Health Care Management
Please note: Before scheduling classes, check with the department to
determine the availability of courses for the upcoming semester or
visit the Health Care Management website.
The Health Care Management major builds on the established strength of the management core to provide expertise in the unique elements and issues of the health care industry. The manager’s role in health care organizations continues to grow in importance, as the rapidly changing health care industry becomes the nation’s second largest employer. A Wharton health care major is unusually well-qualified to respond to the many critical problems now faced by hospitals, government agencies, group practices, pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, insurance and managed care organizations, and consulting firms.
Health Care majors draw on a rich variety of elective courses across the university, including courses in the behavioral and applied social sciences, biomedical sciences, and social policy. They also benefit from an interdisciplinary faculty based in the business, medical, and nursing schools, together with adjunct faculty from area health and science organizations. The program is closely associated with the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (LDI), founded in 1967 to facilitate the university’s activities and programs of research and education in health services financing and delivery. LDI provides a geographic center and supporting staff, with faculty drawn from schools and departments throughout the university.
The Health Care Management major differs from others atWharton in that: (1) students must choose the major at the time of application toWharton, and (2) it integrates academic and professional development, helping students to obtain summer and permanent positions in all parts of the health care sector, including consulting firms, biotechnology, pharmaceutical firms, hospitals, insurers, and government agencies. The department also sponsors a mentor program and links students to the Wharton Health Care Alumni Association.
Most students in health care-related dual degree programs complete the Health Care Management major. The MD/MBA, MB/MBA, and MSN/MBA are the most common dual degree programs, among several other options.
Requirements for the Major
The major requires five credit units. Courses taken on a pass/fail basis cannot be counted toward the Health Care Management Major.
a) Two required courses (2 cu):
HCMG 841 The Health Services System
HCMG 653 Health Care Field Application Project
b) Three full credit units selected from the following:
HCMG 845 Managed Care and the Industrial Organization of Health Care
HCMG 849 Financial Management of Health Institutions
HCMG 852 Health Care Services Delivery: A Managerial Economic Approach
HCMG 854 Legal Aspects of Health Care
HCMG 855 Management of Health Care for the
Elderly (.5-1 cu)
HCMG 858 Health Care Marketing (.5 cu)
HCMG 859 Comparative Health Care Systems
HCMG 863 Management & Economics of Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, & Medical Device Industries
HCMG 866 E-Health: Business Models and Impact
HCMG 867 Health Care Entrepreneurship (.5 cu)
HCMG 868 Private Sector Development in Global Health Development (.5 cu)
HCMG 890-001 Advanced Study Project Seminar: Management of Health Service Businesses (.5 cu)
HCMG 890-002 Advanced Study Project Seminar: Medical Devices (.5 cu)
HCMG 899 Independent Study
MBA Advisor: June Kinney (telephone: 215.898.6861; email: kinneyj@wharton.upenn.edu)
HCMG 653
Health Care Field Application Project
(Required for Heath Care Management Majors)
Description: This course focuses on leadership and management issues in health care organizations while providing students with a practice setting to examine and develop their own management skills. Each team acts as consultants to a health care organization firm which has submitted a project proposal to the course. The teams define the issue and negotiate a contract with the client organization. By the end of the semester, teams present assessments and recommendations for action to their clients and reflect on their experience in team meetings with faculty.
Format: Seminar and workshop, a written and oral presentation of the team management study and an individual paper.
Prerequisites: HCMG 841. Health Care Management MBA students only.
HCMG 841
The Health Services System
(Required for Heath Care Management Majors)
Description: This course provides an overview of the evolution, structure and current issues in the health care system. It examines the unique features of health care as a product, and the changing relationships between patients, physicians, hospitals, insurers, employers, communities, and government. The course examines three broad segments of the health care industry: payors, providers, and suppliers. Within the payor segment, the course examines the sources and destinations of spending, managed care (HMOs, PPOs), employer based health insurance, technology assessment, payor strategy, and efforts to pay for the elderly, the poor, and the medically indigent.Within the provider segment, the course examines the impact of cost containment and competition on hospitals and integrated delivery systems, long term care and disease management, and the important role of epidemiology in assessing population health needs and risks. Within the supplier segment, the course will examine developments in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical devices, genomics and IT industries.
Note: This is a required course for Wharton Graduate Health Care Management majors; it counts as an elective course for all other Wharton graduate students. It is also open to Law School and Nursing School students with a joint Wharton program.
Format: Lectures and cases. Weekly reading assignments.
Prerequisites: HCMG 603, offered during the Wharton Pre-term program, serves as important background material for this course. The instructor presumes you know this material when the regular course begins.
