Best Healthcare Administration Programs in Georgia [2026] - Accredited Healthcare Administration Degrees and Schools in Georgia Online

Healthcare administration programs in Georgia prepare you to manage hospitals, clinics, and health systems while understanding finance, policy, and quality improvement.

Across the state you will find options such as the Master of Health Administration (MHA) at University of Georgia, the Master of Science in Health Administration at Georgia State University, MHA options at Georgia Southern University and Clayton State University, a Healthcare Management and Informatics master’s at Kennesaw State University, and an online MBA in Healthcare Administration at Valdosta State University.

In this guide, we will explore popular healthcare administration programs in Georgia, each of which offers unique benefits for you as a student.

Best Healthcare Administration Programs in Georgia

Listed below are some of the popular schools offering healthcare administration programs in Georgia:

University of Georgia – Master of Health Administration (MHA)
Georgia State University – Master of Science in Health Administration (MSHA)
Georgia Southern University – Master of Health Administration (MHA)
Clayton State University – Master of Health Administration (MHA)
Kennesaw State University – Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics (MSHMI)
Valdosta State University – Online MBA in Healthcare Administration (MBA/HCAD)
Brenau University – Online MBA in Healthcare Management

To find out how we select colleges and universities, please click here.

University of Georgia

Master of Health Administration (MHA)

The University of Georgia Master of Health Administration (MHA) is a 54 credit hour professional degree housed in the College of Public Health. The curriculum is designed for early-career students who want to move into leadership roles in hospitals, health systems, consulting firms, and other healthcare organizations. You complete a planned sequence of coursework that builds from core public health fundamentals into advanced health administration and management skills over two academic years.

This full-time program typically takes two years (five semesters) to finish and includes both classroom learning and structured experiential components. In addition to core courses in health economics, healthcare finance, law, and quality improvement, you complete an internship and a capstone project that allow you to apply what you have learned in real organizational settings. The cohort format supports steady progress and close interaction with faculty and classmates.

From the beginning of the program you gain a detailed view of the United States healthcare delivery system and the forces that shape access, cost, and quality of care. Courses cover topics such as health policy, organizational behavior, health informatics, and data analytics so that you can interpret performance indicators, communicate results, and recommend concrete operational changes. You learn how to work across clinical and administrative teams, communicate with diverse stakeholders, and support strategic goals in complex health systems.

Throughout the 54 credit hours you also strengthen your business and analytical skills. You study budgeting, reimbursement, and financial statement interpretation within healthcare organizations, then move into planning and strategic management. You explore how payment models, regulation, and community health needs influence the way hospitals and health systems design services and allocate resources. This mix of management and policy content helps you understand both day-to-day operations and long-term planning.

Professional development is a central part of the MHA experience. The program emphasizes communication, teamwork, and leadership through group projects, presentations, and applied case studies. Career development activities connect you with alumni and regional employers so that you can practice interviewing, refine your resume, and explore administrative fellowship and management opportunities. Faculty mentoring supports your progress toward internships and post-graduate roles.

By the time you complete the degree, you will have a two-year record of graduate-level work in health administration, an internship on your resume, and a capstone project that demonstrates your ability to analyze real organizational challenges. The 54 credit hour structure offers enough depth for you to build competence in finance, quality, strategy, and policy while still finishing in a focused time frame that aligns with typical early-career master’s preparation.

Courses and Curriculum

The University of Georgia MHA curriculum brings together core public health knowledge with specialized coursework in health administration. Early in the program you take classes on the U.S. healthcare delivery system, biostatistics, public health law, and management of public health organizations. These courses give you the context and quantitative tools you need to understand how healthcare organizations operate and how they are regulated and financed.

As you move through the program, you add coursework in human resources, health economics, healthcare finance, organizational theory, and policy analysis. These classes help you interpret financial reports, understand cost drivers, and respond to policy changes that affect reimbursement and community health needs. You also learn how to manage teams, address ethical issues, and design staffing and organizational structures that support high-quality care.

In the later semesters the curriculum shifts toward advanced analytics, quality improvement, and strategic management. You study health informatics and data analytics tools, learn how to measure and improve performance, and work on projects that require you to analyze real data and recommend changes. A required internship and capstone course draw the curriculum together, giving you practical experience and an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to manage complex administrative problems in a healthcare setting.

Some of the core courses that you will take include:

HPAM 7150 – U.S. Health Care Delivery Systems: This course introduces the structure and key components of the American healthcare system, including hospitals, physician practices, insurers, and public programs. You examine how care is organized and financed, explore historic reforms, and discuss current challenges such as cost growth, access, and health disparities. By the end of the course you will be able to describe major stakeholders and explain how policy and payment models influence organizational behavior.
BIOS 7010 – Introductory Biostatistics I: In this class you learn the statistical methods needed to interpret clinical and administrative data. Topics typically include descriptive statistics, probability, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, and basic regression. You practice using statistical software to analyze real health data sets so you can evaluate quality metrics, compare outcomes across patient groups, and support evidence-based management decisions.
HPAM 7250 – Human Resources Management in Health Care: This course focuses on recruiting, developing, and retaining staff in healthcare organizations. You study workforce planning, job design, performance evaluation, compensation, and labor relations, with particular attention to clinical and support roles. Case studies highlight issues such as burnout, staffing shortages, and diversity, helping you learn how HR strategy affects patient safety, morale, and organizational performance.
HPAM 7350 – Organizational Theory and Behavior in Health Care: Here you examine how individuals and groups behave in healthcare organizations and how structure and culture shape that behavior. You review classic and modern theories of motivation, leadership, and decision-making and apply them to hospitals, clinics, and health departments. The course helps you understand how to lead change, manage conflict, and build effective teams in environments where clinical, financial, and regulatory pressures intersect.
HPAM 8400 – Policy Analysis in Public Health: This course gives you tools to analyze and evaluate health policies that affect healthcare organizations and population health. You learn to define policy problems, assess options, estimate costs and benefits, and communicate findings to decision-makers. Assignments often involve preparing policy briefs and presentations that connect policy choices to outcomes for patients, providers, and communities.
HPAM 8650 – Healthcare Finance: In healthcare finance you develop skills in budgeting, capital planning, and financial statement analysis within hospitals and health systems. Topics include reimbursement models, cost allocation, revenue cycle management, and capital budgeting. By working through realistic financial scenarios, you learn how administrative leaders evaluate investment decisions, manage risk, and maintain financial stability while supporting quality care.
HPAM 8750 – Quality Improvement in Health: This course introduces frameworks and tools for measuring and improving quality and patient safety. You study concepts such as process mapping, root cause analysis, control charts, and performance dashboards. Through case examples and projects, you practice designing improvement initiatives, setting targets, and using data to track progress and sustain change in clinical and administrative processes.
HPAM 8890 – Strategic Management in Health Care Organizations: The strategic management course serves as a capstone-style experience focused on long-term planning and competitive positioning. You learn to conduct environmental scans, analyze service lines, and develop strategic plans that align resources with organizational mission and community needs. Working in teams, you may complete projects that require presenting strategic recommendations to simulated executive audiences.

