HSM 504A Professional Seminar I
HSM 504B Professional Seminar II
These courses introduce students to the concepts of professional skills development and career planning, search and launch. Themes for the courses include strategies in career planning, emotional intelligence, financial planning, interviewing, professional etiquette, office etiquette, stress management, and conversation basics. [1 for HSM 504A, 2 for HSM 504B, total 3]

HSM 502 Health Care Organization
Provides an overview of the United States health care system, its history, structure, major components and overall performance. The interrelationships among various trends and forces that are likely to shape the roles and responsibilities of health care institutions in the future is emphasized. The course makes use of guest lecturers from the field, site visits to health care institutions, and rotations with various health care professionals. Through these experiences, students become well versed and conversant in the major issues facing the health care industry and the public/private/individual roles needed to address these issues. This course provides a framework to organize knowledge of the health care system to support further study in the field. It serves as an introduction to issues and concepts in HSM courses in organizational behavior, health economics, health care finance, health care planning and marketing, and health insurance and managed care. [2]

HSM 510 Health Care in America
Health Care in America is designed for graduate students who are entering a health care profession. Faculty leaders from across Rush University Medical Center present topics that address contemporary issues in America 's health care system. Examples include the organization and delivery of health services, the economics and financing of health care, the nation's health care workforce, access to and quality of health services, health policy and the public's health, and future directions of America's health care system. The class breaks into interdisciplinary groups to explore these issues in depth through team-based experiential learning. [2]

HSM 514 Statistics for Health Care Management
Reviews basic statistics and introduces intermediate level statistical tests which a health systems manager will likely use operationally or in applied management research. The statistical tests include t-tests, ANOVA, Chi-Square, simple and multiple regression, and appropriate nonparametric techniques. Students are taught how to use SPSS statistical software. They will learn the principles of proper research study design and how to interpret the statistical results in published health care journals. Knowledge of univariate statistics and basic knowledge of personal computing in a Microsoft environment is presumed. Prerequisite: undergraduate statistics. [4]

HSM 515 Human Resources Management
Focuses on providing an understanding of the human relations skills required of the health care systems manager in an environment filled with both federal and state legal constraints. Skills acquired include recruiting, interviewing and hiring staff; motivating and coaching employees; appraising and improving performance; dealing with disciplinary problems and employee counseling. The course also covers alignment of the human resources management function with the overall strategic direction and management of health care organizations.[4]

HSM 523 Managerial Epidemiology
Provides an understanding of the principles and methodologies of epidemiology, research design, and program evaluation emphasizing application to the planning and management of health care services. These principles are applied in a community assessment project. Prerequisite: HSM 514 or NUR 510 or concurrently. [3]

HSM 531 Finance I: Accounting Principles
Designed to provide an understanding of the concepts/principles of accounting and finances and their application in health systems management. Prerequisite: undergraduate accounting. [4]

HSM 532 Finance II: Health Care Managerial Accounting
Provides an understanding/knowledge of health care services payment policies including payment sources, (Medicare, Medicaid, traditional insurance) emerging payment arrangements, (DRGs, capitation, PPOs, HMOs) and application of budgeting principles to health care institutions. Prerequisite: HSM 531. [3]

HSM 533 Health Care Economics
Students learn the principles and tools of microeconomics and apply these principles and tools to the health care market. Applications particularly pertinent in today's political and economic climates include the demand and supply of health care, physician productivity and incentives, managed care, medical malpractice and pharmaceutical economics. By quarter's end, students should be able to evaluate, both at a conceptual and at an analytical level, arguments about how the markets for health care and health insurance work and to apply the fundamentals of economics to decision-making and problem-solving in health care organizations. Prerequisite: HSM 514 or concurrent. [4]

HSM 536 Corporate Finance
Enables students to understand the concepts and apply the tools of corporate finance and financial management. The overall objectives of the course are to understand the roles, functions and responsibilities of financial officers in managing a health care institution; be able to identify and analyze corporate finance problems and issues in the management of health care institutions, and be able to evaluate the financial performance of institutions in asset and debt management. Cash flow, financial management of assets, timing and uncertainty and access to the capital markets are covered in order to understand the importance of finance to health care operations and strategic planning . Prerequisites: HSM 531, 532, 533. [4]

HSM 543 Health Law
Provides a systematic and comprehensive knowledge of law as it impacts health care delivery systems. Students acquire an understanding of areas of law such as HIPAA, Fraud and Abuse, False Claims, employment/labor, contract and corporate law, tort liability, and laws governing patient care such as consent, guardianship and mental health laws. [3]

HSM 545 Organizational Analysis and Change
Develops students' knowledge of organizational structure and their skills in facilitating organizational change, focusing on theories, concepts and applications in change management, organizational culture, motivation, stress, leadership, group dynamics, roles, decision making, strategic planning, communication, quality management and organizational ethics. Prerequisites: HSM 502, 515. [3]

