Innovative weeknight, part-time program targets Nashville’s working healthcare leaders
Admissions recently opened for Belmont University’s MBA for Healthcare Professionals, a new graduate program that integrates cutting-edge business practice with the latest approaches to managing excellence in patient-centered healthcare.
According to the Nashville Chamber of Commerce website, healthcare makes up 10 percent of the Nashville economic market, with three of the top five employers in the city focusing on health services and more than 65,000 individuals in a healthcare-related occupation. As a result, the part-time evening program has been designed specifically to fit the needs of these working professionals.
Dr. Joe Alexander, associate dean of Belmont’s Massey Graduate School of Business, said, “Belmont is committed to engage with and serve the Nashville community, and an MBA for Healthcare Professionals offers a unique opportunity for those in this region to pursue an industry-specific MBA degree without interrupting their healthcare careers.”
The MBA for Healthcare Professionals (HCMBA) program is designed “by healthcare professionals for healthcare professionals” and represents a joint venture between the Massey School, the Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing and the College of Pharmacy. Similar to Belmont’s existing MBA programs, the HCMBA is academically challenging, while maintaining a high degree of professional and contemporary relevance.
The HCMBA charter class will begin studies this fall, with courses offered in a convenient weeknight format, supplemented by one week of concentrated daytime coursework each August. The program is designed to be completed in two years and, like all Massey programs, includes an 8-10 day international healthcare study abroad experience.
The program’s “curricular DNA” includes two interrelated strands of coursework where important connections are made between an MBA foundation and the business of healthcare. The MBA business core includes content coverage in each of the basic functional areas of business: accounting, finance, entrepreneurship, management, marketing, business technology and operations. As the student advances through the program, an increasing number of healthcare-specific business courses are added, with industry-specific content in areas such as patient-centered care, healthcare quality improvement and compliance, comparative healthcare systems, bioethics, healthcare informatics, and healthcare strategic management.
Finally, each student has an additional opportunity to customize the program to fit their specific learning needs through selection of two course electives from topics such as lean healthcare management, negotiation and decision-making, supply chain management and physician practice management, among many others.
Applicants must have completed an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution, and are required to have full-time work experience in the healthcare industry, preferably with increasing responsibilities.
As a Massey School degree program, the HCMBA is accredited by AACSB International. Belmont University is one of only two private universities in the State of Tennessee to maintain AACSB accreditation.