Practical Experience

Practical experience is built into the University of Georgia MHA through a required internship in health administration and a capstone project. During the internship you work in a hospital, health system, or related organization under the supervision of experienced administrators. This placement allows you to apply classroom concepts to daily operations, participate in projects, and observe leadership and decision-making in real time.

The capstone project typically focuses on solving a defined management problem for a partner organization. You might analyze patient flow, evaluate a quality initiative, study financial performance, or assess the impact of a policy change. Working with faculty mentors and site preceptors, you collect data, develop recommendations, and present your findings to organizational leaders. This combination of internship and capstone provides concrete experience you can highlight when applying for fellowships or entry-level leadership roles.

Learning Outcomes

Explain the structure, financing, and regulation of the U.S. healthcare system and how these factors affect hospitals and health systems.
Apply quantitative methods, including biostatistics and analytics, to interpret financial, clinical, and operational data.
Develop and manage budgets, analyze financial performance, and support resource allocation decisions in healthcare organizations.
Design and lead quality improvement initiatives that use data to enhance patient safety, efficiency, and patient experience.
Demonstrate effective leadership, communication, and teamwork skills in interprofessional and cross-functional settings.
Assess the ethical and legal implications of administrative decisions and incorporate professional standards into practice.
Formulate strategic plans that align organizational mission, community health needs, and changing policy and market conditions.
Integrate public health principles into management decisions to support population health and health equity goals.

Career Preparation & Outcomes

The University of Georgia MHA prepares you for roles such as hospital administrator, practice manager, project manager, quality improvement specialist, and health services analyst. Career development activities connect you with alumni networks, administrative fellowships, and employer partners across Georgia and beyond. The program’s emphasis on analytics, finance, and strategic management helps you compete for positions in hospitals, health systems, consulting firms, and government agencies.

As a student at the University of Georgia you also benefit from strong overall student success outcomes. Recent data report a six-year graduation rate around the high 80% range, reflecting a campus environment where most students finish their degrees on time.

Admissions Requirements

Completed bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution.
Competitive undergraduate GPA (Minimum 3.0 on a 4.0 scale).
Official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended.
Official GRE or GMAT scores in line with College of Public Health expectations, unless waived under current policies.
Current resume or curriculum vitae describing academic background and professional or volunteer experience.
Personal statement outlining your interest in healthcare administration, career goals, and reasons for choosing the MHA at the University of Georgia.
Letters of recommendation from academic or professional references who can speak to your readiness for graduate study and leadership potential.
Completed online application and any required application fees through the University of Georgia Graduate School.

Application Deadlines

The MHA program typically admits students for fall entry. The College of Public Health lists a priority or final departmental deadline around May 1 for fall admission to the MHA, while the Graduate School sets broader university-wide deadlines for domestic and international applicants.

Georgia State University

Master of Science in Health Administration (MSHA)

The Georgia State University Master of Science in Health Administration (MSHA) is offered through the J. Mack Robinson College of Business and the Institute of Health Administration. Designed for early and mid career professionals, the program focuses on developing managers who can lead hospitals, health systems, consulting firms, and health technology organizations with strong skills in strategy, finance, analytics, and operations.

The MSHA is a 36 credit hour graduate degree delivered in a cohort format. Students take a planned sequence of courses and typically complete the program in about 12 months of full time study. Evening classes at Georgia State’s Buckhead Center in Atlanta allow you to maintain a daytime position while progressing steadily through the curriculum, which combines required courses in health administration with targeted electives in areas such as leadership, analytics, and digital health.

Throughout the 36 credits you explore how the United States health care system is organized, financed, and regulated, and how those forces translate into daily decisions for health care organizations. Courses address the structure of health care delivery, payment models, health policy and ethics, legal frameworks, and the economics of health services. You learn to interpret how these contextual factors influence access, quality, costs, and the long term sustainability of health care enterprises.

Business focused coursework strengthens your management toolkit in areas like financial management, operations and quality, and strategic planning. You study budgeting and reimbursement, analyze financial statements, evaluate project investments, and learn how to design operating systems that support safe, efficient care. The program also highlights health information systems, data analytics, and digital health, preparing you to work with data driven decision making and emerging technologies.

Experiential components are integrated into the curriculum through case based projects, consulting style assignments, and participation in the Future Healthcare Executives student organization. You may work on projects for community health centers, hospital systems, and health technology companies, giving you experience with real data, real stakeholders, and real operational challenges. These projects help you build a portfolio of work that can be shared with prospective employers.