HCMG 845
Managed Care and the Industrial Organization of Health Care
Description: This course, co-taught with Brad Fleugel of Wellpoint, Inc., will focus on two interrelated topics: managed care and market structure. The section on managed care will cover strategic planning and marketing of managed care services, operational issues in developing a managed care network, actuarial issues, and the management of physician behavior. The section on health care market structure will analyze strategies of vertical integration and horizontal integration (M&As), and their attempt to alter the balance of power in local healthcare markets. The section will also analyze the operational issues in managing cost and quality in an integrated system, integration along the supply chain, and the performance of these systems.
Format: Lectures, cases, exam, and orally presented term project.
HCMG 849
Financial Management of Health Institutions
Description: This course focuses on the application of financial analysis to financial and operating decisions in the health care industry. Valuation methods covered include: net present value of free cash flows, decision tree analysis, real options, and multiples. The cases allow students to apply these skills to examine the following types of decisions/situations: estimate the value of a drug that is being developed using both traditional NPV and option pricing; evaluate an R&D limited partnership as an alternative to traditional methods of financing biotech R&D; estimate the value of a pharmaceutical company using publicly available data; identify the best way for a new medical device company to price its products and raise funds; determine why a Medicare HMO is losing money, recommend whether the plan should remain in the market, and recommend changes in benefit design and reimbursement methods if the plan decides to remain in the market; analyze a health system’s profitability by product line and discuss the implications for pure play or carve-out companies.
Format: Lecture, cases, midterm, final and cases.
Prerequisites: FNCE 601 or permission of instructor.
HCMG 852
Health Care Services Delivery: A Managerial Economic Approach
Description: This course is designed to equip students with tools to understand and analyze problems in the rapidly changing health care delivery environment. It focuses on organizational and strategic issues in the delivery of health care in the hospital context. The course is divided into eight topic areas: 1) shortages, substitutability and efficiency in hospitals’ production, 2) the role of nonprofit health care providers, 3) the economics of hospitals and physicians’ specialization, 4) inpatient vs. outpatient care delivery, 5) antitrust laws, regulation and its effect on hospital competition, 6) marketing health services, 7) defining and improving medical performance, and 8) evidence based medicine and the diffusion of technologies. The course will also feature a number of guest speakers.
HCMG 854/LGST 811
Legal Aspects of Health Care
Description: This course offers a current and historical overview of the regulation of health care delivery in the U.S. It examines principles and practical applications of the laws that affect the operational decisions of health care providers, health plans and third party payors, and managers and that impact development of markets for health care products and services. Also considered are the social, moral, and ethical issues encountered in trying to balance the interests, needs and rights of citizens against those of society. For part of the term, the class will divide into two groups so that students can focus on their choice of (a) health care management topics or (b) selected issues of patients’ rights.
Format: Lecture and group discussion. The setting is informal and members of the class are expected to participate actively. The coursework includes 2-4 quizzes (20%), a midterm exam (30%), or, as an alternative, a legal research project and paper (30%), and a final exam (40%). Class participation counts 10%.
Prerequisites: There are no specific prerequisites; but background knowledge of the health care system is helpful. Most HCMG majors take the course in their second year and have already taken other HCMG courses. Interested students not in the HCMG major should speak to the instructor before enrolling in the course. No prior background in law is needed.
HCMG 855 (.5 - 1.0 cu)
Management of Health Care for the Elderly
Description: This course will review care provided to seniors within a variety of institutional settings (hospitals, nursing facilities, various senior housing levels) as well as outpatients and home care services. Special attention will be paid to nursing homes and senior housing options and their past, present and future role within the overall health care system in the United States. The course will start with an overview of the senior population with special attention to their health and social needs. Several classes will be held off campus at selected nursing facilities and senior housing complexes. In addition, a broad range of special programs and services will be reviewed such as sub-acute care, long term care insurance, Medicare Risk Programs, elderly housing, adult day care, managed care, Medicare Part D, case management, hospice and other recent developments. Throughout the course, emphasis will be placed on entrepreneurial opportunities to serve the senior market at all levels. Students are required to produce a paper for this course that focuses on a specific area impacting the senior market. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to select an area of personal interest and conduct an in depth review of that area including making direct contact with national experts within the topic selected. All student topics must be approved during the first two weeks of class and the depth of research required agreed upon by the student and the instructor. Interested students not in the HCMG major are urged to speak to the instructor before enrolling in the course.
HCMG 858 (.5 -1.0 cu)
Health Care Marketing
Description: This course examines key marketing issues in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries. The focus is on aspects that distinguish marketing in the pharmabiotech- device industries from general marketing in non-health care industries. After reviewing these differences, the industry evolution and current state of flux, we focus in depth on the following topics: product launch and growth, from a strategic and tactical execution perspective; regulation, direct-to-consumer advertising, and off-label usage; unique features of medical device marketing, including hospital and GPO purchasing, role of sales reps etc.; biotechnology marketing, for both niche and blockbuster products; marketing mix optimization; and global brand management.
Format: Lecture, case discussion and presentations by industry experts.
