Master of Health Administration has a competency model that contains 6 domains and 22 competencies that students are prepared for.
Domain 1: Knowledge of
Healthcare System and Delivery
All MHA
students must demonstrate knowledge about general and evolving issues in
healthcare and be prepared to apply this knowledge to diverse health care
organizations.
1.1 Healthcare Environment. Ability to
explain issues and advancements in the healthcare industry. An underlying
curiosity and desire to know more about things, people, and issues, including
the desire for knowledge and staying current with health, organizational,
industry, and professional trends and developments. It includes pressing for
more precise information; resolving discrepancies by asking a series of
questions; and scanning for potential opportunities or information that may be
of future use, as well as staying current and seeking best practices for
adoption.
1.2 Legal and Regulatory Application and
Assessment. Ability to understand and explain the regulatory and
administrative environment in which the organization functions (e.g. antitrust;
Stark, ACA). This includes the ability to understand and explain corporate
compliance laws and regulations.
1.3 Process & Quality Improvement. The
ability to analyze and design or improve an organizational process, including
incorporating the principles of high reliability, continuous quality
improvement, and user-centered design.
Domain 2: Business and
Management Knowledge
All MHA students must master core business
and organizational management skills in a healthcare context.
2.1 Human Resources Management. The ability to implement staff development
and other management practices that represent contemporary best practices,
comply with legal and regulatory requirements, and optimize the performance of
the workforce, including performance assessments, alternative compensation and
benefit methods, and the alignment of human resource practices and processes to
meet the strategic goals of the organization.
2.2 Financial Skills. The ability to understand and
explain financial and accounting information, prepare and manage budgets, and
make sound long-term investment decisions.
2.3 Strategic Orientation. The ability to
consider the business, demographic, ethno-cultural, political, and regulatory
implications of decisions and develop strategies that continually improve the
long-term success and viability of the organization.
2.4 Project Management. The ability to plan, execute, and
oversee a multi-year, large-scale project involving significant resources,
scope, and impact.
2.5 Information Technology Management. The
ability to see the potential for administrative and clinical technologies to
support process and performance improvement. Actively sponsors the continuous
seeking of enhanced technological capabilities.
Domain 3: Critical Thinking
and Analysis
All MHA students must demonstrate the
ability to conceptualize, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information
gathered from diverse sources.
3.1 Performance Measurement. The ability to understand and use
statistical and financial metrics and methods to set goals and measure clinical
as well as organizational performance; commits to and deploys evidence-based
techniques.
3.2 Innovation.The ability to
approach one’s work and the organization in new and breakthrough ways,
including applying complex concepts, developing creative new solutions, or
adapting previous solutions in promising new ways.
3.3 Analytical Thinking.Developing a deeper understanding of a
situation, issue, or problem by breaking it down or tracing its implications
step-by-step. It includes organizing the parts of a situation, issue, or
problem systematically; making systematic comparisons of different features or
aspects; setting priorities on a rational basis; and identifying time
sequences, causal relationships, or if-then relationships.
3.4 Organizational Awareness.The ability to understand and learn the
formal and informal decision-making structures and power relationships in an
organization or industry (e.g., stakeholders, suppliers). This includes the
ability to identify who the real decision makers are and the individuals who
can influence them, and to predict how new events will affect individuals and
groups within the organization.
Domain 4: Policy and
Community Engagement
All MHA students must
demonstrate knowledge of the policy process at various levels of government, as
well as the processes and methods required to change and evaluate
organizational policy, and strategies to engage the community in multiple types
of policy change.
4.1 Policy and Advocacy.Ability to effectively participate in
discussions relating to health policy at the local, state, and federal levels.
4.2 Community
Collaboration.The ability
to align one’s own and the organization’s priorities with the needs and values
of the community, including its cultural and ethnocentric values, and to move
health forward in line with population-based wellness needs and national health
agenda.
Domain 5: Communication
All students must
apply interpersonal and communication skills in valuable information exchanges
with faculty, peers, and preceptors. This includes abilities such as listening
and communicating clearly using nonverbal, verbal, and writing skills.
5.1 Communication
Skills. Ability to facilitate a group; speak and write in a clear, logical,
and grammatical manner in formal and informal situations to prepare cogent
business presentations.
5.2 Interpersonal
Understanding. 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. Levels of proficiency relate to the increasing complexity and depth
of understanding, as well as openness to perspectives very different from one’s
own.
Domain 6: Professionalism
and Leadership
All MHA students
must demonstrate professionalism and leadership indicative of characteristics
and abilities to influence others.
6.1 Professional & Social Responsibility.
The demonstration of ethics, sound professional practices, social
accountability, and community stewardship. Acting in ways that are consistent
with one’s values and what one says is important.
6.2 Collaboration.The
ability to work cooperatively and inclusively with other individuals and/or
teams they do not formally lead; working together, as opposed to working
separately or competitively
6.3 Team
Leadership. The ability to lead groups of people toward shared visions and
goals, from forming a team that possesses balanced capabilities, to setting its
mission, values, and norms, and holding team members accountable individually
and as a group for results.
6.4 Change Leadership. The ability to
energize stakeholders and sustain their commitment to changes in approaches,
processes, and strategies.
6.5 Achievement Orientation. Concern for surpassing standards
of excellence. Standards may involve past performance (striving for
improvement); objective measures (results orientation); outperforming others
(competitiveness); challenging goals, or redefining the nature of the standards
themselves (innovation).
6.6 Self-Awareness. The ability to have
an accurate view of one’s own strengths and development needs, including the
impact that one has on others. A willingness to address development needs
through reflective, self-directed learning, and by trying new approaches.