The School of Public Health and Health Professions now offers an online option for its Health Services Administration MPH program that is designed to help working health care professionals grow their careers through remote health care administration training. The new online option provides the same multidisciplinary training in core public health and health care administration as the on-campus program.

“If you’re a professional who is already working full time but wants to boost your public health skills for career advancement with this area of specialized and in-demand knowledge, the online Health Services Administration MPH program is for you,” says Katia Noyes, professor of epidemiology and environmental health, and director of the MPH concentration in Health Services Administration. “Our online courses deliver the same content from the same faculty who teach the on-campus program,” she adds.

Students can fulfill additional requirements for the MPH program — field training, final project and an interprofessional immersion activity — where they live or work.

“In some cases, students can even earn credit for their current professional experience,” says Kim Krytus, assistant dean and director of graduate public health programs. Students can complete the program in four semesters of full-time study, up to eight semesters of part-time study or in three semesters in an accelerated schedule.

Graduates of the online Health Services Administration MPH program can work as program managers for health care systems and health insurance companies, develop and evaluate policies and interventions, and assure the effective­ness of programs and services targeted to different populations. The goal of professionals with these specialized skills and knowledge is to ensure that all patients have access to and benefit from high-quality clinical and public health services — all while adapting to the ever-changing health care industry.

Students take foundational MPH courses that address critical public health issues and explore the public policymaking process and its impacts on the population’s health. They also take concentration courses on the fundamental management principles of budgeting and accounting in health care organizations, and courses that focus on the relationship between financial management and organizational decision-making.