NEWS

Health Care Employment Continues Growing Faster Than Other Sectors
Kaiser Health News Article
by Jay Hancock

In-State

Out-of State

Tuition

$277.08

$277.08

Non-Resident Fee

$37.74

Building Fee

$2.32

$2.32

Capital Improvement Fee

$2.44

$2.44

Financial Aid Fee

$13.85

$13.85

Non-Resident Financial Aid Fee

N/A

$37.74

Activity & Services Fee

$10.79

$10.79

Transportation Access Fee

N/A

N/A

Health Fee

N/A

N/A

Athletic Fee

$13.10

$13.10

Differential Tuition

N/A

N/A

Technology Fee

$13.85

$13.85

Distance Learning Fee

$18.00

$18.00

e-MSHSA Program Fee

$467.07

$467.07

Total Tuition & Fees per credit hour

$818.50

$893.98

Dr. Kendall Cortelyou-Ward is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Management and Informatics at the University of Central Florida.  Dr. Cortelyou-Ward also serves as the Program Director for the Health Care Informatics masters degree program.  She earned her PhD in Public Affairs from the University of Central Florida where her dissertation research centered around work environment and occupational commitment of bedside registered nurses.  Her current research interests include health care informatics and workforce issues.  Dr. Cortelyou-Ward also serves as the Workforce Director for the UCF Regional Extension Center. 

Dr. Fottler is Executive Director of Health Services Administration Programs in the College of Health and Public Affairs where he teaches courses in Human Resources Management, Service Management, Professional Skills Development, and Theories in Healthcare Management. He was previously Professor and Director of the Ph.D. Program in Administration-Health Services with a joint appointment in both School of Health Related Professions and the School of Business at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (U.A.B.). He completed his M.B.A. at Boston University and his PhD in Business at Columbia.

His research interests include all aspects of human resources management; stakeholder management, strategic management, integrated delivery systems, medical tourism, and health care report cards. He has won awards from the American College of Healthcare Executives, American Association of Medical Administrators, and the Healthcare Management Division of the Academy of Management for his research on these topics. Previously he was the Chair of the Doctoral Education Faculty Forum for the Association of University Programs in Health Administration. He is currently a Fellow in the Southern Management Association. Over the past decade he has served as an accreditation site visitor for the Accreditation Commission for Education in Health Services Administration (ACHESA).

Aaron Liberman currently serves as a Professor of Health Services Administration at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.  He recently completed a four year term as the Interim Chairman of the Department of Health Management & Informatics, his second tour in this position.  Dr. Liberman is a trained hospital administrator and worked actively in the field for more than twenty years managing several hospitals and health services organizations. He also has owned and served as the CEO of a consulting firm for a period of ten years having sold the business in 1993.  Dr. Liberman has earned State of Florida Licensure and Certification as a Healthcare Risk Manager.

As a researcher, Dr. Liberman has published ninety scholarly manuscripts in refereed national and international journals, five monographs, and three books.  He has recently completed a fourth book entitled Raising a Parent—What About Tomorrow?  Dr. Liberman currently serves as a member of the editorial review board of two national journals.  He is a Charter Faculty Fellow of UCF’s Academy of Teaching Learning & Leadership. 

Dr. Liberman served as the author and Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator for three funded grants--one a five year Federal Community Mental Health Centers Matching Grant in the amount of $3.75 million from the National Institute of Mental Health awarded in 1969. The second grant was a $100,000 award from the Pew Memorial Trust that was received in 1982.  During the 2006-07 academic year, a third award was received in the amount of $167,626 to study a simulation of emergency department preparedness to deal with acts of bioterrorism.  Since coming to UCF in 1996, Dr. Liberman has also served as a Principal Investigator for five funded research contracts, one completed for the Florida Board of Medicine and the others for the Florida Hospital System, the Adventist Health System of Florida, Orlando Health, and Halifax Health System of Volusia and Flagler County. 

Dr. Liberman's primary areas of consultation and research include organizational leadership, finance, managed care, management of errant employee behavior, and risk and insurance management. He is a frequent speaker on the subject of Healthcare Reform.  During his professional career he has served as a consultant to more than 100 health, human services, defense, and manufacturing organizations.

Dr. Liberman has served a term as a governing board member, Treasurer, and Chairman of the Health Council of East Central Florida and has worked in a volunteer capacity with a number of other community organizations.  He previously served as a member of the governing board of the Kinneret Council on Aging.  He also served on the Governing Board of the Orlando Foot and Ankle Clinic and the Advisory Board of MediVest, Inc.

Dr. Liberman’s current University responsibilities include serving as a member of the UCF Student Conduct Board.  He has served as Chairman of the University’s Graduate Council, as a Faculty Senator, and as Interim Director of UCF’s Judaic Studies Program.