By the end of the MSHA you will have completed all 36 credit hours in a tight but structured timeline, engaged with Atlanta’s large health care market, and developed skills in leadership, finance, operations, analytics, and strategy. The program’s cohort structure and strong employer connections support a smooth transition into administrative fellowships, analyst roles, and early leadership positions across multiple health sectors.

Courses and Curriculum

The Georgia State MSHA curriculum is built around a set of health administration core courses plus a selection of business and health focused electives. Early in the year you begin with an introduction to the United States health care system and a course in health policy and ethics. These courses describe the key actors in health care delivery, major payment arrangements, and the ethical and policy issues that shape decisions about access and resource allocation. You establish a common language for understanding how hospitals, health systems, insurers, and public agencies interact.

You then move into health economics and financing, the legal environment of health care, and healthcare financial management. In these courses you learn how prices are set, how reimbursement mechanisms work, how to interpret income statements and balance sheets, and how to build and manage budgets for departments and service lines. You consider how regulatory requirements, contracts, and risk influence financial performance and strategic choices, and you practice making recommendations based on data rather than intuition.

Later in the program the focus shifts toward operations and quality, strategic management, and advanced topics such as digital health and health care analytics. You examine how to design care processes, measure performance, reduce variation, and incorporate technology to improve patient experience and organizational efficiency. Electives allow you to deepen your expertise in leadership, human resources, analytics, risk management, or project management. The capstone course in strategic management in health care integrates concepts from across the curriculum into a comprehensive, applied project.

Some of the core courses that you will take include:

HA 8160 – Introduction to the U.S. Health Care System: This course provides a structured overview of how hospitals, physicians, post acute providers, payers, and government agencies fit together in the U.S. health care system. You study major delivery models, insurance arrangements, and regulatory bodies, and you assess how these elements affect access, quality, and costs. By the end of the course you can describe key stakeholders and explain how system design influences organizational strategy.
HA 8190 – Health Policy and Ethics: In Health Policy and Ethics you examine the formulation, implementation, and impact of health policies, alongside the ethical principles that guide decisions in health care organizations. Topics often include Medicaid expansion, value based purchasing, resource allocation, and patient rights. You learn to identify ethical issues, analyze policy trade offs, and formulate recommendations that consider both organizational performance and societal impact.
HA 8250 – Health Economics and Financing: This course introduces economic concepts applied to health care, including demand and supply of services, market failures, and the role of public and private payers. You analyze how payment mechanisms such as fee for service, capitation, and bundled payments influence provider behavior. Assignments ask you to apply economic reasoning to pricing, utilization, and benefit design questions that health administrators face.
HA 8450 – Legal Environment of Health Care: Legal Environment of Health Care covers the core legal and regulatory frameworks that govern health care organizations. Topics may include licensure and accreditation, fraud and abuse laws, privacy and confidentiality, informed consent, and corporate compliance. You learn how legal requirements shape policies, contracts, and risk management strategies, and you practice recognizing when to consult legal counsel as a manager.
HA 8555 – Introduction to Health Care Financial Management: Building on prior finance and economics content, this course focuses on the tools and techniques used by health care financial managers. You work with operating and capital budgets, perform variance analyses, and evaluate project proposals using methods such as net present value and internal rate of return. Case studies help you link financial metrics to operational decisions and strategic goals.
HA 8620 – Operations Management and Quality in Health Care: Operations Management and Quality emphasizes design and improvement of health care processes. You study capacity planning, patient flow, scheduling, supply chain, and quality frameworks. Using process maps, data analysis, and basic improvement tools, you identify bottlenecks and waste, propose changes, and consider how to balance efficiency with safety and patient centered care.
HA 8990 – Strategic Management in Health Care: This capstone style course integrates prior learning in finance, operations, policy, and leadership into a strategic planning framework. You conduct environmental scans, analyze service line performance, evaluate competitors, and develop long term strategies for health care organizations. Team based projects require you to present findings and recommendations in formats appropriate for senior executives and governing boards.
HA 8750 – Health Care Analytics: Health Care Analytics introduces techniques for using administrative, clinical, and financial data to monitor performance and support decisions. You work with dashboards, key performance indicators, and basic predictive analytics concepts. Assignments may include building simple models, interpreting output, and translating analytic insights into operational or strategic actions.

Popular Elective Courses

HA 8440 Executive Leadership in Health
HA 8460 Human Resources in Health Care Organizations
HA 8670 Digital Health Strategy
HA 8680 Care Management and Delivery Systems
HA 8700 Health Services Research
HA 8810 Experiential Learning in Health Administration

Practical Experience

The MSHA at Georgia State is structured for working professionals and recent graduates, so practical learning is integrated directly into coursework rather than through a separate full time residency. Many assignments are designed as applied projects that use real data and real organizational challenges drawn from Atlanta area health systems, community health centers, consulting firms, and health technology companies.

You may be asked to assess access to care in specific neighborhoods, design plans to expand primary care services for uninsured populations, analyze performance data from Federally Qualified Health Centers, or evaluate market opportunities for health businesses that are considering entering new regions. Case competitions and course projects often involve collaboration with health systems such as Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Northside Hospital, and others, giving you exposure to different organizational models and leadership styles.

Beyond formal courses, involvement in the Future Healthcare Executives student organization provides additional experiential opportunities through site visits, guest speaker events, and networking sessions. These experiences help you practice professional communication, learn how senior leaders frame issues, and better understand the day to day responsibilities of health care administrators in various roles.

