Fielding Graduate University

Designed to introduce students to the online environment and practices in Fielding's OMD programs, this two-week, online seminar takes place prior to the beginning of the first academic trimester. Students will learn to use Fielding's website and FELIX software to navigate, post and complete initial assignments. Students will meet online and begin building community with their entering cohort and receive course introductions in preparation for beginning the academic term. Faculty and staff participate in facilitating dialogue and increasing online skills as the seminar progresses.

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The primary focus of this course will be to gain an understanding of the systemic aspects of health services organization, production and delivery. Healthcare systems develop to produce, deliver, and finance health services. Students will examine the inter-relationships of system structures, subsystems, and processes, as well as their interactions with the larger social, cultural, economic and political environments in which they exist. The focus will be on the United States, with international comparisons used to illustrate similarities and differences. Learning Competencies: • Applying concepts of systems thinking to analysis of health services. • Identify, differentiate among, and describe the elements of the organization, financing and delivery of health services. • Articulate and analyze major issues in health services and systems, and propose for addressing or resolving them. • Apply ethical principles in analyzing health systems, with consideration in cultural diversity.

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The primary focus of this course will be to enable students to learn the basics of current finance theory and tools to practice in managing health care on a daily basis. Various analytical methods in management decision making and approaches to benchmarking and productivity improvement will be emphasized. Learning Competencies: • Demonstrate an understanding of budgeting's role as a key component of the administrative process • Develop budgets for revenues, staffing and salaries, supplies and services, and equipment • Evaluate the financial status of a department or operating unit using volume adjusted variance analysis to determine the cause(s) of performance deviation • Demonstrate an understanding of revenue, cost, and productivity improvement techniques.

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The primary focus of this course will be to provide an understanding of the fundamentals of being a manager in a healthcare environment. As a manager, you will be responsible for creating and maintaining a work environment that promotes participation, empowerment, involvement, teamwork, flexibility, self-management, high performance, greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Managing both patient and employee needs will be demanding and required. Learning Competencies: • Describe the characteristics and components of today’s health care work environment. • Describe the typical levels of management and leadership models. • Apply systems thinking to organizational contexts to identify important factors that affect organizational performance. • Acquire and apply critical tools for group process and communication in order to further leadership in change management. • Display the application of leadership principles to healthcare problems and systems. • Contrasts between leadership and managerial work.

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The primary focus of this course will be to introduce legal issues healthcare leaders are likely to face in managing a health care organization. This course will focus on a range of legal and regulatory issues, including patients’ rights, institutional liability, and employee and labor relations. This course will provide practical knowledge to identify legal issues and to understand the legal ramifications of strategic decisions. Learning Competencies: • Understand the role of the legal system in health policy and health care delivery. • Demonstrate an understanding of how to recognize and think about legal issues given the law’s ambiguity. • Demonstrate an understanding of how laws affect the strategic environment of the healthcare organization. • Demonstrate an understanding of working with and negotiating with a bargaining unit.

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