Dr. Liberman has earned four academic degrees: a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from Baylor University in 1965; a Master of Science Degree in Educational Psychology in 1966 from Indiana University; a Master of Arts Degree in 1968 in Hospital and Health Administration from The University of Iowa; and a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Hospital and Health Administration from Iowa in 1974.

Dr. Liberman and his wife Joan S. Liberman, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Psychotherapist in private practice, are the parents of two grown children and three grandchildren. They reside in Orlando, Florida.

Donna Malvey is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Management and Informatics at the University of Central Florida.  She received her Master’s Degree in Health Services Administration from the George Washington University and completed an administrative residency and postgraduate fellowship in health systems at the VA Medical Center in Washington, D. C.  She earned her Ph.D. in Administration-Health Services at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where she received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award in Health Services Administration.  

Dr. Malvey has received a national research award from Sodexho Marriott for her dissertation research on medical group practices. She has also conducted a study on managing patient flow in local public health departments, which was underwritten by a grant from IBM.

Dr. Malvey is a nationally known speaker with audiences ranging from practitioner organizations such as Medical Group Management Association to prestigious academic settings such as Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel-Deaconess Hospital. She has been interviewed in the press and on television about health care issues, ranging from physician unions to the retail revolution in health care. 

Dr. Malvey has published extensively in the health care field. She is the co-author of an extremely timely and important book, The Retail Revolution in Health Care, published by Praeger Publishers 2010. This book received a Choice Review from the American Library Association and was recommendation for adoption by public and university libraries. This book examines the silent revolution in health care delivery that is being driven by the private sector.  

Dr. Malvey has served on the editorial advisory board of Health Care Management Review. This journal is one of the top-ranked journals in the field and combines academic theory with practical application. It is relevant to both academic and practitioner audiences.

Dr. Malvey was appointed and subsequently reappointed by the Governor of Florida to the Florida Cancer Control and Research Advisory Board.

Dr. Maysoun Dimachkie Masri is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Management and Informatics (HMI). She joined UCF in the Fall of 2010. She received her Doctorate of Science at Tulane University in Health Systems Management. In her dissertation titled “The Physician Workforce in Louisiana: Implications for Quality & Outcomes of Care” she analyzed disparities in statewide Louisiana’s health system performance, measured by mortality amenable to healthcare (MAHC).

Previously, she worked as consultant for a preferred provider organization (PPO) on a number of projects including the evaluation of a workers’ compensation network and the creation of a Medicare Set Aside product. Dr. Masri has great interest in the various healthcare financing mechanisms including the different consumer driven approaches, managed care and single payer systems. In her paper Consumer Directed Healthcare: Are MSAs and HSAs Viable Options for Funding America’s Healthcare? She explored several types of consumer directed healthcare plans and their impact on medical expenditures. She also served as the director of a community not-for -profit hospital.

She hopes to carry her interests and her work experiences both at the hospital setting and in the insurance environment into her classroom. Her teaching interests include finance, financial decision making and management, economics, and managed care. Her research interests include the evolution of Accountable Healthcare Organizations (ACOs) as a new healthcare financing mechanism, the growth in retail clinics and contract research organizations, in addition to physician supply/demand and needs.
She has always been interested in community work, partnership and volunteering opportunities. She is currently the president of the Seminole County Medical Alliance and she serves on the Seminole County Medical Society executive committee. Dr. Masri is the advisor for the Upsilon Phi Delta Honor Society.

Dr. Reid Oetjen is an Associate Professor and serves as the Director of the Graduate Program in Health Services Administration (HSA) and for the Executive in Health Services Administration (e-MSHSA) Program at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Oetjen teaches courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in Department of Health Management and Informatics. Dr. Oetjen focuses his teaching on long-term care administration, healthcare quality management, human resources management, leadership, and the aging of the population.

Dr. Oetjen has numerous peer-reviewed publications and regularly presents his research at academic and practitioner conferences. His research foci are on the long-term care quality, developing tools for healthcare practitioners, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Dr. Oetjen is co-editor of a new text in long-term care entitled, Dimensions of Long-Term Care Management: An Introduction.  In addition to his academic experience, Dr. Oetjen served as an Assistant Administrator for a national Skilled Nursing Facility chain and spent 10 years as an operations manager for a major international airline.

Dr. Oetjen is committed to providing service to individuals, local communities, and diverse populations.  Dr. Oetjen’s current University responsibilities include serving as the Faculty Senate Secretary and as the current Chair of the University Information Technology Resource Advisory Committee.  In addition, Dr. Oetjen is the National Chair of the Upsilon Phi Delta Honor Society, the national honor society for students in healthcare administration.

