a required course
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| HCA 801 | Design of Health and Human Service Systems | 3 |
| KIN 702 | Statistical Analysis in the Health Sciences | 3 |
| or HCA 843 | Quantitative Methods for Healthcare Administrators | |
| HCA 821 | Operations Management in Healthcare Organizations | 3 |
| HCA 822 | Human Resources Management for Healthcare Executives | 3 |
| HCA 823 | Strategic Planning in Health Care Organizations | 3 |
| HCA 865 | Financial Management for Health Care Organizations | 3 |
| HCA 866 | Leading Change & Innovation in a System | 3 |
| HCA 867 | Global Population Health Management | 3 |
| HCA 813 | Health Regulatory Policy and Politics | 3 |
| HCA 868 | Health Law and Ethics | 3 |
| Required Internship | ||
| HCA 870 | Internship in Health Care Administration | 2 |
| Required Capstone | ||
| HCA 871 | MHA Capstone | 1 |
| Focus Area Electives: | ||
| BUSMGMT 705 | Corporate Finance | 3 |
| BUS ADM 775 | Financial Strategy | 3 |
| or NURS 620 | Global Food Security and Systems | |
| NURS 708 | Global Maternal and Child Health: From Evidence to Action | 3 |
| or HI 723 | Health Care Systems Applications - Administrative and Clinical | |
| HI 743 | Predictive Analytics in Healthcare | 3 |
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Approved General Electives | ||
| HCA 835 | Patient-Provider Communication: Strategies & Practices | 3 |
Additional Requirements
Major Professor as Advisor
A student must have a major professor to advise and supervise the student’s studies as specified in Graduate School regulations. Initially, the director of the MHA Program advises and supervises newly admitted students. Students are then assigned faculty advisors according to faculty advising loads.
Time Limit
All degree requirements must be completed within seven years of the first enrollment semester as a degree student.
Healthcare Administration MHA Program Competencies
The MHA program utilizes the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) Healthcare Leadership Alliance (HLA) domains and competencies. Through a thorough assessment and input process from key stakeholders, the program faculty have adopted twenty-five (25) core competencies covering 4 domains (Healthcare Environment; Leadership & Communication; Management; and, Diversity, Equity, Access, & Inclusion). These competencies are developed and addressed throughout the program. Various assessment methods are used to measure competencies, skills, knowledge, and abilities.
Domain 1: Healthcare Environment
This domain encompasses the foundational knowledge and skills required for graduates to work in the healthcare sector.
1-1. Public Health Principles: Understand the role of social determinants, environment, and individual behaviors on the health of populations
1-2. U.S. Healthcare System Structure and Financing: Examine past, current, and emerging issues related to the organization, financing, and management of health and public health delivery in the U.S.
1-3. Health Law and Policy: Discuss compliance with major health laws applicable to health administration stakeholders and the multiple dimensions of the policy-making process.
1-4. Community Collaboration: Align the organization’s priorities with the needs and values of the community to move health forward in line with population-based wellness needs and national health agenda.
Domain 2: Leadership & Communication
This domain encompasses those skills that are required to help groups make decisions that motivate others to advance organizational goals that help drive change. In short, this domain includes all the skills and politically savvy necessary to be effective in advancing organizational agendas openly and ethically.
2-1. Communication Skills: Demonstrate effective oral and written communication skills in multiple platforms to convey meaning and build shared understanding.
2-2. Team Building and Leadership: Work cooperatively and inclusively with other individuals and/or teams toward shared visions and goals.
2-3. Accountability: Hold oneself accountable to standards of performance.
2-4. Innovative Thinking: Approach one’s work and the organization in new and breakthrough ways to develop creative solutions to complex problems or adapt previous solutions in new ways.
2-5. Professionalism: Exhibit conduct, aims and qualities that characterize a professional person such as competency, honesty and integrity, self-regulation, and the ability to establish, build, and sustain professional contacts for the purpose of building networks.
2-6. Systems Thinking: Assess the potential impacts and consequences of decisions across a variety of system stakeholders.
2-7. Ethics: Recognize ethical frameworks and the role of ethics in organizations and professional communities.
2-8. Change Leadership: Identify strategies and methods to influence and inspire action in others and respond with vision and agility during periods of growth, disruption or uncertainty to bring about the needed change.
2-9. Emotional Intelligence: Develop an accurate view of one’s strengths and limitations, including the impact one has on others and adapt behaviors to environments.
2-10. Critical Thinking: Develop a deeper understanding of a situation, issue, or problem by breaking it down or tracing its implications.
Domain 3: Management
3-1. Human Resource Management: Describe the internal and external factors that affect the healthcare workforce and appropriately employ human resource management processes related to recruitment and selection, job design, feedback and performance management, and managing employee stress and retention.
3-2. Performance Evaluation & Quality Improvement: Apply concepts of process and quality improvement, performance monitoring and reporting to the administration of health care organizations.
3-3. Project Management: Propose a plan to manage a project involving resources, scope and impact.
3-4. Strategic Management & Analysis: Consider the business, demographic, ethnocultural, political, and regulatory implications of decisions and develop strategies that continually improve the long-term success and viability of the organization.
3-5. Organizational Dynamics: Appreciate organization decision making structures and processes to achieve desired outcomes.
3-6. Data Analytics: Acquire, analyze and effectively communicate data.
3-7. Financial Management: Evaluate financial and accounting information, prepare and manage budgets, and make sound long-term investment decisions.
3-8. Economic Analysis & Application: Apply economic concepts to the analysis of how stakeholder incentives affect health behavior, decision making, and the functioning of health care markets.
Domain 4: Diversity, Equity, Access, & Inclusion
This domain encompasses the skills required to lead diverse, equitable, accessible and inclusive organizations.
4-1. Identify inequities, understand their causes and strategies to address them. Health Equity Knowledge: Discuss the means by which structural bias, social inequities and racism undermine health and create challenges to achieving health equity at organizational, community and societal levels.
4-2. Health Equity Improvement: Propose strategies for health improvement and elimination of health inequities by organizing stakeholders, including researchers, practitioners, community leaders and other partners.
4-3. Leadership & Management of Equitable Organizations: The ability to accurately hear and understand the unspoken or partly expressed thoughts, feelings, and concerns of others, especially those who may represent diverse backgrounds and very different worldviews.