Learning Outcomes

Describe the organization, financing, and regulation of the U.S. health care system and explain how these factors shape the strategies of hospitals, health systems, and other health organizations.
Apply economic and financial concepts to interpret financial statements, build and manage budgets, assess service line performance, and support capital investment decisions in health care settings.
Use operations management and quality improvement tools to analyze processes, identify sources of inefficiency or risk, and design changes that improve patient outcomes, safety, and experience.
Evaluate the impact of health policy, legal requirements, and ethical principles on managerial decisions, and incorporate these considerations into organizational policies and practices.
Leverage health information systems and analytics to develop dashboards, track key performance indicators, and inform strategic and operational decisions.
Demonstrate effective leadership and communication when working with clinicians, staff, executives, and community stakeholders from diverse backgrounds and disciplines.
Develop and present strategic plans that align mission, market conditions, financial realities, and community health needs for health care organizations.
Integrate knowledge from management, public health, finance, and policy to propose solutions to complex, cross functional problems in health care administration.

Career Preparation & Outcomes

Graduates of the Georgia State University MSHA program move into a variety of roles, including administrative fellow, practice manager, service line manager, operations manager, project manager, quality improvement leader, and consultant in health systems, hospitals, group practices, payer organizations, and health technology and analytics firms. The curriculum is closely aligned with industry expectations and is supported by an active network of employers across the Atlanta metropolitan area and beyond.

Students benefit from structured career support through the Robinson College Graduate Career Advancement Center, which offers coaching, resume and interview preparation, employer events, and access to job postings. Program materials report high placement rates within a few months of graduation, reflecting strong demand for graduates with both business and health care expertise.

At the institutional level, Georgia State University reports an overall graduation rate of about 54%, indicating a large public research university that has invested significantly in student success and completion initiatives.

Admissions Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution in any field.
A minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale is required.
Completed online graduate application for the MS in Health Administration and payment of the nonrefundable application fee.
Official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended.
Current resume detailing professional experience, responsibilities, and any leadership or project work, with health care experience preferred but not strictly required.
Personal statement describing your interest in health administration, career goals, and reasons for pursuing the MSHA at Georgia State University.
Mandatory video interview as part of the application, giving you an opportunity to present your motivation, communication skills, and fit for the program.
GMAT or GRE scores are not required under current policies, although the admissions committee will review your overall academic and professional profile.
For international applicants, proof of English language proficiency and any additional documents required by the university’s Office of International Students and Scholars.

Application Deadlines

The Georgia State MSHA uses a round based admission system with multiple deadlines for the fall cohort. Applying in earlier rounds provides priority consideration for graduate assistantships and helps ensure space in the cohort.

Georgia Southern University

Master of Health Administration (MHA)

The Georgia Southern University Master of Health Administration (MHA) is a graduate degree offered through the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health designed to train students – new or early in their careers – to manage and lead health service organizations across hospitals, long-term care, community health, clinics, public health agencies, and other care settings. The program is CAHME accredited, signaling alignment with recognized standards of quality and relevance in health administration education.

The program requires a total of 52 graduate credit hours to complete, combining core courses with program-specific coursework, and must be finished within seven years of entry. Typical full-time students finish in roughly 20 months, though pacing depends on enrollment intensity and scheduling of internship/practicum components.

The curriculum aims to provide a comprehensive grounding in organizational management, finance, law and regulation, quality and performance improvement, health policy, human resources, and quantitative decision-making. From foundational courses on health services systems and organizational behavior to advanced coursework and applied assignments, you build a broad skill set to understand and manage complex healthcare environments.

Courses and assignments are structured such that you progress from understanding how care is organized and financed, through management, operations, and policy, and finally to integrative work in internships or capstone projects. Faculty with experience in public health and management often bring real-world cases and institutional knowledge to classes, enhancing the applied nature of the learning experience.

The MHA emphasizes development of competencies including strategic planning, evidence-based decision making, leadership and communication, systems thinking, quality improvement, financial and operational management, and stakeholder engagement. Students learn to design and implement interventions in real organizational contexts, preparing them to take on roles with meaningful responsibility soon after graduation.

By graduation you will have completed more than fifty credits of graduate-level coursework, a program of study tailored through electives and required components, and practical experience via internship or administrative practicum. This prepares you to take on administrative, management, or leadership roles in a wide variety of health service settings.

Courses and Curriculum

The curriculum begins with foundational courses that introduce health services organization and the structure of U.S. health delivery systems. Early coursework emphasizes organizational theory, health systems understanding, and basic management principles, giving you a clear picture of how providers, payers, regulators, and communities interact and how administration and leadership fit into that framework.

As you progress, the program offers courses in finance, healthcare economics, health law and regulation, human resources management, quality and process improvement, and program planning. These courses provide quantitative, legal, and managerial tools to analyze organizational performance, manage budgets, design programs, and respond to changing policy or market conditions. Through case studies, data analysis, and group projects you practice applying theory to realistic health-care challenges.

In the latter stage, students focus on strategic planning, organizational leadership, quality improvement and performance management, and often take part in a required internship or administrative practicum that gives hands-on experience in a working health-care organization. A capstone or integrative project typically requires you to identify a strategic or operational problem, analyze data, propose interventions, or design organizational changes – synthesizing knowledge from across the curriculum into actionable recommendations.

