This Specialization was designed to help you keep pace with the rapidly changing world of health and health care. Through partnership with Wharton and Penn Medicine, you’ll learn from experts in business acumen, health care management, and health care policy to develop the skills you’ll need to successfully navigate the quickly evolving landscape of this fast-growing field.* By the end of this specialization, you will have a strong foundational understanding of the American health care system, along with the basic financial and management skills to make better, well-informed decisions that improve the cost and quality of the health care you or your enterprise provides. *The employment of medical and health services managers is projected to grow 17% from 2014 to 2024, significantly faster than the average for all occupations. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor. “Occupational Outlook handbook 2016-17 Edition. Medical and Health Services Managers.”
The Business of Health Care Specialization
Advance your career in health care management. Develop business skills and understand the American health care system to improve cost and quality.
Offered By
How the Specialization Works
Take Courses
A Coursera Specialization is a series of courses that helps you master a skill. To begin, enroll in the Specialization directly, or review its courses and choose the one you'd like to start with. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. It’s okay to complete just one course — you can pause your learning or end your subscription at any time. Visit your learner dashboard to track your course enrollments and your progress.
Hands-on Project
Every Specialization includes a hands-on project. You'll need to successfully finish the project(s) to complete the Specialization and earn your certificate. If the Specialization includes a separate course for the hands-on project, you'll need to finish each of the other courses before you can start it.
Earn a Certificate
When you finish every course and complete the hands-on project, you'll earn a Certificate that you can share with prospective employers and your professional network.
There are 4 Courses in this Specialization
Financial Acumen for Non-Financial Managers
In this course, you’ll explore how financial statement data and non-financial metrics can be linked to financial performance. Professors Rick Lambert and Chris Ittner of the Wharton School have designed this course to help you gain a practical understanding of how data is used to assess what drives financial performance and forecast future financial scenarios. You’ll learn more about the frameworks of financial reporting, income statements, and cash reporting, and apply different approaches to analyzing financial performance using real-life examples to see the concepts in action. By the end of this course, you’ll have honed your skills in understanding how financial data and non-financial data interact to forecast events and be able to determine the best financial strategy for your organization.
The Economics of Health Care Delivery
In this course, you’ll learn about the key components of health care, and the economics behind their principles and pricing strategies. Professors Ezekiel Emanuel of Penn Medicine and Guy David of the Wharton School have designed this course to help you understand the complex structure of the health care system and health insurance. Through study and analysis of providers and insurance through an economic lens, you’ll learn how basic economic principles apply to both principles and payment methods. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to identify different types of health care providers and understand the dynamic between the providers and patient so you can employ best practices and maximize profit for your health care organization.
Management Fundamentals
People are the most valuable asset of any business, but they are also the most unpredictable, and the most difficult asset to manage. And although managing people well is critical to the health of any organization, most managers don't get the training they need to make good management decisions. Now, award-winning authors and renowned management Professors Mike Useem and Peter Cappelli of the Wharton School have designed this course to introduce you to the key elements of managing people. Based on their popular course at Wharton, this course will teach you how to motivate individual performance and design reward systems, how to design jobs and organize work for high performance, how to make good and timely management decisions, and how to design and change your organization’s architecture. By the end of this course, you'll have developed the skills you need to start motivating, organizing, and rewarding people in your organization so that you can thrive as a business and as a social organization.
Health Care Innovation
In this course, you’ll learn the foundational economic theories behind health care innovation and how to optimize your own health care practice or organization. Designed to help you gain a practical understanding of the theoretical frameworks of behavioral economics and operations management in the health care setting, this course will help you apply these frameworks to assess health care practices and apply innovation while managing risk. You’ll also explore the best practices for evaluating one’s innovative practices, using real-life examples of success to see the concepts in action. By the end of this course, you’ll have honed your skills in optimizing health care operations, and be able to develop the right set of evaluations and questions to achieve best innovative practices within your organization.
Instructors
Richard Lambert
Professor of Accounting
Amol S. Navathe, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy
Christian Terwiesch
Andrew M. Heller Professor at the Wharton School, Senior Fellow Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics Co-Director, Mack Institute of Innovation Management
Roy Rosin, MBA
Chief Innovation Officer
Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD
Diane v.S. Levy and Robert M. Levy University Professor
Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Division of Health Policy / Professor of Health Care Management
Christopher D. Ittner
EY Professor of Accounting
Peter Cappelli
Professor of Management, Director, Center for Human Resources
Guy David, PhD
Gilbert and Shelley Harrison Associate Professor of Health Care Management
David A. Asch, MD, MBA
Professor of Medicine and Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy
Michael Useem
Professor of Management and Director of the Center for Leadership and Change ManagementAbout University of Pennsylvania
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the refund policy?
Can I just enroll in a single course?
Yes! To get started, click the course card that interests you and enroll. You can enroll and complete the course to earn a shareable certificate, or you can audit it to view the course materials for free. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. Visit your learner dashboard to track your progress.
Is financial aid available?
Can I take the course for free?
Is this course really 100% online? Do I need to attend any classes in person?
This course is completely online, so there’s no need to show up to a classroom in person. You can access your lectures, readings and assignments anytime and anywhere via the web or your mobile device.
How long does it take to complete the Specialization?
This Specialization was designed to allow you to learn at your own pace, so you can get the knowledge you need when you need it. Most learners complete this Specialization in 4-6months, although some do it more quickly or slowly to fit their needs.
What background knowledge is necessary?
Some background knowledge of American health care, whether as a patient, provider, administrator, or student of the topic, is helpful. Basic high school math skills are required for Financial Acumen for Non-Financial Managers.
Do I need to take the courses in a specific order?
We suggest taking the business acumen courses from Wharton before the health care courses from Penn Medicine. You may also Financial Acumen for Non-Financial Managers before The Economics of Health Care Delivery, and Management Fundamentals before Health Care Innovations.
Will I earn university credit for completing the Specialization?
Wharton Online and Penn Med Online courses do not carry university credit at this time.
What will I be able to do upon completing the Specialization?
By the end of this specialization, you will have a strong foundational understanding of the American health care system, along with the basic financial and management skills to make better, well-informed decisions that improve the cost and quality of the health care you or your enterprise provides.
More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.