Mr. Lawrence J. Walters is an instructor in the Health Information and Management Program at the University of Central Florida.  He teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in Organizational Management, Health Finance, Health Economics, and Leadership. He earned a B.S. in Business Administration and Price Theory Economics from the University of North Carolina (cum laude) and a Masters in Health Administration with concentration in Finance from Duke University.  He also earned a certificate in Federal Healthcare Management from the Interagency Institute for Federal Healthcare Improvement at George Washington University.   

Mr. Walters has been a practicing healthcare manager and executive for the past 35 years. In 2005, he retired as a Captain from the United States Navy Medical Service Corps, having served in a wide spectrum of hospital, medical center, and corporate roles over his 30 year federal career, including CEO, COO, CFO and CIO positions.   Captain Walters was the Chief Operating Officer of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Naval Medical Information Management Center, Washington, DC, and the Naval Healthcare Support Command, Jacksonville, FL, where he had overall clinical, financial and managerial responsibiltiy for over 75 Navy medical and dental facilities in the southeast United States, Caribbean and Europe. 

Mr. Walters is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and has served as a Regent of the college, on numerous local and national boards and committees and was a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Healthcare Management from 2006 – 2009.  Additionally, he is a member of Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS), and the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS). He has also been a lecturer, Adjunct Faculty member, or Graduate Preceptor at Florida Atlantic University, University of North Florida, University of Florida, Baylor University, San Antonio, TX, The Naval Post Graduate School, The George Washington University, Marymount University (Arlington VA), Golden Gate University, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Durham County Community College, Durham, NC.

Dr. Larry West received a B.A. in Economics from the University of California at Davis, an MBA from the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D. in Information Systems and Industrial Organization Economics from Texas A&M University. He has published multiple papers on the economics of information and information systems, geographic information systems as a decision support technology, and the international labor market for skilled professionals. His teaching interests are database management systems and the development of custom web and Windows-based applications. Following graduation from UC Davis Dr. West served for ten years as a Regular Army Infantry Officer and Comptroller and eighteen years in the US Army Reserve, mostly in the Civil Affairs Corps. He is a veteran of the first deployment of US forces to Iraq where he earned the Bronze Star and the Iraq Campaign Medal with two campaign stars. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Airborne and Ranger schools. Dr. West enjoys poker and plays it badly.

Thomas T.H. Wan is Professor of Public Affairs, Health Management & Informatics, and Medicine at the College of Health and Public Affairs, UCF. He serves as an associate dean for research at the College of Health and Public Affairs. Before joining UCF, he was Professor of the Department of Health Administration, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University. He held the Arthur Graham Glasgow Chair (1991-1999) at VCU. Professor Wan received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Tunghai University, Taiwan; a Master of Arts and a doctorate in Sociology/Demography from the University of Georgia; and a Master of Health Sciences from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.

Dr. Wan's research interests are centered in managerial epidemiology, health services evaluation, health informatics, and clinical outcome studies. His published work includes 13 books and 150+ scientific articles. He is a principal investigator for several federally funded projects, including "Nurse Staffing & Nursing Home Quality," "National Children's Study-Orange County," "Improving Rural Health Clinics' Performance," and "Impact of Health Reform on the Participation of Rural Health Clinics in Accountable Care Organization". He is a guest editor on Health and Public Affairs Informatics Research for the International Journal of Public Policy, where he serves on the editorial board. He has been engaged in global health research and training in countries such as China, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan, Korea, Czech Republic, South Africa and Taiwan.

Ning Jackie Zhang is an Associate Professor of the Doctoral Program of Public Affairs and Department of Health Management and Informatics, College of Health and Public Affairs, University of Central Florida (UCF). He is also the Graduate Coordinator of the program and Director of Health Informatics Lab at UCF. He obtained his doctoral degree from Department of Health Administration, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.

Dr. Zhang's research interests are centered in clinical outcomes research, long-term care research, emergency medical services and health informatics. He is currently a Co-PI with the NIH/NINR grant entitled "Nurse Staffing and Nursing Home Quality" and Hartford grant entitled "Nursing Home Psychosocial Care for Older Adults with a History of Mental Health Treatment". He is also fellows of Gerontological Society of America and Grantmakers In Aging. He has been consultants for federal and state governments as well as private industries.

Q: How many credit hours are required for completion of the program?
A: The Master of Science in Health Sciences- Health Service Administration Track will be awarded upon completion of appropriate prerequisite course work and 44 credits of prescribed graduate study. The curriculum provides a course of study that includes

• analysis of issues and trends in health care
• study of the structure and leadership of health-care organizations
• strategic planning, financial management and organizational strategies for change
• research methods and statistics
• information systems for solving problems in the health-care industry

Q: How long does it take to complete the program?
A: The program is designed to be able to be completed in 24 months (this requires enrolling in every semester: fall, spring and summer).

