Health Policy and Management (MPA)

Program Description

How can we improve healthcare access and quality—while lowering costs? What are the links between a community's state of health and its housing, transportation, and education? Our MPA in Health Policy and Management (HPAM) program gives you the unique opportunity to study health policy and management in a school of public service where you can see these interplays. With NYC and its diverse populations on your doorstep, you'll put your skills to work while learning so that by the time you graduate, you'll be ready to take on the most challenging issues in any healthcare environment.

Program Highlights

• A mission-driven program that graduates leaders who have the skills and values to improve healthcare quality and access.
• Seasoned and collaborative students use case analyses to elevate class discussion and report back on what's working in their professional lives.
• A holistic approach that underscores the relationships between healthcare and other policy arenas.
• Core courses in management, finance, and policy, so that you'll really understand the impact of the policies you’re proposing.
• Flexibility for full- or part-time students, with options to switch between the two. Earn your degree in two years full-time, or 3-4 years part-time.

Specializations

The Health Policy and Management MPA offers the following specializations:

Health Finance

The Health Finance specialization has two sub-specializations:

Health Financial Management

The Health Financial Management specialization prepares students to organize and interpret financial information as the basis of decision-making.

You’ll study financial and managerial accounting, financial statements, business plans, budgeting, capital planning, cost accounting, managerial control, working capital management, and payment systems.

Financial managers measure the flow of funds into and out of the organization, plan for investments in buildings and new technology, and forecast future surpluses and deficits for the organization as a whole and its departments. As a financial manager, you’ll work closely with other professionals—accountants, administrators, computer programmers, records managers, and planners—whose decisions have an impact on the organization’s financial status and who rely on your skills and advice.

Health Public Finance

The Health Public Finance specialization gives students the concepts and skills needed for careers that focus on the financial aspects of healthcare policy and the healthcare delivery system. You’ll take courses in public expenditure analysis, social insurance programs, taxation, and debt financing, among others.

Health public finance positions are located in every sector, and many graduates move between positions during their careers. They might be budget officers and analysts, consultants, finance directors, grant managers, program auditors, financial analysts, bond raters, investment bankers, and bond insurance underwriters.

Health Policy Analysis

The Health Policy Analysis specialization prepares you to develop and evaluate strategies to improve the efficiency of the healthcare delivery system.

As a policy analyst, you may work in a government agency responsible for regulating and financing health services, or for an organization that provides healthcare services, a nonprofit service organization, a professional association, or a foundation. You might be responsible for developing and analyzing data to support policies, assessing new healthcare initiatives using cost-benefit analysis, evaluating programs, analyzing implementation, and developing formal health plans to anticipate future needs for healthcare resources.

This specialization will teach you to develop policy analysis skills, including evaluation design, descriptive and multivariate statistics, program implementation analysis, policy formation assessment, and cost-benefit analysis.

Health Services Management

Our mission is to prepare individuals for leadership roles in healthcare organizations. Our graduates apply their knowledge and skills to make evidence-based decisions that create high-quality, cost-effective healthcare organizations, and that promote health equity and population health.  We seek to recruit students who are diverse and who are early-career working professionals.  Though most of our students are from the Northeast, we aim for representation from across the U.S.  Drawing on a faculty of prominent scholars and practitioners, we deliver a curriculum that emphasizes core competencies and integrates academic coursework and practical experience. Our location in New York City enables students to gain valuable work experience while enrolled in our Program.  Program graduates advance or launch their careers in a variety of organizations in the healthcare field.

Topics include design and control in health organizations, management of service operations, personnel and human resources management, information systems, marketing, and strategic planning.

International Health

The International Policy and Management specialization in the Health Policy and Management program ("International Health") prepares students to work worldwide in a variety of health settings and in diverse cultures.

You'll learn how health institutional structures and managerial processes vary around the world and gain a comparative interdisciplinary foundation that bridges cutting-edge conceptual thinking, critical analytical techniques, and concrete health management skills. And you'll graduate ready to appreciate and respond to the critical challenges of implementing complex health policies and programs in varying contexts.

Admissions

Admission to the Online MHA program requires the following:

• Online Application
• Essays
• Resume
• Letters of Recommendation
• Transcripts
• Interview (by invitation only)
• Standardized Test Scores
• Application Fee

See MPA Application Checklist for additional admission requirements and instructions specific to this program.

International Applicants should review the International Applicant Checklist for a complete and comprehensive list of application requirements and instructions.

Program Requirements

The program requires the completion of 45 credits. Students must choose one of the following specializations:

Health Finance

Students must choose one of the following sub-specializations:

Health Financial Management

Health Public Finance

Health Policy Analysis

¹

This course is recommended for students without prior health policy and management undergraduate or graduate coursework experience and should be taken prior to HPAM-GP 2836 Topics in Health Policy: Policy, Politics, and Power.

²

For a list of electives, please visit the Health Policy Analysis Specialization website.

Health Services Management

International Health

¹

For a list of electives, please visit the International Health Specialization website.

Sample Plan of Study

Health Finance

Health Financial Management

Health Public Finance

Health Policy

Analytics Track

Advocacy Track

Health Services Management

International Health

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the program, graduates will:

1. Align organizational and institutional policies and practices with mission, strategy, culture, and broader policy objectives
2. Secure and manage financial resources in a way that aligns with mission and strategy
3. Demonstrate understanding of the policy lifecycle and the impact of social, economic, demographic, political, environmental, and regulatory factors
4. Evaluate policies using appropriate, evidence-based methods and tools, including measuring differential impact on sub-populations
5. Deploy conceptual frameworks to break down problems into constituent elements and to develop solutions
6. Critically assess and synthesize existing research to identify its contributions and limitations, as well as possible research alternatives.
7. Demonstrate understanding of causality, including distinguishing between correlation and causation, the challenges to estimating causal relationships, and the importance of causality for determining impact
8. Prepare succinct, well-argued, and well-organized written materials and verbal presentations with appropriately incorporated tables, graphs, and other visuals
9. Translate awareness of the impact of individual and group demographics and identities into appropriate organizational, institutional, and societal policies and practices.
10. Lead projects, programs, and people, and manage resources in ways that adapt to changing social, economic, demographic, technological, and political conditions

Policies

NYU Policies

University-wide policies can be found on the New York University Policy pages.

Standard Policies Statement

Additional academic policies can be found on the Wagner academic policy page.