HSM 551 Health Informatics
Includes an introduction to Informatics, informatics taxonomy, the landscape and basics of information technology, data structures, electronic health records, and trends and directions in Health Care Informatics. The class includes case studies in Informatics areas such as public health and biotechnology. [2]

HSM 552 Health Care Information Systems
Concentrates on intermediate to advanced concepts of information systems and their application to health care management. Specific topics include: information systems resource management, cost/benefit analysis, technology assessment and strategic planning, requests for proposals, contract negotiations, and system implementation. The class includes group exercises and real world case studies. Prerequisite: HSM 551. [2]

HSM 557 Quality in Health Care
Provides students with fundamentals of quality improvement in health care. Emphasis is placed on philosophy, framework, and methodology of quality improvement, including measurement, analysis, organization and the impact of external standards. Students learn to use frameworks and tools to apply quality improvement strategics. Knowledge of Excel is required. [3]

HSM 559 Health Care Planning and Marketing
Develops students' understanding of the health care planning and marketing processes. Among the topics covered are the driving forces behind strategic decisions, frameworks for strategic thinking and planning, consumer research, market segmentation, price, distribution and product strategies, advertising and promotion, mass communications/public relations and evaluation of planning and marketing efforts. The development of persuasive marketing communication is studied from theoretical and practical perspectives. Prerequisites: HSM 502, 523. [4]

HSM 560 Health Policy
Prepares students to analyze the health policy process via empirical examination of policy formulation, implementation and outcome evaluation. The student will learn to apply these skills in an organizational context, to assist organizations to respond to policy opportunities and threats. Prerequisites: HSM 510 [3]

HSM 567 Health Insurance and Managed Care
Examines health insurance and managed care organizations in theory and practice. The variations in model types and external forces affecting their development and operational strategies are explored. The provider, insurer, and community perspectives of health insurance and managed care are discussed with applied research examining these perspectives provided by the students. Prerequisites: HSM 502, 523. [3]

HSM 572 Health Care Operations Management
Develops the student's ability to formulate and critically evaluate operational processes in the health care delivery system. Emphasis will be placed on the use of quantitative techniques relative to the efficiency and effectiveness of operational processes in the context of problem-solving and decision-making. Pre-requisites: HSM 514 and HSM 550 or concurrent. [4]

HSM 590 Topics in Health Systems Management
Provides students with the opportunity for in-depth study of specialized, current issues in health care management or specific sectors of the health care industry. These two-credit-hour elective courses in the past have focused on topics such as international health care, facilities planning, technology assessment, health care and the elderly, and physician practice management. [2 elective credits per topic]

HSM 593 Governance, Interprofessionalism and Leadership in Health Care
Develops students' understanding of effective governance and leadership of health care organizations, with an emphasis on working across disciplines and with clinical leadership. It is designed to prepare students for positions with managerial responsibility, and includes an assessment of leadership skills and development needs. Prerequisites: HSM 502, 515, 545. [3]

HSM 596 Strategic Management of Health Care Organizations
Provides students with opportunities to apply the fundamentals of strategic planning and marketing, economics, finance, information system, and operations acquired in previous courses in the HSM curriculum to practical problems and decisions faced by real health care organizations. Students apply techniques of situational assessment, data analysis, strategy development and problem solving. As the capstone course for the HSM program, students are encouraged to integrate and refine their knowledge from all sources of learning in the HSM program to apply to business case studies. They conduct strategic analyses and develop and present strategic recommendations consistent with the mission, vision and values of an organization under the guidance of a teaching team of senior health care managers. The result is an improved ability to think critically, identify strategic challenges, complete strategic analyses for different business problems, and communicate clearly. Prerequisites: HSM 545, 552, 557, 556, 567, 572. [4]

HSM 597A Masters Project I
HSM 597B Master's Project II
Provides, in a two-quarter sequence, the advanced HSM student with the opportunity to integrate applied research and analytical methods with health care management knowledge and skills. The student designs and tests a hypothesis that addresses a problem important to the delivery of health care and the management of health care organizations. Major emphasis is placed on project and data management, quantitative and other analytic techniques, and communication skills. Prerequisites: HSM 502, 504A&B, 532, 533, 552, 557, 572, and HHV (the new ethics course. [4 each, total 8]

HSM 598 Integrated Capstone Project
Provides HSM students with the opportunity to work with each other and other Rush graduate students in interdisciplinary teams on complex, multi-dimensional problems in the delivery of patient care and the management of operations at Rush University Medical Center. The students identify alternative approaches to the problem, develop recommendations for organizational change, and prepare an implementation plan. The Rush I-CARE (Innovation, Collaboration, Accountability, Respect and Excellence) values form the basis for student performance assessment at the individual and team levels. The assessment takes into account how the teams accomplish their work as well as the quality of the final product. Prerequisites for HSM students: completion of all prerequisites required for HSM 596 and concurrent registration in HSM 596. Prerequisites of all other Rush University students: HSM 510 [2 elective credits]

HSM 900 Independent Study
Specialized course work designed around the needs of an individual student. [Variable credit - with permission].