Some of the core courses that you will take include:

MHA 7000 – U.S. Health Services Systems & Organization – Provides a comprehensive overview of how health care is delivered, financed, regulated, and organized in the United States, discussing hospitals, clinics, long-term care, payers, public agencies, and community providers.
MHA 7010 – Organizational Behavior and Management in Health Care – Examines organizational structures, leadership theories, team dynamics, governance, and decision-making processes as they apply to hospitals, health centers, and other service organizations.
MHA 7100 – Health Care Finance and Economics – Covers financial management, budgeting, reimbursement mechanisms, cost behavior, service line analysis, and economic principles relevant to health-care markets and organizations.
MHA 7200 – Legal and Regulatory Environment of Health Care – Explores laws, regulations, compliance, accreditation, licensing, ethical standards, and regulatory oversight impacting health-care delivery and organizational governance.
MHA 7300 – Quality Improvement and Performance Management – Introduces frameworks, methods, and tools for measuring performance, patient safety, quality assurance, process improvement, and continuous monitoring of outcomes in health-care settings.
MHA 7400 – Human Resources and Workforce Management in Health Services – Focuses on workforce planning, recruitment, retention, performance evaluation, labor relations, staff development, and strategies to manage clinical and administrative teams.
MHA 7500 – Program Planning, Evaluation and Health Services Policy – Teaches how to plan, implement, and evaluate programs or services; perform needs assessments; conduct outcome evaluations; and design policy-informed service offerings for diverse populations.
MHA 7600 – Strategic Management and Capstone Project in Health Administration – Serves as a capstone course integrating concepts from finance, operations, quality, policy, and leadership to analyze real organizational challenges, develop strategic plans or interventions, and present recommendations to stakeholders.

Practical Experience

The Georgia Southern MHA requires an administrative internship or practicum as part of the degree. During this experience you work in a real health-care setting – such as a hospital, clinic, community health center, long-term care facility, or public health agency – under supervision. You apply your knowledge to organizational operations, quality improvement, financial analysis, program planning, or strategic projects.

This fieldwork exposes you to everyday managerial responsibilities and challenges, offering insight into staffing, compliance, budgeting, and service delivery in live health-care environments. It also helps you build a professional network, gain references, and demonstrate your readiness for management roles. The capstone course further allows you to design and present a strategic plan or intervention, synthesizing learning across coursework and practical exposure.

Many students leverage the internship and capstone to address real issues within their practicum organization – such as improving process efficiency, redesigning service delivery, or proposing strategic changes – often resulting in tangible improvements or proposals that can be adopted post-graduation.

Learning Outcomes

Develop strategic plans for health-care organizations that reflect both internal capabilities and external environment such as regulation, market forces, and community health needs.
Use evidence-based decision making to diagnose organizational challenges, assess data, and propose operational or strategic interventions.
Communicate effectively and persuasively with stakeholders including clinical staff, administrators, policymakers, and community partners to lead change and build consensus.
Analyze financial, economic, and reimbursement data to support budgeting, cost control, resource allocation, and long-term financial sustainability of health-care organizations.
Apply quality improvement and performance measurement frameworks to design, implement, and monitor improvements in safety, efficiency, patient outcomes, and service delivery.
Manage human resources by planning staff, evaluating performance, designing workforce strategies, and fostering organizational culture and team development appropriate for health-care settings.
Interpret legal and regulatory requirements and integrate compliance, ethical practice, and governance into organizational policies and operations.
Lead interdisciplinary teams, manage change, and implement organizational transformations that balance financial, operational, quality, and human-resource considerations in complex health-care environments.

Career Preparation & Outcomes

Graduates of the Georgia Southern MHA program are prepared for a range of leadership and administrative roles including hospital or clinic manager, operations director, quality and performance improvement coordinator, program or service-line manager, long-term care administrator, public health agency administrator, consultant, and health-system analyst.

Georgia Southern University reports an overall undergraduate graduation rate of about 46%, reflecting institutional data on degree completion and indicating the university’s efforts to support students through to graduation. This supports a learning environment that aims for student persistence and success – a context favorable for graduate learners pursuing demanding professional degrees.

Admissions Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university.
Submission of official transcripts from all postsecondary institutions attended.
Updated resume or curriculum vitae detailing at least three years of work experience (education, health care, management, or related fields preferred).
Minimum cumulative undergraduate GPA of 2.75 on a 4.0 scale for consideration.
At least two letters of recommendation, preferably from academic or professional references familiar with your background and potential for graduate study.
Completed admissions questionnaire as required by the College of Graduate Studies, describing your experience, goals, and motivation for pursuing the MHA.

Application Deadlines

Georgia Southern University typically admits new MHA students for the fall semester only. The formal application deadline is June 1 for U.S. applicants. International applicants must have all required documents submitted by May 1 to be considered.

Clayton State University

Master of Health Administration (MHA)

The Clayton State University Master of Health Administration (MHA) is offered by the College of Health and prepares you to step into management and leadership roles across hospitals, physician practices, long term care organizations, public agencies, and other health service settings. The program emphasizes ethical and socially responsible leadership and is structured around competencies used in professional health administration education.

The degree consists of 45 semester credit hours, organized into a 12 credit foundation core, 27 credits of advanced core courses, 3 credits of approved electives, and 3 credits of integrative internship experience. Most students can complete the 45 credit hour plan of study in roughly two to three years, depending on whether they follow the part time progression or a more intensive schedule, allowing you to balance graduate study with ongoing professional or personal responsibilities.

You begin with foundational coursework in health systems administration, health care law and ethics, human resources, and organizational behavior so you understand how health organizations are structured, governed, and staffed. The advanced core then builds depth in health economics, reimbursement and financial management, information systems, marketing, managerial epidemiology, statistics and research methods, health policy, and advanced quality systems for health leaders.

The curriculum is designed to help you move from understanding how the health care environment works to making data informed management decisions. Courses focus on practical skills such as reading and using financial reports, interpreting economic trends, working with information systems, leading teams, and designing quality and safety initiatives. You will also learn how to respond to policy changes, regulatory expectations, and evolving community health needs.

A required internship and a culminating management project give you the chance to apply course concepts in a real organization. You work directly with preceptors and faculty to analyze operations, quality metrics, or policy issues and develop recommendations that add value for patients and stakeholders. A comprehensive examination tied to your project ensures that you can integrate knowledge across finance, operations, policy, and leadership.