HCMG 859
Comparative Health Care Systems
Description: This course examines the structure of health care systems in different countries, focusing on financing, reimbursement, delivery systems and adoption of new technologies. We study the relative roles of private sector and public sector insurance and providers, and the effect of system design on cost, quality, efficiency and equity of medical services. Some issues we address are normative: which systems and which public/private sector mixes are better at achieving efficiency and equity? Other issues are positive: how do these different systems deal with the tough choices, such as decisions about new technologies? Our main focus is on the systems in four large OECD countries – Germany, Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom – but we also look at other countries with interesting systems – including Italy, Chile, and Singapore. We will draw lessons for the U.S. from foreign experience and vice versa.
Format: Course includes an exam, written work and class participation.
HCMG 863
Management & Economics of Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, & Medical Device Industries
Description: This course provides an overview of the management, economic and policy issues facing the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries. The course perspective is global, with emphasis on the U.S. as the largest and most profitable market. Critical issues we will examine include: R&D intensive cost structure and rapid technological change; biotechnology and genomics startups and alliances with the pharma industry; a complex global marketplace in which prices are regulated in most countries and customers include governments and insurers, as well as physicians, pharmacists and consumers now reachable through DTC; intense and evolving M&A, including mergers, joint ventures, and complex alliances; government regulation of every business function; R&D, pricing, manufacturing, and promotion; and global products and multinational firms. We use industry and Wharton experts from various disciplines to address these issues.
HCMG 866
E-Health: Business Models and Impact
Description: This course will introduce students to the main components of Health Information Technology (HIT). Although it will not prepare students for primary technology management positions, it will help them understand the role of information in the success of the delivery system and other important healthcare processes. It will provide a foundation that will prepare them as managers and consultants to rely upon or manage information technology to accomplish their objectives. The course will give special attention to four key health care processes: HIT and the drive for quality and cost improvements, the value of patient-centric and other databases for pharmaceutical marketing and product development, the growth of new information technologies for consumer directed healthcare and HIT enterprises, their strategies and economics. The course relies heavily on industry leaders to share their ideas and experiences with students.
Format: Lecture, seminar, cases and a final project or paper.
HCMG 867 (.5 cu)
Health Care Entrepreneurship
Description: The course focuses on the creation, funding and management of biotechnology and health services enterprises. The course is designed to supplement other offerings in the Health Care Management and Management Departments for those students with entrepreneurial interest in such ventures, and will focus on special issues surrounding the conceptualization, planning, diligence and capitalization, launch, compensation and management of these ventures. In addition, the course offers methods for self-assessment and development of business models and plans, techniques for technology assessment and strategy, develops a foundation for capitalization and partnering strategies, and creates a basis for best practices in company launch and plan execution.
*Students must apply to take this course. Please see the Health Care Management Department for the application.
HCMG 868(.5 cu)
Private Sector Role in Global Health Development
Description: This is a seminar in global health that will seek managerial solutions to international health issues and health issues within developing countries using private enterprise or other private initiatives, or public-private partnership approaches to issues of health services, development of products such as therapeutics, vaccines or devices, or other mechanisms or businesses that advance health. The course goal is not to duplicate a conventional international public health course, but to build upon what is conventionally known and taught in such courses from a managerial solutions-oriented perspective. Discussion and reading will address a range of means of managing medical services and related businesses—public and private—in underserved areas for populations in emerging markets, developing countries, and underserved areas in developed nations.
HCMG 890-001 (.5 cu)
Advanced Study Project Seminar: Management of Health Care Service Businesses
Description: This course examines issues related to managing or investing in Health Care Services Businesses. Defined as companies that manage, distribute or provide health care services, the Health Care Services sector touches almost every other portion of the health care system. We will study the key management issues related to a number of different health care services businesses with a focus on common challenges related to reimbursement, regulatory, margin, growth, and competitive issues. We will make extensive use of outside speakers all of whom will be current industry leaders within different sectors of the health care services industry and will address the current management issues they face in running their businesses. Students will then be asked to develop a plan to both buyout and subsequently manage a specific health care services business. Students will then present their plans to a panel of leading Health Care Private Equity investors.
Prerequisites: HCMG 841.
HCMG 890-002 (.5 cu)
Advanced Study Project Seminar: Medical Devices
Description: Successful medical devices are an amalgamation
of creative and innovative thinking, clinical expertise, and engineering
know-how that endures intense regulatory and reimbursement
scrutiny. This course will provide a foundation for
understanding the nuances of the medical device industry. It
will cover topics ranging from device design and discovery,
regulatory issues, marketing, reimbursement, management,
and strategy. Classroom activities will be supplemented with
optional tours of hospitals, research and manufacturing facilities,
and hands-on demonstrations of devices. Though the course is
intended primarily for MBA students, it will be open to medical
and engineering students as well as to hospital house staff.
HCMG 899
Independent Study
Description: See department for specific projects.