Healthcare Organization Operations Specialization

Have you ever needed health care and thought that there must be better ways to get or deliver health care? For example, have you found yourself thinking that there should be a way to get a diagnostic test or treatment at home? Or do you work in a healthcare organization and find yourself thinking that there must be better ways to deliver health care? If you have, this course is for you. Course content includes an overview of health care delivery including healthcare consumerism, the patient's perspective, health care delivery for sickness and treatment, as well as health care delivery for health and wellness. The course provides links to external sites to connect you to the larger "real world" of healthcare organizations and health care delivery. The links also serve as resources you can take with you after you complete the course experience. And because everyone loves a road trip/field trip, there are also "virtual field trips" to the often hidden places of interest on the web. The course format is readings, videos, quizzes, and a brief electronic PowerPoint presentation project (PowerPoint only - no oral presentation). The PowerPoint project requires you to synthesize course material to design a patient-centered health care delivery system the way you would have things run in the best of all worlds. The electronic PowerPoint presentation file is an artifact of the course which you can circulate to colleagues or use for a talk or presentation event.

Have you ever needed to resolve a billing or other issue with a healthcare organization and thought that there must be a better, more efficient, and more customer-friendly way to operate such a business process? For example, have you thought that there should be an easier way to read your bill or pay your bill? Or do you work in a healthcare organization and find yourself thinking that there must be better ways for the business processes to function? If you have, this course is for you.

Course content includes an overview of healthcare organization business processes including business process management approaches as well as a discussion of healthcare organization entrepreneurship as a business process. The course provides links to external sites to connect you to the larger "real world" of healthcare organization business processes, business process management, and entrepreneurship. The links also serve as resources you can take with you after you complete the course experience. And because everyone loves a road trip/field trip, there are also "virtual field trips" to the often hidden places of interest on the web. The course format is readings, videos, quizzes, and a project. The project requires you to synthesize course material to design patient-centered business processes for a healthcare organization the way you would have things run in the best of all worlds. The design (submitted as an electronic word processing document in memo format) is an artifact of the course which you can circulate to colleagues or use as the basis for a talk or presentation event.

Have you ever though that healthcare quality could be improved - either where you get health care treatment or where you delivery health care? Have you ever thought that there should be a way for you to determine the relative quality of your choices? Have you found yourself thinking that there should be a way for you to provide your view and input on the quality of healthcare organization? Or do you work in a healthcare organization and find yourself thinking that there must be better ways to continuously and systematically improve the quality of your healthcare organization? If you have, this course is for you.

Course content includes an overview of quality and quality improvement programs, measures, and data in healthcare organizations. The course provides links to external sites to connect you to the larger "real world" of healthcare organization quality and quality improvement. The links also serve as resources you can take with you after you complete the course experience. And because everyone loves a road trip/field trip, there are also "virtual field trips" to the often hidden places of interest on the web. The course format is readings, videos, quizzes, and a project. The project requires you to synthesize course material to design a quality improvement program for a healthcare organization the way you would have things run in the best of all worlds. The design (submitted as an electronic spreadsheet) is an artifact of the course which you can circulate to colleagues or use as the basis for talks or presentations.