Cedarville launches health care administration MBA track

Cedarville University is launching an online, 12-class health care administration track within its masters of business administration (MBA) program, university leaders said Thursday at Soin Medical Center.

The course will be offered seven weeks at a time, two or four courses per semester, year-round. The university expects many if not most of the students interested in the track will be health care professionals aiming for middle-management jobs.

They may complete the program in one or two years, the university said.

The track begins this fall.

The program will help meet Ohio’s particular needs and indeed the nation’s, said Jeffrey Haymond, dean of Cedarville’s School of Business Administration, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers.

RELATEDHealth care professionals in high demand in Ohio. 

“We have the highest proportion of health care professionals among the number of workers in the nation,” Haymond said at a press conference at Soin. “We’ve got 2.91 health care professionals for every 1,000 workers. That number may seem low, but it’s the highest in the country.”

Marc Sweeney, founding dean of Cedarville’s School of Pharmacy, said the program will be able to graduate dual-degree graduates, with degrees in both pharmacy and health care administration.

“Right now, we’re faced with some challenging situations,” Sweeney said. “In the United States, about 40 to 50 percent of patients take their medications incorrectly.”

Such mistakes cost the economy billions, he said.

A Cedarville spokesman said the university is in talks with Soin about how the program can more concretely benefit Soin employees. Rick Dodds, president of Soin Medical Center and Greene Memorial Hospital, said a number of employees have expressed interest in the health care administration MBA.

Haymond said the new MBA track will not mean new faculty or staff unless demand for the program requires it.

Cedarville has 3,760 undergraduate, graduate and online students in 100 study areas.

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