Healthcare Management Degree

People Working in Healthcare Management Healthcare is a booming career field that is constantly changing. Healthcare providers provide care for patients, but they aren’t able to successfully complete their jobs without knowledgeable administrators running operations behind the scenes. With a healthcare management degree, you’ll be able to cultivate skills that are high in demand to combine your knowledge of healthcare, as well as business and finance, applying it to the healthcare industry.

McKendree University’s healthcare management curriculum is designed to provide you with everything you’ll need to successfully advance as a healthcare manager with courses in healthcare, business, human resources, communication, organization behavior, and more. This versatile degree will help you stand out as an attractive applicant and a highly-valued employee. In short, you will be prepared for a future in which you can make a difference within a meaningful healthcare career.

Why a Healthcare Management Degree?

Now more than ever, strong leaders are needed in the area of healthcare. If you want to achieve this dream, then this degree can help you attain that goal. A degree in healthcare management will provide you with the skills you’ll need to effectively lead in a variety of healthcare settings, including hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient care settings, and many more. Guided by faculty members who have real-world experience in an array of healthcare settings, you’ll gain experience in courses such as healthcare, business, human resources, communication, organizational behavior, and more.

This program complements well with and builds upon associate degrees in the following:

- - - Biology
    - Business
    - Computing
    - Health Information Technology
    - Laboratory Services
    - Medical Transcription
    - Occupational Therapy Assistant
    - Physical Therapy Assistant
    - Radiology
    - Respiratory Therapy

About the Healthcare Management Degree

With growing demand and strains on the healthcare system across the United States, career opportunities are plentiful in healthcare management and supervisory roles. McKendree University has designed a program that can fulfill the educational needs for skilled managers in healthcare.

Housed in the School of Business, the healthcare management degree provides students the opportunity to apply management skills and strategies to the healthcare industry. This degree prepares students for entry-level management/supervisory roles within diverse healthcare settings. Students will explore topics that include healthcare finance, legal, and human resource issues.

2024-25 Program Catalog

Why McKendree?

Earning your healthcare management degree at McKendree will set you apart in the healthcare field. You will learn from certified faculty who have current and extensive experience in healthcare backgrounds. Our faculty members are committed to your success, and the unique internship experiences and extracurricular activities that this program offers will expand your knowledge beyond the classroom. Our healthcare management program is comprised of classes that are offered in a blended format. All courses can be taken online, and some can also be taken in the classroom at our campus in Lebanon, Illinois.

The healthcare management degree at McKendree University is also incredibly adaptable. You can tailor it to your specific interests by choosing elective courses that are most beneficial to your future practice, including psychology, management, business, and more. Our qualified experts will guide you based on the area of practice you’re interested in to ensure that you get the most out of your degree and set you ahead of the competition.

In addition, McKendree University offers qualified applicants the opportunity to earn both a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in healthcare management degree and a Master of Health Administration (MHA) degree in five years with our HCM/MHA 4+1 option. You can gain your BA in up to four years and make a smooth transition as you enroll in graduate school full-time and complete your MHA degree in your fifth year.

Program Highlights

McKendree University’s healthcare management major provides students with a robust professional background in health and business topics. This program will prepare students for a managerial role in various healthcare facilities, including hospitals, urgent care centers, and long-term care facilities, along with providing students the skills necessary to pursue an advanced degree in healthcare management.

Healthcare management program highlights include:

- - - The opportunity to complete a practicum in a healthcare setting.
    - An interdisciplinary educational experience from highly-qualified and knowledgeable faculty.
    - Partnerships with local hospitals, healthcare organizations, and more.
    - The opportunity to participate in a business practicum on campus.
    - A unique 4+1 option that enables you to get your MHA in 5 years.

Employment Opportunities

Healthcare is certainly a growing field, and it will continue to grow. Students who earn a degree in healthcare management can find successful employment as strong and effective leaders in a variety of settings, including hospitals, clinics, outpatient surgery centers, nursing care facilities, rehabilitation centers, labs, government offices that serve the healthcare industry, and more.

Internship Opportunities and Partners

McKendree University and the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network (ICHAN) have established a partnership for promoting education for healthcare providers across the state of Illinois. ICAHN is comprised of a 57-member hospital network.

What Our Faculty Are Saying

"I am excited that McKendree University will offer the new healthcare management program. This program will prepare our future healthcare leaders utilizing an interdisciplinary approach. The healthcare management students will gain an extraordinary experience with the various disciplines including business, nursing, management, and communication!"

~ Richelle Rennegarbe, PhD, RN, CENP, CPPS, director of DNP Programs, Division of Nursing Chair, and professor of nursing

"As the new MHA Program Director, I am very excited about the new 4+1 program. I look forward to working with the healthcare management program students and potentially working with them in the MHA graduate program as well."

~ Kendra Taylor, assistant professor of nursing

Interesting Classes

As you pursue your degree in healthcare management, you will gain invaluable experience in our many offered classes, especially in the following:

- - - Explore healthcare informatics and technology integration in the healthcare system in Healthcare Organizations and Systems Approach.
    - Participate in a capstone experience, which will prepare you for challenges you’ll face in the professional world. This culminating experience covers all aspects of the healthcare management major, combining prior course knowledge with cases to prepare you to transition seamlessly to the workforce.
    - Gain valuable first-hand experience by completing a practicum, which takes place within a healthcare setting.
    - Learn the basic concepts and principles of health policy, healthcare economics, and healthcare delivery in the climate of managed care in our Health Policy and Economics course.