Graduate Health Systems Management Degree
Concentration in Health Care Security and Privacy

Point of Contact
PJ Maddox
Coordinator
Phone: 703-993-1982
Email: pmaddox@gmu.edu

39 credit hours comprise the Health Systems Management with a concentration in Health Care Security and Privacy Degree. 24 credits form the common core of the degree and another 15 form the major.

Students applying to the Concentration in Health Care Privacy & Security must adherer to the admission requirements of the Department of Health Administration and Policy in the College of Health and Human Services and complete the application to the University. Two letters of recommendations are needed. Knowledge of health care system and design of databases is not required but students without this knowledge are required to take additional courses. Application is made through the College of Health and Human Service.

Note: If students have not had recent, relevant experience in the US Health System/Industry, an additional 3 credit course is required: HAP 678: The US Health System, thus bringing the number of credits required to 42.

Program of Study

• Required Core Courses (24-27)
  • HAP 678* (3:3:0)
    Introduction to US Health Systems*
    Course is required, as a prerequisite to all other certificate courses, for students who do not have familiarity with all aspects (financing, providers, care systems) of the U.S. health care system and recent working experience. Explores the structure, function, and financing of the health care delivery systems in the U.S. Designed to familiarize students with the development of the various sub-systems of care and the ways in which public, private, and social forces influence the politics of healthcare, shape the system, and impact public health. Includes analysis of systems infrastructure and the socio-political context of the U.S. health care system. Course Website.
    *If students have not had recent, relevant experience in the US Health System/Industry, an additional 3 credit course is required: HAP 678: Introduction to the US Health System (thus bringing the number of credits required to 42).
  • HAP 586 (3:3:0)
    Operations/Quality Management of Health Services
    Examines the operations and quality management functions of a health care/service organization from a strategic viewpoint. Explores the contributions of operations research and quality management to improve delivery and production of health services and business processes from the perspective of the health care manager. Explores contemporary performance measures (quality and productivity) useful for improving process performance and selected decision support system methods from operations management. Course website.
  • HAP 621 (3)
    Management of Health Service Organizations
    An introductory course in the application of organizational and management theory, relating to the management of health service organizations. Emphasis is placed on leadership and trends in organizational structure that affect performance effectiveness, quality and inter-organizational relations, and the values and principles of health management as a profession.
  • HAP 501 (3:3:0)
    Introduction to Biostatistics
    Applies selected biostatistics techniques to public health and health system management issues. Includes univariate, bivariate statistics and regression analysis.
  • HHS 750 (3:3:0)
    Legal Issues Relevant to Health Care Administration
    Provides students with a general understanding of the United States legal system and sources of law, with a particular emphasis on laws that govern or are applicable to the health care industry and general administration. Students examine the changing health care models and delivery systems and the laws affecting such systems.
  • HAP 512 (3:3:0)
    Health Services Research
    Prerequisite: HAP 501. Students learn the role of health services research in policy and in evidence-based management and clinical practice. Students learn to formulate a problem, to conduct online searches of published literature to describe the state of knowledge in the field, to conceptualize the research project, to conduct analysis of secondary data, to design an experiment, and to conduct evaluation research. Students learn to organize presentation of research and methods of feedback. Courses include analysis of secondary data.
  • HAP 715 (3:3:0)
    Health Economics
    Emphasizes health care managers an understanding of economic efficiency in the U.S. health system. Microeconomic methods are used to examine markets and resources in health care. Health care is examined as a commodity, and the demand for health and medical care services, provider behavior, and the function and behavior of insurance markets is explored. Selected topics include: government role, financing arrangements, insurance reform, rationing, price regulation, and provider competition.
  • HAP 740 (3:3:0)
    Management of Health Information Systems
    Introduces health and medical information systems with emphasis on systems analysis and design to support managerial and clinical communications and decision making. Explores trends and innovations in information technology and systems, focusing on the managerial oversight of health and medical information systems. Explores contemporary management strategies for information systems personnel. Course Website.
  • HAP 790 (3:2:6)
    Practicum
    The Practicum consists of 20 hours and is taken in the last semester of study as a Capstone Course. Practicum Website.
    All coursework in the major must be completed. Arrangements must be made with the instructor a semester in advance. Permission of instructor required.
• Health Care Security and Privacy Concentration (15)
  • HAP 610
    Maintaining Business Continuity for Health Care
    
  • HAP 735
    Risk Analysis in Health and Biosciences
    
  • INFS 565
    Database and Distributed Systems Security Principles
    (3:3:0) Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Introduces information and distributed system security fundamentals. Topics include notions of security, threats and attacks; legal-ethical issues; security evaluation; data models, concepts, and mechanisms for database and distributed system security; inference in statistical databases; basic issues in operating system, application and network security.
    
  • HAP 745
    Health Care Security Policy
    
  • HAP 746
    Advanced Seminar on Security
• Total = 39-42 Credits

Explanation of Credit Hours
Course titles are followed by numbers in parentheses (0:0:0), separated by colons. The numbers have the following significance:

• First Number: credits for the course
• Second Number: hours of lecture or seminar per week for the course
• Third Number: hours of laboratory for the course

For independent study, readings, topics, or similar courses, individual instructors set hours.