Healthcare Management
MS

The Master of Science in Healthcare Management (MSHM) provides you with the knowledge and tools to help improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery and become an agent for positive change. Professionals working in healthcare and those interested in influencing the field learn how to save time and money, improve quality of care, redesign organizational processes, and reduce implementation errors.

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Discover why UMass Dartmouth is the right place to earn an advanced degree or certificate.

Application deadlines

Fall: Rolling
Spring: Rolling
Summer: Rolling

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Throughout the program, you will strengthen your managerial skills, which you’ll be able to immediately apply to the workforce. You’ll also learn how to analyze and measure health systems' performance, improve processes and productivity, and use data to guide improvements and support patient care delivery.

Employment outlook

An aging population and a higher prevalence of chronic diseases will drive continued growth for employment in this profession well into the future. Graduates of this program are prepared to advance their careers and become organizational leaders, including within healthcare innovation companies and for pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. Graduates may also find employment with health systems providers and health insurance carriers.

Program requirements

The curriculum develops the operational and behavioral skills necessary for transforming the healthcare workplace into an efficient, effective, error-free, and empowered organization. The MSHM curriculum consists of a total of 30 credit hours:

8 required courses
2 elective courses or a Master’s Project or Master’s Thesis

Core courses focus on two areas:

management of costs, quality, and error reduction
development of leadership, motivation and collaborative skills

Required courses

Students must complete 30 credits to graduate.
2 foundation courses are required for those who have not taken these courses or their equivalents before beginning the program. Foundation courses are not counted toward the degree.
Students must take eight core courses, 4 of which have alternates. In addition, candidates must take 2 elective courses or carry out a master’s project or master’s thesis.
Up to 6 credits may be transferred into the program at the time of admission or after enrolling in the program to satisfy elective course requirements.
Course waivers depend on prior coursework and may be granted on a case-by-case basis.

ACT 650 Accounting for Decision Making
ACT 671 Strategic Cost Management or NUR 508 Healthcare Economics and Managing Healthcare Finances
MGT 671 Management of Organizational Change or MGT 673 Organization, Structure, and Process
MGT 677 Leading, Motivating, and Empowering Others or MGT 650 Advanced Organizational Behavior
MIS 675 Managing Projects for Healthcare
POM 651 Creating Value Through Operations Analysis
POM 679 Management of Healthcare Operations or NUR 520 U.S. Healthcare Delivery System
POM 684 Lean Operations in Health Care

Elective courses

You may choose two elective courses from the following, or alternatively, complete a master’s project or master’s thesis on a healthcare management topic of your choice.

FIN 650 Finance for Decision Making
MGT 659 Strategic Management
MIS 650 Information Technology Management
NUR 615 Organizational Behavior & Leadership in Healthcare
POM 681 Business Analytics and Data Mining
POM 683 Managing Supply Chains in Healthcare
POM 698 Master’s Project
POM 699 Master’s Thesis

Prerequisite courses (as needed)

ACT 500 Financial Accounting
POM 500 Statistical Analysis

Course descriptions, schedules and requirements

Healthcare management mean starting salary:
$97,333

NACE Data Collection of Class of 2023 Graduate Alumni

UMassD advantages

AACSB accredited, the international gold standard for business programs.
Prepares you to join a profession forecasted to grow by 18% between 2018-2028 (“Much faster than average” – U.S. BLS)
Students gain leading-edge knowledge of waste reduction, quality improvement, strategic cost management, leadership, and healthcare policy to prepare them for careers in managing healthcare operations.
Online MSHM ranked nationally by 10 different organizations over the past three years.
Complete the 30-credit hour curriculum on a full-time or part-time basis.
Maximum flexibility with online, blended, and face-to-face delivery formats
Provides high value and high quality
Taught by leading scholars supplemented by a cadre of seasoned practitioners
Networking and dialogue opportunities with other working professionals and faculty

Graduate admissions requirements

University requirements for graduate admissions

Submit an application via the online portal. Be sure to provide your full legal name and to capitalize the first letter of all proper nouns.
Pay non-refundable $60 application fee (American Express, Discover, MasterCard or Visa) via the online portal. For Nursing applicants, the non-refundable application fee is $75.
Statement of Purpose, minimum 300 words. Unless otherwise indicated in the program requirement details, indicate your graduate study objectives, research interests and experience, and business or industry experience if applicable. If you are applying for a teaching or research assistantship, include any special skills or experience that would assist us in making assistantship decisions.
Resume
Transcripts for all post-secondary institutions attended (regardless of whether a credential is earned or not). Unofficial transcripts are accepted for admissions application review, once enrolled a final official transcript is required. International students applying with an transcript evaluation, please submit that document with your unofficial transcripts. International applicants for Data Science must submit semester-by-semester transcripts as well as consolidated transcripts.
Many programs have specific recommendations/requirements, please see the additional program-specific requirements for more information.
International students: official TOEFL iBT, IELTS, Pearson PTE or Duolingo (if accepted by program) score. Unofficial scores are accepted for admissions application review, once enrolled official scores are required and must be sent by the testing agency (copies/scans not accepted). This is required of any applicant who did not earn a bachelor’s degree or higher degree from an accredited academic institution in the U.S. or accepted English-speaking country, see exemptions for more details. We require an overall/total minimum score of 72 on the TOEFL iBT or BAND 6.0 on the IELTS or a 52 on the Pearsons PTE Academic for entrance to any program and a minimum score of 79 on the TOEFL iBT or BAND 6.5 on the IELTS for consideration for a teaching assistantship. Some programs require higher minimum scores (see program-specific requirements). Most programs also accept the Duolingo with a minimum score of 95. The following programs do not accept the Duolingo: Art Education, Biology/Marine Biology, Nursing (MS, DNP, PhD), Psychology: Clinical, and Public Policy.
All official documents are required for enrollment, please have documents (ie. test scores) sent prior to the expiration.

Program-specific requirements

Candidates must submit the required application materials, university requirements and program-specific requirements, for consideration.

GMAT, LSAT or GRE score (minimum score of 500). Alternatively, some applicants may qualify for GMAT waiver.
2 letters of recommendation: preferably from a faculty member or an employer. Applicants will be required to provide each recommender's name and email address so we can contact the recommender for the letter of recommendation.
International students should have a minimum English Proficiency score of TOEFL iBT 80, IELTS 6.5, Duolingo 110 or the Pearsons PTE Academic 58.

Program deadlines