Overview
Make a difference in health care
Earn a fully online master’s degree in health care administration and become equipped to advance in your career in 18 months.
Are you looking to become a leader in health care or progress into a middle or executive-level position? Trevecca’s Master of Science in health care administration offers students the ability to earn a degree fully online while continuing to work or maintain ongoing commitments.
Health care is a growing field with ample opportunities for professional growth. In Nashville alone, the industry is the city’s largest and fastest growing employer, with an overall economic benefit of more than $46.7 billion and 270,000 jobs annually.*
Program highlights:
- The degree is 100 percent online with no residency requirements. Books and materials are delivered to your front door. Focus on one class at a time and finish in just 18 months.
- Coursework that prepares you to understand and apply leadership principles and theory, explore leadership concepts within health care and discover strategies to promote a patient-centered culture.
- Increase your organizational skills, deepen your understanding of financial data for health care and learn about information privacy and security management for health care and patient rights. The program also emphasizes how effective use of health care innovation can lead to a sustained advantage within the market.
- Students are expected to complete a field experience or an industry project contingent upon total years of healthcare experience.
- All Trevecca faculty have been employed or currently still work in the health care industry and possess the highest degree in their field. Many currently serve in various capacities for a variety of Nashville health care companies, including health care law, senior administrative leadership and IT.
- Skills and competencies are taught through a faith-based lens with an emphasis on stewardship and service. Leadership principles that focus on servanthood, authenticity and transformation are woven throughout the program.
*Data from the Nashville Health Care Council.
Core Classes
Principles of Leadership in Health Care
HCL 5100
This course assesses and applies innovative strategies of leading people in healthcare organizations. Emphasis is placed on industry specific competencies that promote awareness of how to efficiently care for patients in the health delivery system while attaining optimal treatment outcomes and enhancing both patient and employee experiences.
Course Hours: 3
Organizational Behavior and Change in Health Care
HCL 5110
This course evaluates dynamics of health care organizations and suggests ways health care leaders might influence organizational behavior among personnel to attain desirable outcomes and meet organizational goals.
Course Hours: 3
Innovating Health Care Through Patient Engagement
HCL 5120
This course will evaluate the changing landscape of patient engagement approaches and models in order to synthesize innovative solutions to helping patients play an effective role in their health care.
Course Hours: 3
Health Economics
HCL 6180
This course examines the U.S. health system and analyzes the behaviors of individual stakeholders within the health care ecosystem. By applying economic theories and models, students will assess various outcomes and decision-making made by health consumers, providers, and suppliers of healthcare services, lobbyists, and governmental officials.
Course Hours: 3
Financial Management and Budgeting for Health Care Organizations
HCL 5130
This course analyzes various financial functions and the use of financial information in healthcare organizations. An overview of numerous factors that influence healthcare leader’s decision making are also assessed .
Course Hours: 3
Healthcare Operations and Key Performance Indicators
HCL 6190
This course illustrates innovative strategies and tactics that healthcare leaders may utilize to evaluate and measure specific metrics to determine organizational performance's efficacy at both micro and macro levels. Emphasis is on essential components of achieving excellence in healthcare delivery, such as quality, cost, access, population health, and patient experience.
Course Hours: 3
Value Based Management in Health Administration
HCL 6110
This course provides a comprehensive look at the evolving solution of value-based care and how to implement and manage it to produce quality care in a cost-effective manner while improving health outcomes among the population.
Course Hours: 3
Human Resource Management
HCL 6170
This course examines best practices for operating healthcare organizations. Emphasis is on recruitment and retention, satisfying staffing requirements, credentialing of providers, compensation models, diversity and inclusion, employee relations, and employment law.
Course Hours: 3
Innovative Models for Population Health Management
HCL 6120
This course examines various determinants of wellness and healthy outcomes for specified populations. Students will assess the impact of global health issues and analyze policy and its influence to eradicate diseases, reduce disparities, and other factors that affect population health management.
