Program Curriculum

The curriculum for the MHSc Health Administration program is designed and sequenced to provide for the development of fundamental management competencies while keeping learners at the forefront of new developments in the health sector.

Year 1

Block 1: September - December
HAD5010H Canada's Health System and Health Policy: Part 1
(P. Williams)
This course, the first in a series of three, critically analyzes key issues and trends in Canada's health care system using an analytic "tool kit" derived from the fields of health policy analysis and public administration.
HAD5711H Theory and Practice of Strategic Planning and Management in Health Service Organizations (W. Berta)
This course offers a review of concepts and process relevant to strategic planning in health service organizations.
HAD5713H Introduction to Health Information Systems (J. Barnsley)
Role of health information at the individual, organizational and system level.
HAD5724H Quantitative Methods for Health Services Management and Policy (R. Cockerill)
Basic quantitative skills necessary for health services administration.

Block 2: January - April
HAD5020H Canada's Health System and Health Policy: Part 2 (P. Williams, F. Miller)
Continued examination of key concepts and issues in Canadian health policy.
HAD5721H Strategic Management of Quality and Organizational Behaviour in Health Services Organizations (R. Baker)
Current approaches to assessing and improving the quality of health services.
HAD5723H Health Services Accounting (E. Schraa/F. Markel)
Financial/managerial accounting concepts applicable to health service organizations.
HAD5770H Program Planning and Evaluation (R. Cockerill)
Overview of the concepts and models of program planning and evaluation applicable to health service organizations.

Block 3: May - July
HAD5731H Advanced Cases in Health Administration, Management and Strategy (R. Baker)
An advanced course where theories and research relating to organizational change, organizational development, and organizational culture are discussed in terms of their applicability to health services organizations.
HAD5733H Health Services Finance (W. Wodchis)
This course will concentrate on strategic corporate finance concepts applicable to health services. Topics include discounted cash flows, project decision making, and risk analysis. In addition, it will integrate corporate finance and accounting theories, institutional knowledge of health care finance, and applications to specific problems.
HAD5761H Decision Support Systems in Health Care (K. Leonard)
Information Systems (IS) in health care; historical development of computer-based IS; using IS to support decision-making in operational control, management control, and strategic planning.
HAD6010Y Practicum - one full credit (T. Smith)
8 week field placement.
HAD6011H Practicum Extension - optional (T. Smith)
4 week Practicum I extension.


Year 2

Block 4: September - December
HAD5725H Health Economics (C. Dewa/J. Hoch)
This course explores the economic foundations of health policy development and health services management. The course will facilitate the development of skills in the use of economic theories, evaluation and related topics for administrative decision-making.
HAD5741H Health Law (S. Grauer/S. Bryant)
Legal and ethical issues arising in health administration; different approaches to solutions; basic foundation of ethical and legal theories, and their application to health administration.
HAD5767H Health Services Marketing (J. Szold)
Principles of marketing and their application to the management of health service organizations; stresses a customer-focus orientation, re-examination of usual strategic issues, the relationship between marketing and quality management.
HAD5769H Human Resources Management and Labour Relations in the Health Field (L. Lemieux-Charles)
Employment relationship (including union-management relations) and the social, economic, and regulatory context within which that relationship is defined.


In Block 5 there are several opportunities for learners to choose to take Elective Courses which would allow for further detailed study in a particular field. Listed below are those currently offered by the Institute. Courses offered by other units in the University can be taken as electives, but must be approved by the Program Director. Please be aware that courses from other units may not be offered on a modular basis.

Block 5: January - April
HAD5736H Operations Research Tools for Quantitative Health Care Decision Making (D. Aleman, M. Carter)
This course introduces quantitative methods and their applications to healthcare decision making. The use of these methods has recently become an active and growing area of practice and research in contexts such as wait list management, patient flow, population demand estimates, health human resource management and the coordination of resources for elective and emergency services. This course is designed to provide health care decision makers with an introduction to several useful quantitative methods that can provide insight and support for complex decision making.
HAD5765H Case Studies in Health Policy (R. Deber)
Formulation and implementation of public policy using studies focused on theoretical concepts; comparisons of policy alternatives.
HAD5774H Comparative Health Care Systems (P. Williams, T. Smith)
Comparative examination of the health systems of the OECD countries with a focus on components, processes and outcomes including system principles, structures, financing, human resources, technology, culture, level of centralization, and quality. Particular issues like equity/inequity at the local, national and international levels, and the current and future effects of globalization are also examined.
HAD5775H Competition, Cooperation and Strategy in Healthcare (A. Brown)
This course explores the application of strategy and performance measurement frameworks to cases from the for-profit, not-for-profit, and non-profit sectors in health care and the life sciences. Topics include financing; access to venture capital, capital and health care conversions; strategic alliances, integration and re-engineering; and performance measurement and strategy evaluation.


(scheduling of this is geared towards MMI students)
HAD5735H The Commercialization of Health Research (Leslie Boehm)
This course examines individual elements of the research commercialization continuum, their linkages to the knowledge-based economy and the implications for national policy. The approaches taken by other nations are examined.