Advanced study in health administration and information systems is available through a dual degree program co-sponsored by the Department of Health Administration in the College of Health Professions and the Department of Information Systems in the School of Business.
The dual degree M.H.A/M.S. program allows students interested in the fields of health management and information technology to earn two highly ranked and relevant master’s degrees in just three years, which is the time it usually takes to complete just one of the degrees. The dual degree program is ideal for students who are pursuing careers in health IT management, health IT business consulting or working in the health IT vendor industry.
Applicants for this program are required to meet the admission requirements of each program. For information regarding the dual degree program, contact the director of the program.
Degree requirements
The curriculum allows students to earn both the M.H.A. and the M.S. in Information Systems with a total of 78 credit hours rather than the 89 credit hours that would be required to obtain the degrees separately. The dual degree option offers this credit-hour efficiency by taking advantage of curricular similarities in the two programs and allowing some courses to count toward both sets of requirements. A total of 12 credit hours will count toward both degrees and the M.H.A. foundation courses will be substituted for the business school foundation course requirements for dual degree students. Students in the dual degree program will follow the same schedule as regular M.H.A. students, including the two lockstep years. Both degrees are conferred concurrently when all requirements for both degrees have been completed.
Students will take 51 credit hours of health administration courses required for the M.H.A. and nine additional courses (27 credit hours) in the M.S. in Information Systems program, including INFO 610, INFO 620 and INFO 630. Students whose undergraduate degrees are not in information systems may also be required to take additional undergraduate prerequisite courses before taking the graduate information systems courses, as determined by the program adviser. The HADM 612 course taken for the M.H.A. will substitute for INFO 640, normally required for the M.S. in Information Systems degree, and one of the additional information systems courses will also count toward the elective courses in the M.H.A. program. A three-credit-hour, 10-week internship is required and must have substantial global, entrepreneurial and/or experiential components related to both degrees. The six information systems courses to be taken in addition to INFO 610, INFO 620 and INFO 630, must be approved by the program adviser and would normally be selected to satisfy one of the M.S. in Information Systems concentrations.
Curriculum requirements
| Course | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Courses | ||
| HADM 602 | Health System Organization, Financing and Performance | 3 |
| HADM 606 | Health Care Managerial Accounting | 3 |
| HADM 607 | Financial Management in Health Organizations | 3 |
| HADM 608 | Seminar in Health Care Finance | 3 |
| HADM 609 | Managerial Epidemiology | 2 |
| HADM 610 | Health Analytics and Decision Support | 3 |
| HADM 611 | Health Care Law and Bioethics | 3 |
| HADM 612 | Information Systems for Health Care Management | 3 |
| HADM 614 | Health Care Marketing | 3 |
| HADM 615 | Health Care Politics and Policy | 3 |
| HADM/ECON 624 | Health Economics | 3 |
| HADM 646 | Health Care Organization and Leadership | 3 |
| HADM 647 | Management of Health Care Organizations | 3 |
| HADM 648 | Strategic Management in Health Care Organizations | 3 |
| HADM 649 | Human Resources Management in Health Care | 3 |
| HADM 681 | Clinical Concepts and Relationships | 2 |
| HADM 682 | Executive Skills I | 1 |
| HADM 683 | Executive Skills II | 1 |
| HADM 693 | Internship in Health Administration | 3 |
| INFO 610 | Analysis and Design of Database Systems | 3 |
| INFO 620 | Data Communications | 3 |
| INFO 630 | Systems Development | 3 |
| INFO electives (chosen with permission of adviser) | 6 | |
| INFO focus area courses (see options below) | 12 | |
| Total Hours | 78 | |
The minimum total of graduate credit hours required for this dual degree is 78.
Information systems focus areas
Students must declare a focus in two of the following areas and take the classes offered for each of those two areas for a total of 12 credit hours.
| Course | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Business engineering | ||
| INFO 611 | Data Re-engineering | 3 |
| INFO 632 | Business Process Engineering | 3 |
| Information assurance | ||
| INFO 622 | Internet Security Management | 3 |
| INFO 644 | Principles of Computer and Information Systems Security | 3 |
| Information technology management | ||
| INFO 641 | Strategic Information Systems Planning | 3 |
| INFO 643 | Information Technology Project Management | 3 |
| Knowledge engineering | ||
| INFO 614 | Data Mining | 3 |
| INFO 616 | Data Warehousing | 3 |
Sample M.H.A./M.S. in Information Systems plan of study
| Year one | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fall semester | Hours | |
| HADM 602 | Health System Organization, Financing and Performance | 3 |
| HADM 606 | Health Care Managerial Accounting | 3 |
| HADM 609 | Managerial Epidemiology | 2 |
| HADM 646 | Health Care Organization and Leadership | 3 |
| HADM 681 | Clinical Concepts and Relationships | 2 |
| HADM 682 | Executive Skills I | 1 |
| Prerequisite HADM or INFO courses if needed | ||
| Term Hours: | 14 | |
| Spring semester | ||
| HADM 607 | Financial Management in Health Organizations | 3 |
| HADM 610 | Health Analytics and Decision Support | 3 |
| HADM 624 or ECON 624 | Health Economics or Health Economics | 3 |
| HADM 647 | Management of Health Care Organizations | 3 |
| Prerequisite HADM or INFO courses if needed | ||
| Term Hours: | 12 | |
| Summer semester | ||
| Prerequisite INFO courses if needed | ||
| Term Hours: | 0 | |
| Year two | ||
| Fall semester | ||
| HADM 608 | Seminar in Health Care Finance | 3 |
| HADM 612 | Information Systems for Health Care Management | 3 |
| HADM 615 | Health Care Politics and Policy | 3 |
| HADM 683 | Executive Skills II | 1 |
| INFO course (elective or focus area course from above) | 3 | |
| Prerequisite INFO courses, if needed | ||
| Term Hours: | 13 | |
| Spring semester | ||
| HADM 611 | Health Care Law and Bioethics | 3 |
| HADM 614 | Health Care Marketing | 3 |
| HADM 648 | Strategic Management in Health Care Organizations | 3 |
| HADM 649 | Human Resources Management in Health Care | 3 |
| Term Hours: | 12 | |
| Summer semester | ||
| HADM 693 | Internship in Health Administration | 3 |
| Term Hours: | 3 | |
| Year three | ||
| Fall semester | ||
| INFO 610 | Analysis and Design of Database Systems | 3 |
| INFO 620 | Data Communications | 3 |
| INFO 630 | Systems Development | 3 |
| INFO focus area course (from above) | 3 | |
| Term Hours: | 12 | |
| Spring semester | ||
| INFO elective | 3 | |
| INFO focus area courses (from above) | 9 | |
| Term Hours: | 12 | |
| Total Hours: | 78 | |
Contact
Rachel Haga, College of Health Professions (M.H.A.)
healthadmin@vcu.edu
(804) 828-9466
Austen Gouldman, School of Business (M.S. in Information Systems)
gouldmana@vcu.edu
(804) 828-4622
Program website: ha.chp.vcu.edu/mha-program/dual-degree-programs