Course Hours: 3
Health Reform and Alternative Healthcare Delivery Solutions
HCL 6130
Access, quality, and cost of healthcare services remain a continuous challenge in the U.S. health delivery system. This course takes an in-depth look at current and proposed governmental policy and its influence on the provision of health care within the United States.
Course Hours: 3
Technology Innovations and Information Security in Healthcare
HCL 6160
This course examines the role of disruptive innovation in healthcare through the use of technology. Emphasis is on how healthcare innovation is utilized to enhance patient care, increase patient access to health services, reduce costs of health expenditures, and improve operational efficiency for health care organizations and integrated health delivery systems.
Course Hours: 3
Healthcare Privacy and Information Security Management
HCL 6150
This course evaluates various privacy and security controls health care entities implement to protect the integrity of patient information, reduce risks of data breaches, and increase cyber security. Compliance with national, state, and local security rules and regulations is also addressed.
Course Hours: 3
Special Topics in Health Care Leadership and Innovation
HCL 6200
This course will provide students the foundation to identify and respond to industry trends using current literature, student experience and or guest speaker information. Current issues confronting healthcare organizations and impacting leaders will be highlighted. Specific emphasis will be placed on innovative strategies to address challenges in healthcare. As part of the course design, students will complete a mini thesis. The mini thesis must have theoretical/academic and applied components.
Course Hours: 3
Health Industry Field Experience
HCL 6220
The industry field experience offers students an opportunity to shadow healthcare professionals in various roles and settings. Students will obtain real-world experience and gain exposure to multiple disciplines within the landscape of healthcare administration. Successful completion of the field experience will assist students with identifying areas of interest specific to their chosen career pathway. The industry field experience is a required, 120- hours, 12-week course for students enrolled in the M.S. Health Care Administration Program who possess less than three (3) years of healthcare experience.
Prerequisite: All core courses leading up to the field experience or capstone course.
Course Hours: 3
Health Industry Field Experience Continuation
HCL 6230
This course is a continuation of HCL 6220, health industry field experience, that will allow students additional time to meet the 120 hours, 12-week requirement to complete the program. It will run for six additional weeks at zero credit hours.
Course Hours: 0
Program Details
Total credit hours
36
Program length
18 months
Mode
100 percent online
Additional information
The Master of Science in health care administration focuses on topics in leadership, innovation, technology, information security and value-based management. The primary objectives of the program are threefold.
1. Heighten your awareness of the challenges within health care. These include cost containment, the need to increase patient access and the best way to provide quality medical care in order to ensure positive patient experiences and outcomes.
2. Equip you with the skills sets you need.
- Identify and enhance individual leadership styles and competencies through exploring what it means to be an emotionally intelligent, self-aware leader.
- Develop or strengthen relational skills in order to expand your professional network.
- Learn to become a strategic and innovative leader within the industry through building critical thinking and strong decision-making skills.
- Optimize use of technology and other applicable resources to determine which delivery and reimbursement models best align with certain organizations to support operational volatility and yield sustainable results.
3. Shape you to become an innovative leader who can serve as a catalyst in providing premier services for health care organizations through effective leadership, stewardship and service.
- Each course requires you to research and/or connect with current leaders within the industry who can share relevant experiences that have made them successful as leaders. This research component will assist you in learning about the latest legislative and administrative changes that affect daily operations.
- Learn to track and follow the latest industry trends, leading standards and best practices to maintain a competitive advantage within the market.
Location/Modes
Online
For the past 20 years, Trevecca has offered fully online academic programs that allow students to earn their degree in a format that works for them. We understand life is busy and you may not have time to attend classes on campus. Whether you’re a working adult or simply live outside Nashville, we make it easy to focus on one class at a time, any time—24/7. Classes are taught online with books and materials delivered to your front door. Online students also benefit from a cohort model, where students begin and complete their degree alongside a group of other online classmates working toward similar goals.
