Healthcare Leadership and Administration

363 Maxwell Hall
507.457.2315
Healthcare Leadership and Administration website
Email: hla@winona.edu
Shellie Nelson, Program Director

Healthcare Leadership & Administration

Program Overview

The Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) in Healthcare Leadership and Administration (HLA) is an interdisciplinary online completion degree. The purpose of this degree is to meet the growing demand for competent and innovative leaders in the field of allied health and to deliver the program in a way that effectively serves adult learners and working professionals.

The Healthcare Leadership and Administration degree builds upon a foundation of technical and applied knowledge and skills acquired through education, training, and employment experience across a wide range of medical specialties. It enables the student to develop and apply a comprehensive set of professional leadership and managerial competencies that complement and enhance the technical skills acquired through an associate degree program and relevant work experience.

Leadership competencies include but are not be limited to developing communication skills, relationship abilities, team building, organizational vision and trust, character, cultural competency, mentoring and coaching abilities. Administrative competencies include but are not be limited to organizational management and effectiveness, human resource management, financial management, organizational planning and performance, legal and ethical issues in health care, quality assurance and improvement, and information management.

The HLA degree offers a program of study that aligns with the Healthcare Leadership Alliance, a consortium of the nation’s premier professional healthcare administration associations, serving more than 140,000 members. It is designed to strengthen leadership knowledge and competencies related to the healthcare field. The HLA Core courses are delivered through online coursework that meets national standards for excellence in distance education. Students pursuing this degree will have an opportunity to enrich their professional knowledge, skills, and abilities related to the rapidly-growing field of healthcare leadership.

Coursework is focused in five major areas:

Knowledge Domain I: Communication and Relationship Management

Enhance communication skills and the ability of students to positively influence others through understanding human behavior. Enable individuals at the various occupational levels to build rapport and relationships among colleagues, stakeholders, and customers. Develop skills in the areas of workplace communications, negotiation, conflict resolution, and facilitating effective teamwork.

Knowledge Domain II: Leadership

Gain a deeper and practical understanding of the organizational, political, social, economic, technological, and ethical issues affecting healthcare organizations. Enhance core competencies to lead in times of significant change. Learn effective ways of communicating with others in management and leadership roles both inside and outside the healthcare system.

Knowledge Domain III: Professionalism

Seek awareness of the conduct, aims, and qualities defining a given profession, familiarity with professional codes of ethics, and understanding of ethical schools of thought, patient professional interaction models, and patient rights. Specifically, students will also understand how the legal system in the U.S. operates and how the fundamental principles of law are applied to either the public health or health services sectors. Lastly, students will gain an appreciation for legal, ethical, and policy issues pertaining to their professional careers.

Knowledge Domain IV: Knowledge of Healthcare Environment

Students will understand and be able to analyze effectively the management and/or policy implications of the major issues related to the organization of the healthcare system (of the U.S. and other nations): social values; assessment and regulation of healthcare system; analysis of need, access and use of services; current supply and distribution of health resources; current healthcare costs and expenditures and reasons for their rapid increase; private and public financing of health services; quality of care assessment; control of quality and costs of care through market-oriented strategies, professional self-regulation, managerial approaches, and government regulations; and health system reform issues.

Knowledge Domain V: Business Skills and Knowledge

Refine and sharpen a number of management-related skills, including performance of managerial and financial accounting practices. Additionally, identify and analyze appropriate management frameworks for solving specific organizational problems and strategically analyze the organizational environment.

Who should pursue this degree?

The term allied health is used to identify a cluster of health professions and covers as many as 200 occupational titles, exclusive of physicians, nurses, and a handful of other professionals. Graduates of associate-level programs in the Allied Health Sciences as well as practitioners who work with physicians and members of the health care team to deliver high-quality patient care services are the primary candidates for the Bachelor of Applied Science degree program. Allied healthcare jobs include a variety of technologists and technicians, medical/surgical/dental assistants, radiographers, and therapists. In addition to hospitals and long-term care facilities, graduates with a Healthcare Leadership and Administration degree are employed by insurance and pharmaceutical companies or in government positions that focus on public health and policy issues.

