The graduate program in health administration prepares professionals to meet critical and complex challenges in leadership and improvement in organizations and systems throughout the health industry. The program provides recognized national and global leadership in health management education.
The program is competency-based and distinctively equips graduates for success through (a) providing solid grounding in professional and operational knowledge and skills, (b) integrating health informatics throughout the health services management curriculum, and (c) incorporating overarching complex systems context and analytical approaches.
The residential and executive master’s degrees launch and advance patient-centered, improvement-oriented, financially-responsible, and ethically-grounded careers in evidence-based health services management.
The program admits diverse cohorts of students from Missouri, other states, and other nations. Through the admissions process, the program looks for learners with strong academic records, maturity, motivation, leadership capabilities, and career potential. Primary post-graduation placement organizations include health systems, hospitals, academic medical centers, physician group practices, surgery centers, information technology companies, consulting firms, government agencies, insurance entities, and other points of health services delivery.
Whereas the residential master’s degree format is a traditional on-campus residential program, the executive master’s degree is offered in a hybrid model featuring both on-campus and distance learning. In both formats, emphasis is on fostering an individualized and collaborative culture of learning, mentoring, and professional development among students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other practitioners in order to prepare and enable transformational leadership in improving patient care quality, safety, value, and overall level of population health.
Implemented in 1965, the program is a member of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) and has been accredited since 1968 by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME), formerly Accrediting Commission on Education for Health Services Administration (ACEHSA).
Click here to request more information from Health Management and Informatics.
Degrees Offered
Master's
On Campus Requires Campus Visits
Admission Criteria
- Residential (on-campus) program applicants (who start each August) should submit their applications prior to March 1 to receive priority consideration for Fall admission. All applications received after March 1 will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
- Executive (online) program applicants (who start each January) are admitted for the Spring semester on a rolling basis.
- A minimum of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution
- Undergraduate GPA: 3.0 during the last 60 hours of undergraduate course work and any subsequent graduate course work
- The Health Services Management Program recruits and accepts qualified applicants regardless of race, sex, age, physical ability or national origin.
Minimum Language Requirements
Click here to view the minimum English language proficiency test scores
Required Application Materials
For the Graduate School
- Completed Graduate School online application
- Unofficial Transcripts- As part of the application submission process, all applicants are required to upload unofficial copies of all post-secondary transcripts to the online application. Official transcripts are only required if accepted by the academic program.
- Official Results of English Proficiency Exams (International applicants only)
For the Health Management and Informatics Program
- 3 letters of recommendation
- Current resume or curriculum vitae
- Personal essay
- Official transcripts
- Official Results of English Proficiency Exams (International applicants only)
Joint Degrees
The residential MHA can be jointly pursued with the following degree programs: MS in Health Informatics and Bioinformatics, MBA, MPA, MS in Industrial Engineering, and JD in Law.
Graduate Certificate
100% Online On Campus
Officially approved as:
Stand Alone: Yes
Total Credit Hours: 12
Certificate description:
The Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Project Management educates healthcare providers and workers in healthcare-specific project management. The certificate provides the cross-professional training needed to enable health and health workers of all levels of medical/health qualification to better manage projects needed to improve care quality and decrease healthcare costs. Beginning with supported Electronic Health Record (EHR) adoption and Meaningful Use and proceeding to value-based reimbursement, the healthcare industry has become increasingly focused on projectized, operational improvements. This focus has exacerbated the need for formally trained project managers, projected to grow as much as 79% over the next eight years. Students in the certificate program will gain a basic knowledge of issues in healthcare project management and competence with skills, techniques, and tools used for effective, safe, complaint, healthcare project management.
Certificate web site:
https://medicine.missouri.edu/departments/health-management-and-informatics/graduate-degrees-programs/graduate-certificate-in-health-care-project-management
Admission Criteria
Application Deadlines
- Summer semester: May 1
- Fall semester: July 31
- Spring semester: December 15
Required Application Materials
For the Graduate School
- Completed Graduate School online application
- Unofficial Transcripts- As part of the application submission process, all applicants are required to upload unofficial copies of all post-secondary transcripts to the online application. Official transcripts are only required if accepted by the academic program.
- Official Results of English Proficiency Exams (International applicants only)
For the Healthcare Project Management Program
- Statement of purpose
- Resume or CV
- Letter of support for UM system benefit eligible applicants
100% Online On Campus
Officially approved as:
Stand Alone: Yes
Total Credit Hours: 12
Certificate description: The certificate program is ideal for working professionals such as physicians, nurses, healthcare administrators, those serving on hospital ethics committees or considering such health ethics issues in their daily employment, and students in the health professions. The certificate program will help the learner develop an understanding of the ethical issues related to health and healthcare and will foster skill in analyzing and resolving ethical problems and conflicts in the healthcare environment.
Certificate web site:
https://medicine.missouri.edu/departments/health-management-and-informatics/graduate-degrees-programs/graduate-certificate-in-health-ethics
Required Application Materials
For the Graduate School
- Completed Graduate School online application
- Unofficial Transcripts- As part of the application submission process, all applicants are required to upload unofficial copies of all post-secondary transcripts to the online application. Official transcripts are only required if accepted by the academic program.
- Official Results of English Proficiency Exams (International applicants only)
For the Health Ethics Program
- Statement of purpose
- Resume or CV