By graduation you will have completed the full 45 credit hour program, gained field experience through the internship, and produced a project that demonstrates your ability to diagnose organizational problems and design solutions. This combination of classroom learning and applied work positions you for advancement in an evolving health care delivery system.

Courses and Curriculum

Clayton State’s MHA curriculum is built around clearly defined foundation and advanced core requirements. The foundation core focuses on health systems administration, law and ethics, human resources, and organizational behavior. These courses give you a systematic understanding of how health care organizations operate, how staff are managed, and how values, ethics, and legal requirements shape management decisions.

The advanced core then strengthens your quantitative, analytic, and strategic abilities. You study health care economics, reimbursement and financial management, information management, marketing, managerial epidemiology, statistics and research methods, health care policy, and advanced quality systems for health leaders. Together, these courses prepare you to interpret data, manage resources, design improvement initiatives, and think strategically about where your organization is headed.

The program includes at least one elective chosen from offerings in areas such as international health care, public health organizations, long term care administration, regulatory compliance, independent research, or project and thesis work. The curriculum culminates in an internship and a strategic management course that ties together concepts from across the program and lays the groundwork for your comprehensive exam and management project.

Some of the core courses that you will take include:

HCMG 5100 – Health Systems Administration
Introduces the structure and function of modern health service organizations, including hospitals, integrated delivery systems, physician enterprises, long term care, and community agencies. You examine governance, management roles, service line organization, and the relationships among providers, payers, and regulators, learning how administrators coordinate services and resources in a complex system.
HCMG 5200 – Healthcare Law and Ethics
Surveys legal principles and ethical frameworks that guide decision making in health care. Topics often include licensure and accreditation, patient rights and informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, malpractice and liability, fraud and abuse, and corporate compliance. You learn how to recognize legal risk, apply ethical reasoning to difficult cases, and incorporate legal and ethical requirements into organizational policy.
HCMG 5300 – Human Resource Management in Health Care
Focuses on recruiting, selecting, developing, and retaining clinical and nonclinical staff. You explore workforce planning, performance evaluation, compensation, labor relations, and employee engagement in the context of health care organizations. Case studies highlight how human resources strategy affects patient safety, service quality, and organizational culture.
HCMG 5400 – Organizational Behavior in Health Care
Examines individual and group behavior within health care organizations. You study motivation, communication, leadership styles, conflict, power, and organizational culture, with an emphasis on interprofessional settings. The course helps you understand how to lead teams, manage change, and design structures and processes that support collaboration between administrative and clinical staff.
HCMG 5950 – Healthcare Economics
Applies economic concepts to the health sector. You analyze demand and supply of health services, market structure, information problems, and the roles of government and insurers. The course explores how prices, payment arrangements, and incentives affect utilization and costs, and how economic tools can be used to evaluate policy options and organizational decisions.
HCMG 6100 – Information Management in Health Care
Addresses the design and use of information systems in health care organizations, including electronic health records, administrative systems, and data warehouses. You learn about data standards, privacy and security, reporting requirements, and how managers use information systems and analytics to support operations, quality improvement, and strategic planning.
HCMG 6150 – Healthcare Reimbursement and Financial Management
Focuses on financial management from the administrator’s perspective. Topics typically include reimbursement mechanisms, revenue cycle, budgeting, cost allocation, financial statements, and capital planning. You work with real or simulated financial data to assess service line performance, examine the impact of payer mix, and evaluate the financial implications of strategic options.
HCMG 6900 – Strategic Management of Health Care Organizations
Serves as a culminating course in which you integrate knowledge from across the MHA curriculum. You conduct environmental scans, analyze internal strengths and weaknesses, assess competitive positions, and develop strategic plans for health care organizations. Team projects and presentations help you practice communicating recommendations to executive and governing body audiences.

Popular Elective Courses

HCMG 5501 International Healthcare Issues
HCMG 5650 Public Health Organizations
HCMG 5701 Long Term Care Administration
HCMG 5750 Healthcare Regulatory Compliance
HCMG 6950 Independent Research in Health
HCMG 6999 Project or Thesis in Health Administration

Practical Experience

Practical learning is a central element of the Clayton State MHA. All students complete an integrative internship course (HCMG 6990 Health Administration Internship) for up to 6 credits, which places you in a real health care organization such as a hospital, long term care facility, physician group, or public agency. Under the supervision of an experienced preceptor and faculty mentor, you work on projects that may involve operations, quality improvement, finance, policy, or strategic planning.

During the internship you are expected to apply concepts from your coursework to real problems, collect and analyze data, participate in meetings, and contribute to initiatives that improve patient care or resource use. Internship experiences are designed to add value to the host organization while giving you the chance to build a portfolio of tangible work products and professional references.

The MHA also requires a management project that is presented as part of the comprehensive examination. This project often grows out of your internship or employer based work and asks you to define a problem, review relevant literature, analyze organizational data, and propose feasible solutions. Presenting your project and sitting for the comprehensive exam ensures that you can synthesize material from across the program and communicate effectively with leaders and stakeholders.

Learning Outcomes

Explain how health care organizations are structured, financed, and regulated, and how these factors influence strategy, operations, and performance.
Apply economic and financial concepts to budgeting, reimbursement, cost analysis, and investment decisions within health service organizations.
Use quantitative methods, statistics, and information systems to interpret clinical, financial, and operational data and support evidence based management decisions.
Design, implement, and evaluate quality and safety initiatives that use appropriate measures, improvement tools, and feedback mechanisms to enhance outcomes and efficiency.
Manage human resources and organizational behavior by building effective teams, addressing conflict, supporting professional development, and fostering a culture that aligns with mission and values.
Interpret legal and ethical requirements and incorporate compliance, risk management, and ethical reasoning into policies, procedures, and daily managerial practice.
Develop strategic plans for health care organizations that align internal capabilities with community needs, policy trends, and competitive conditions in the health care environment.
Communicate effectively with clinicians, staff, executives, and community partners, using written, verbal, and data driven presentations tailored to different audiences.