Healthcare Leadership and Administration (HLA): Program Requirements for Online Major

Admission to the Baccalaureate Healthcare Leadership and Administration (HLA) Program

Admission Requirements

The HLA program is designed as an online completion degree. Therefore, the applicant must possess an associate (AAS, AS, or AA) degree from a regionally accredited college prior to admittance to the program.
The applicant must demonstrate that he or she has earned 60 or more credits (junior/senior standing) at the time of application, or will do so prior to the start of HLA major coursework.
The applicant must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 at the time of application.
The applicant must demonstrate completion of the Winona State General Education Program (GEP) for graduation. Goal 1: Communication requirements and Goal 4: Math requirements need to be completed prior to first year coursework. More GEP information is available on the General Education Program page. Please note that completion of these requirements may be achieved through transfer coursework and that the GEP requirements are waived for those who have earned an AA degree. It is strongly recommended that the majority of GEP coursework is completed prior to starting HLA coursework.
Students must meet application requirements outlined in the WSU Undergraduate Catalog - Admissions section.

Additional Admission Considerations

Applicants who meet all HLA program requirements and possess professional experience, paid or unpaid, in a healthcare-related field will receive priority in the admission process.
Students are expected to have the computer hardware and skills necessary for successful participation in online courses. Specific requirements and learning modules are available on the HLA website.

Admission Process

All applicants must complete the WSU Admissions process and the online HLA Pre-Application form. Specific instructions are detailed for transfer students under Admissions/Transfer Student Admission. Special admission status can also be granted to applicants who meet criteria for Adult Entry. Refer to the WSU catalog under Admissions/Special Admissions Categories/Adult Entry Students for requirements. Additional resources for adult students are available.

After receiving the Official Evaluation of Credit from the Office of Admissions, applicants should do the following:

Contact the HLA Program Director in the semester preceding enrollment for application materials, deadline dates, and general information.
Apply for admission to the HLA major.
Applicants will receive HLA program eligibility or acceptance information and will need to schedule an advising appointment.

Standards and Retention within the HLA Major

To satisfy the academic standards of the HLA major, students must:

Adhere to all WSU student policies including the Academic Integrity Policy and the Student Conduct Code.
Follow appropriate online etiquette: Taking an online course and corresponding via the World Wide Web presents communicators with the task of overcoming the lack of non-verbal communications. When taking a course online, it is important to remember several points of etiquette that will facilitate communication between the students and their instructors. Please be respectful and courteous at all times in written or direct communications with your instructor and fellow classmates. Behave as politely as you would in a regular classroom. Language that might come across as offensive, inappropriate or strong will not be tolerated in discussion posts, emails or any communication among all members of the course. For more specific rules on etiquette consult your course materials.
Achieve a grade of “C” or above in each required HLA course. Students are allowed to take an individual HLA course no more than twice. Students who are unable to successfully complete a HLA course with a “C” or better after two attempts will not be allowed to continue the HLA program.
Take all major courses for a letter grade.

Graduate Requirements

A total of 120 semester credits are needed to graduate with a baccalaureate degree from Winona State University. Graduation requirements include completion of WSU GEP requirements as well as all HLA major course requirements. Technical credits that have been approved in articulation and/or transfer may apply to the necessary 120 credits total.

At least 40 of the required 120 credits must be upper division (300- and 400-level). Also, at least 30 of the 120 credits needed for graduation must be earned at WSU during a student’s junior and senior year. The coursework making up the HLA Interdisciplinary Core includes 36 total credits and an additional 12 credits of upper division elective coursework. See the HLA Program Director for current electives and coursework transferability.

In order to qualify for graduation, HLA students must additionally:

Demonstrate a 2.5 GPA in HLA major coursework
Achieve a “C” or above in all courses that count toward the HLA major

For a checklist of WSU’s graduation requirements, see the Academic Policies & University Requirements section of the Academic Catalog.