Rockhurst University | Learning, Leadership and Service in the Jesuit Tradition

Rockhurst University offers two MBA options that focus on Healthcare Leadership:

Helzberg MBA with Focus in Healthcare Leadership

An evening MBA with a concentration in Healthcare Leadership for students who work in hospitals, managed care companies, pharmaceutical companies and other health care industries

DO/MBA Dual Degree

The MBA in Healthcare Leadership is the featured component of the DO/MBA Dual Degree offered jointly between Rockhurst and the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences (formerly University of Health Sciences).

The MBA in Healthcare Leadership complements students' medical education by developing physician-managers of competence and conscience with the business and leadership skills necessary to provide quality, holistic healthcare.

Curriculum Overview

• Within the DO/MBA Dual Degree, the Rockhurst MBA in Health Care Leadership is concentrated in the two summer semesters between the first and third years and the fall semester of the third year.
• It features 39 credit hours of in-residence coursework, 6 credit hours of blended in-class and online coursework during the second and third years of medical studies, and 6 hours of web-based distance learning courses taken during the D.O. degree clinical rotations in the final year.
• DO/MBA Dual Degree students have the option of taking one or two Clinical Clerkship electives during their third in-resident MBA semester.
• Courses become more integrated as the MBA in Health Care Leadership progresses.
• All courses make extensive use of health care examples, exercises, case studies and site visits.
• Guest lecturers and visiting professors enhance relevance, maintain currency and establish credibility with students.
• The HCL MBA features online access to course, lesson and research materials via the Web-CT environment.

But why an MBA?

Increasing numbers of physicians are concluding that business and business management skills enhance their ability to provide quality, holistic healthcare. Doctors and healthcare organizations face challenges in today’s rapidly changing managed care environment that did not exist even ten years ago. For a variety of reasons, patient behavior is changing as physician prerogatives decrease, costs increase, profit margins decline, and available resources shrink. Sound business practices and effective business management are becoming essential in the fight to provide the highest quality patient care while maintaining financially viable practices, physicians’ groups or health care organizations.

Rockhurst University’s Master in Business Administration in Healthcare Leadership is offered to address these needs. The Rockhurst MBA in Healthcare Leadership is designed to complement students’ D.O. medical education by helping develop physician-managers of competence and conscience with the business leadership skills necessary to provide quality holistic care in a dynamic health care environment.