Career Preparation & Outcomes

Graduates of the Clayton State University MHA program are prepared for a range of roles in health services management, including department or unit manager, practice administrator, service line coordinator, operations manager, quality and performance improvement leader, program director, and analyst or specialist positions in hospitals, long term care organizations, physician group practices, managed care organizations, and public and nonprofit health agencies.

The program’s blend of management, policy, finance, and quality content is designed to support both entry into the field and advancement for those already working in health care.

The university’s emphasis on internships, project based learning, and independent research helps you build experience and a professional network while you complete your degree. Career support resources such as advising, career services, and alumni connections further strengthen your readiness for the job market.

Clayton State University reports an undergraduate graduation rate of about 35%, reflecting its ongoing efforts to support students through to degree completion and signaling a campus culture focused on persistence and student success.

Admissions Requirements

Completed graduate admissions application for the Master of Health Administration program.
Official transcript from the institution where you earned your bachelor’s degree, showing a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 from a regionally accredited post secondary institution.
Three letters of recommendation, with at least one from a previous professor or someone who can speak directly to your academic performance and potential for graduate study.
A statement of purpose of no more than two typed, single spaced pages describing your relevant education and professional experience, and explaining your interests and goals in pursuing the MHA.
Current curriculum vitae or resume outlining employment history, responsibilities, leadership roles, and any health care related experience.
All application materials submitted to the Office of Graduate Admissions, either electronically or in sealed official form as directed.
Criminal background check after admission, using the Georgia Criminal Information Center for Georgia residents or the appropriate state agency for non Georgia residents.
Completion and submission of the university immunization form following acceptance, in accordance with Clayton State University health requirements.

Application Deadlines

Clayton State University uses university wide graduate application deadlines for the MHA program. For domestic graduate applicants, the final recommended application deadlines are:

Fall semester: July 15
Spring semester: November 15
Summer semester: April 15

Kennesaw State University

Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics (MSHMI)

The Kennesaw State University Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics (MSHMI) is an interdisciplinary graduate program that bridges healthcare delivery, business management, and advanced information technology. Offered through a collaboration of colleges at KSU, the degree is designed to prepare you for leadership roles where you manage both people and complex data environments in hospitals, health systems, payers, and health technology organizations.

The program is structured as a 36 credit hour cohort degree that spans six semesters over approximately two years. You complete 30 credits of core coursework, a 3 credit capstone, and 3 credits of elective coursework. The curriculum follows a planned sequence, so you move through the program with the same group of classmates, building strong professional networks while you progress toward graduation.

MSHMI uses a hybrid format, combining online learning with scheduled in person sessions, typically on Friday evenings. This delivery model makes it possible to maintain a full time job while earning your degree. The design reflects the needs of working professionals who want to advance into informatics, analytics, and management roles without stepping away from current positions.

Coursework emphasizes the integration of information systems, computing, data analytics, and healthcare processes with leadership and management principles. You study healthcare workflows, electronic health records, data mining and visualization, database design, and governance alongside courses in economics, strategy, and leadership. This mix helps you understand both how data are generated and how leaders use information to improve performance.

Throughout the 36 credit hours you are asked to tackle applied problems such as modeling clinical workflows, designing dashboards, evaluating data quality, and assessing strategic options for health organizations. Many assignments are project based, allowing you to use real or realistic data sets and to consider the technical, financial, clinical, and ethical implications of your recommendations.

By the end of the MSHMI program you will have completed a cohesive, two year course of study that culminates in a capstone project focused on a real healthcare management and informatics challenge. You graduate with advanced skills in analytics and information systems combined with a solid grasp of healthcare operations and strategy, positioning you for leadership in data driven health organizations.

Courses and Curriculum

The MSHMI curriculum is anchored by a set of required courses that give you a comprehensive view of healthcare information systems and management. You begin with an introduction to healthcare management and informatics that surveys the current healthcare landscape and the role of information technology in supporting clinical and administrative work. This first course sets expectations for how technical and management perspectives intersect throughout the program.

As you move forward, you study healthcare processes and workflows, electronic health records, database systems, and the development of healthcare information applications. These courses show you how patient care is actually delivered, how information flows through organizations, and how technology can either support or hinder efficient, safe care. You learn to document existing processes, identify bottlenecks, and think critically about how new systems will affect staff and patients.

Later in the program you focus more heavily on analytics, leadership, governance, and strategy. Courses in healthcare economics and leadership examine the broader business context of health services, while classes in data mining, visualization, and governance prepare you to transform raw data into actionable insights. The capstone course then asks you to integrate what you have learned by solving a complex informatics and management problem in collaboration with an external organization or industry partner.