Q: Who should apply for this program?
A: Our ideal candidates for this program are working healthcare professionals with a minimum of three years of relevant professional experience in addition to meeting the academic requirements detailed in the UCF Catalog.

Q: How do I apply for the program?
A: The application is available online at www.graduate.ucf.edu, click the link "Apply Online". Be sure to submit official transcripts and any other required documents by the application deadline.

Q: What are the admission requirements?
A: Admission requirements for the health services administration program include a bachelor's degree with a copy of your official transcript. Preference will be given to working healthcare professionals with a minimum of three years of relevant professional experience. A resume and a goal statement are also required. Admission to the program is competitive, based on evaluation of the applicant's abilities, past academic performance, work experience, and the match of the program with career goals. The Health Services Administration track accepts the most qualified students. Not all students who apply may be accepted, even if minimum requirements are met.

Q: Where do I send my application materials?
A: UCF Graduate Studies; Millican Hall 230; Orlando, FL 32816-0112

Q: Is there an application fee?
A: Yes. The application fee is $30.00 and must be paid before your application can be processed.

Q: What is the cost per credit hour?
A: For student classified as Florida residents, the cost per credit hour is $818.50 per credit hour ($3,274 per 4 hour class). Out of state costs are $893.98 per credit hour ($3,575.92 per 4 hour class). *Fees are subject to change.

Q: How do I register for courses?
A: Once you have been admitted to the program and you have processed your acceptance through Graduate Studies, you will then be able to register for courses via the MyUCF Portal.

Q: How can I use this degree?
A: Health services administration involves managing the integration of all aspects of health-care to provide services. HSA graduates are concerned with the business aspect of the health industry: human resources, accounting, marketing and sales, planning, information systems, and facility management.

Health services administrators are often responsible for million-dollar budgets of facilities and equipment as well as hundreds of employees. The complexity of the job, the challenge of leading and motivating, and the delivery of efficient and effective high-quality health care combine to make health services administration a rewarding and demanding career.

Health services administrators advance by completing graduate study and moving into more responsible and higher paying positions, such as assistant or associate administrator, and in larger facilities, as the CEO.

Health care is the fastest growing industry in the country and the second largest industry in the state of Florida. The industry is growing so fast in Florida, due to the demographics of the population, that there should be a variety of career opportunities in health services administration for the foreseeable future.

Q: Where can I expect to become employed after earning this degree?
A: Career opportunities in health services administration encompass much more than hospital care. Health services administrators are often employed by other types of health-care facilities and organizations, including

• ambulatory surgical centers
• assisted-living facilities
• birthing centers
• free-standing clinics
• home health-care agencies
• managed-care organizations
• nursing homes
• physician practices
• public-health centers
• retirement centers

They may also be employed by organizations that do business with health-care facilities, including

• computer software firms
• durable medical equipment companies
• insurance companies
• pharmaceutical companies
• research and development firms

Medical group practices and HMO's are expected to grow larger and more complex, and the need for professionals to manage those organizations also creates jobs for health services administrators.

Q: How do I get the degree?
A: After you have been registered for your final semester, you must submit an intent to graduate form. Upon completion of your final semester, the graduate office will certify that you have met all requirements of the degree program. Your degree will then be mailed to you.

Q: How do I get books and supplies?
A: You may order your books online from the UCF Bookstore.

Q: Is there an instructor involved or is everything automated?
A: The program will be offered through an online, distance- learning format to offer access and convenience to working professionals. Each course is led by an instructor. There are discussion boards as well as course mail to interact with the instructor as well as fellow classmates.

Q: What computer requirements are required for this program?
A: Click here for technical information.

Q: Is there any requirement for me to visit the campus?
A: No, the program is offered entirely online. The Program has advanced video technology capability to communicate with students obviating the need to visit campus.

Q: If I withdraw from the program, can I be readmitted?
A: If you do not enroll for two or more consecutive semesters, you will have to reapply for admission. Readmission is not guaranteed and the tuition and fees are subject to change from your initial enrollment.

Q: How am I graded?
A: Please refer to the Grade System that is published in the Graduate Catalog.

Q: Are there any requirements to remain in the program?
A: Students must achieve a grade of "B" (3.0) or better in every core course.

Q: How many students will be accepted into the program?
A: We plan to start the program in Fall 2011 with a group of 30 students.

Q: What does the "Cohort model" mean for the program?
A: The e-MSHSA Program uses a cohort model with no more than 30 Students admitted each Fall. This group of students progresses through the program of study together. The advantages of a cohort model include:

• Increased sense of community
• Enhanced opportunities for networking
• Allows professors to cover advanced topics in more depth