Healthcare Administration

This course is an introduction to the various Information Technology, Regulatory and Administrative aspects of Informatics, Information Privacy and Security as it pertains to a modern health care electronic environment. An important area of this course covers HIPAA, the Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and subsequent modifications introduced by the more recent ARRA-HITEC laws. This very important regulatory component of the healthcare industry is composed of the Transactions, Privacy and Security Rules, which are studied in depth in this course, including the key issues associated with protecting information privacy, deter mining the levels of protection and response to privacy and security incidents, and the different forms, policies and procedures to be used in a health care environment. The study and practice of Electronic Health Records, important Information Systems used in the healthcare industry, as taught as part of this course, is a timely subject, since the U.S. Government is motivating the use of such enterprise systems in all level of the healthcare provider system and there is a national expansion in the use of such electronic systems, from large hospitals to small clinics. (fall)

This course introduces the student to the notion of the healthcare organization as a social system. We will examine how individual and group behavior relates to organizational structure, task achievement, and goal attainment. Students will gain an understanding of the role of organizational culture in shaping individual and group behavior and the linkage of culture to leadership.

As healthcare organizations strive to be high performers, the human resources function is a key player in achieving that goal. Thus, we study the human resources function from its administrative and strategic perspectives, including the line manager’s human resources role. Specifically, we examine its role in strategic planning along with the traditional roles of wage and salary administration, training and development, employee and labor relations, performance appraisal, and its ever expanding role due to legislative enactments.

The student examines current legal issues occurring within healthcare. This course will allow the student to gain an understanding of what health care providers need to be aware of to avoid legal pitfalls. Case studies will be presented for review and analysis.