Some of the core courses that you will take include:

HMI 7510 – Introduction to Healthcare Management and Informatics
This course provides a broad introduction to the U.S. healthcare environment and to the informatics tools used to support it. You explore major types of providers, payers, and regulatory bodies while also examining how information systems capture, store, and share clinical and administrative data. The class emphasizes the ways in which technology can improve quality, safety, and efficiency when it is aligned with workflows and organizational goals.
HMI 7570 – Healthcare Processes and Workflows
In Healthcare Processes and Workflows you learn how to map, analyze, and redesign clinical and administrative processes. You practice using modeling techniques to represent patient registration, order entry, medication administration, and other common workflows. The course highlights how poorly designed processes create delays and errors and shows how thoughtful redesign, supported by information systems, can reduce waste and improve outcomes.
HMI 7560 – Management and Application of Electronic Health Records
This course focuses on electronic health record (EHR) systems and their role in care delivery. Topics include system architecture, clinical documentation, order management, decision support, interoperability, and user training. You examine both the technical and organizational aspects of EHR implementation and learn how administrators and informaticians can work with clinicians to improve usability and data quality.
HMI 7590 – Health Care Industry: Economics, Strategy, and Leadership
Here you examine the health sector from an economic and strategic perspective. You analyze market forces, payment models, and competitive dynamics that influence how organizations position themselves. The course also addresses leadership challenges in an environment of changing reimbursement, consumer expectations, and technology, helping you connect high level strategy with day to day operational decisions.
HMI 7610 – Management and Ethics of Leadership in Healthcare
This course emphasizes the human side of informatics and management. You explore leadership theories, organizational culture, change management, and ethical decision making in technology rich environments. Case discussions focus on issues such as data stewardship, privacy, transparency, and the impact of automation on staff roles, giving you practice in balancing innovation with responsibility.
HMI 7620 – Data Mining and Visualization in Healthcare
Data Mining and Visualization introduces techniques for extracting patterns and insights from large health datasets. You learn about data preparation, descriptive and predictive modeling approaches, and visualization methods that help stakeholders understand trends and variation. Assignments often ask you to build and interpret models that support quality improvement, resource planning, or population health initiatives.
HMI 7540 – Healthcare Information Systems Development
In this course you explore the lifecycle of healthcare information systems from requirements gathering and design through implementation and evaluation. You consider issues such as user needs, system integration, testing, and maintenance, and you learn how agile and other development approaches can be adapted to health care projects. Attention is given to the collaboration required between IT professionals, informaticians, and clinical leaders.
HMI 7580 – Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance in Healthcare
This course addresses the governance structures and risk management practices needed to protect data and support compliance with regulations. You study frameworks for information security, privacy protection, audit and monitoring, and enterprise risk assessment. Through scenarios and case studies you practice identifying vulnerabilities, prioritizing risks, and proposing governance structures that align with organizational priorities and legal obligations.

Popular Elective Courses

HMI 7530 Data Analytics via R
IS 8100 Advanced IT Project Management
IS 8200 Legal and Ethical Issues in Information Systems
IS 8320 Information Security Technologies
IT 7113 Data Visualization
MGT 8040 Managing the Value Chain

Practical Experience

Practical, project based learning is built into the KSU MSHMI program. Throughout your courses you work with real or realistic datasets, map workflows from actual care environments, and analyze scenarios drawn from partner organizations. Many classes incorporate team projects that simulate consulting engagements, where you identify a problem, analyze data, and present recommendations to stakeholders.

The program culminates in HMI 7770 – Capstone in Healthcare Management and Informatics, a 3 credit capstone course in which you and your classmates collaborate with a working professional or health organization to address a real world challenge. You apply knowledge from across the curriculum to design a feasible solution, such as a dashboard, workflow redesign, analytic model, or governance framework, and then present your work in both written and oral formats.

Because the program is cohort based and attracts students who are often employed in healthcare, you benefit from continual peer exchange about current projects, systems, and organizational issues. This environment helps you see how concepts play out in different organizations and gives you insight into career paths in informatics, analytics, and technology enabled management.

Learning Outcomes

Explain how healthcare organizations and information systems interact, including how data are generated, stored, shared, and used for clinical and administrative purposes.
Analyze clinical and administrative workflows and design technology supported process improvements that enhance quality, safety, and efficiency.
Apply economic and strategic concepts to evaluate market conditions, payment models, and competitive forces that influence informatics and technology decisions.
Use data mining, visualization, and analytics tools to derive insights from health data and communicate findings clearly to technical and nontechnical audiences.
Design, evaluate, and manage healthcare information systems and electronic health record applications with attention to usability, interoperability, and organizational fit.
Implement governance, risk management, and compliance practices that protect privacy and security while supporting appropriate data access and use.
Demonstrate ethical, inclusive leadership and effective communication when working with interdisciplinary teams of clinicians, IT professionals, analysts, and executives.
Integrate knowledge from informatics, analytics, management, and policy to propose and justify solutions to complex, data intensive healthcare management problems.

Career Preparation & Outcomes

Graduates of the Kennesaw State MSHMI program pursue roles that blend leadership with technology and analytics. Typical positions include clinical informatics manager, healthcare data analyst, project manager for health IT implementations, electronic health record applications specialist, information systems manager, and leadership roles such as chief medical informatics officer or chief information officer in larger organizations.

Kennesaw State emphasizes career readiness through its cohort format, hybrid schedule, and connections with regional health systems, consulting firms, and technology vendors. You have opportunities to interact with industry partners through projects and events, and you can take advantage of university wide career services for job search support.

At the institutional level, Kennesaw State University reports a graduation rate of about 48% for undergraduates, reflecting a commitment to student persistence and completion that supports graduate students as well.

Admissions Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution, typically with a minimum undergraduate GPA around 2.75 on a 4.0 scale.
Online application to the Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics program, including payment of the required application fee.
Official transcripts from all colleges and universities previously attended.
Current resume or curriculum vitae that outlines academic background, professional experience, technical skills, and any prior work in healthcare or information systems.
Statement of purpose describing your interest in healthcare management and informatics, your career goals, and why the MSHMI program at Kennesaw State is a good fit.
Two letters of recommendation from academic or professional references who can speak to your readiness for graduate study and your potential as a leader in healthcare and technology.

Application Deadlines

The MSHMI program admits a single new cohort each fall. Program materials indicate an application deadline around August 1 for fall entry, with international applicants encouraged to apply earlier to allow time for visa processing and relocation.

Popular Accredited Healthcare Administration Programs in Georgia [2026 Guide]