With our digital programs, you can expect the same level of quality and rigor that Trevecca has provided students since its inception in 1901. Trevecca is committed to holistic education, encouraging students to grow intellectually, socially, emotionally, physically and spiritually. In 2016, the Carnegie Foundation classified Trevecca as a doctoral university, ranking it among the top 7 percent of schools nationwide. Regionally, the Nashville Business Journal named Trevecca as the fastest growing graduate business school in Middle Tennessee in 2019.
Outcomes/Careers
Earning a Master of Science in health care administration prepares you for a wide variety of career opportunities in this expanding field. Combined with your prior work experience, students who finish this program are well-positioned for roles such as these:
Master’s degree combined with 1-3 years of work experience:
- Supervisory positions
- Roles as a coordinator or specialist (within specific areas)
- Office manager
- Business manager
- Associate administrator
- Administrative coordinator
Master’s degree combined with 5 or more years of experience:
- Regional vice president (corporate level)
- Hospital administrator
- Nursing home administrator (must possess state licensure)
- Executive director
- Associate C-Suite level
- Senior VP level(s)
- C-Suite executives (usually 10-15 or more years of experience; sometimes less with a graduate degree)
- Chief executive officer
- Chief operating officer
- Health information director
- Director of operations
- Program manager
Financial Aid & Costs
Worried about the future? We’ve got you covered!
At Trevecca, we understand we’re in unprecedented times. We believe you should be free to follow your dreams without fear. If you’re unable to complete a course due to COVID-19, we’ll refund the course cost to you. Full details can be found here.
How much will it cost?
| Tuition | Credit Hours | Program Length | Total Cost |
| $500/Credit hour | 36 | 18 months | $18,000 |
*$50 fee assessed per course. Books are not included.
How am I going to pay for it?
Federal loans are available to all eligible students who complete a FAFSA.
Employer tuition reimbursement opportunities are also an option.
Monthly payments through Trevecca make fulfilling tuition requirements more manageable.
Trevecca accepts military benefits such as Yellow Ribbon and GI Bills.
How do I qualify?
Fill out your FAFSA. Based on your income, you will know how much federal financial aid you are eligible to receive.
Talk to your employer about tuition reimbursement opportunities.
For military benefits, contact the Academic Records Office at 615.248.1268.
Admissions
Our three-step enrollment process is fast, easy and free! Simply complete the application, submit your transcripts and we’ll take care of the rest.
Getting started
- Complete the online application (it's free!). No GRE or GMAT scores required
Need help applying? Read the step-by-step instructions here! - Fill out FAFSA to be considered for financial aid.
- Request official transcripts from your undergraduate institution.
Admissions requirements
- Have earned a bachelor's degree from an institution accredited by a CHEA-recognized regional accrediting agency or the Association for Biblical Higher Education. Students who do not meet these degree requirements may be conditionally accepted in accordance with the Conditional Admission Policy
- 2.75 cumulative GPA for all prior coursework
- Completion of a college-level math course with a grade of C or higher
- Completion of a college-level English course with a grade of C or higher
- Provide photocopy of government-issued identification (e.g., driver's license, state ID, military ID or passport). This requirement ensures that Trevecca complies with the U.S. Department of Education expectations for student verification. (This is only required for students enrolled in an online program.)
If you feel you may not meet these requirements, please fill out the form below to be connected with an enrollment counselor.
FAQs
How is the Master of Science in health care administration (MHCA) program different from the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program with an emphasis in health care?
Am I required to have a bachelor's degree in health care administration to be accepted?
Do I need a master's degree to be able to work in health care administration?
I’m considering a career in health care. Is there someone I can contact who can explain more about the degree and how I can use it long term?
Is the degree accredited by the Commission of Accreditation of Health Care Management Education (CAHME)?
What are the technology requirements for this program?
