Master of Public Policy in Healthcare Management and Policy
At a Glance
- Format: On-Campus (Boston), with asynchronous online coursework available for core courses
- Course Breakdown: 40 credits total
- Core Courses: 7 courses in research methods, statistical analysis, economic analysis, policy strategy, program evaluation, and public policy capstone
- Concentration Courses: 3 to 4 courses in health organization management, health policy and politics, U.S. healthcare reform, and economic perspectives on health
- Additional Electives: Elective courses chosen to round out your expertise in public policy
Learn More About Our Concentration
Lead Change in Healthcare Management and Policy
How do we make healthcare more accessible without driving up costs? Who decides which communities get hospitals, which drugs get covered, and how public health crises are managed? These are not just medical questions; they are policy questions. And the people who answer them need both the analytical rigor of a policy education and a deep understanding of how healthcare systems run.
Northeastern University’s Master of Public Policy with a concentration in Healthcare Management and Policy is designed for professionals who want to make those decisions. Whether your goal is to shape federal health legislation, lead a hospital administration team, advance community health programs, or advise organizations navigating an ever-changing regulatory landscape, this concentration equips you with the tools to do it.
Please note: The MPP Healthcare Management and Policy concentration can be completed only at Northeastern’s Boston campus.
Master of Public Policy
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Fill out the form to learn more and download a brochure about Northeastern University’s Master of Public Policy.
You can also email publicaffairs@northeastern.edu or call us at +1 857.754.3734 to talk with one of our enrollment specialists.
What You’ll Learn
The MPP healthcare concentration pairs rigorous policy training with coursework centered on the unique challenges of the health sector. Students who complete this concentration develop skills in:
- Health Policy Analysis: Evaluate healthcare legislation, reform efforts, and the political forces that shape them. Develop the ability to assess policy proposals and communicate their real-world implications for patients and providers.
- Healthcare Management and Strategy: Understand how healthcare organizations operate and make decisions. Apply strategic frameworks to challenges facing hospitals and health systems.
- Health Economics: Examine the economic forces that drive access to and quality of care in U.S. healthcare systems. Learn how to use economic analysis to evaluate tradeoffs and inform policy recommendations.
- Health Equity (elective): Explore how race, ethnicity, and social factors shape health outcomes across populations through optional coursework in this concentration.
- Public Health Administration: Build practical skills in planning, managing, and evaluating public health programs. Apply established frameworks to real-world administrative and policy challenges in the health sector.
Curriculum
The Healthcare Management and Policy concentration requires 12 semester hours across three areas:
Health Management (choose one):
Covers key issues and introduces management principles in health organization management. Offers students an opportunity to apply important theoretical ideas, such as systems thinking and organizational learning, to meet challenges effectively, to learn how the healthcare workplace functions, and how to manage in these workplaces. Emphasizes case-based learning, critical thinking, and evidence-based management using individual and group projects. Introduces cutting-edge tools in areas such as work redesign, performance management, brand enhancement, and quality improvement. Addresses the management imperatives of today’s healthcare organizations and how to implement strategies and programs to meet those imperatives effectively. Intended for anyone interested in working or managing within the healthcare industry, including the field of public health.
Offers a high-level introduction to the past, current, and future states of the U.S. healthcare system, including key business and policy innovations introduced over time to improve access, quality, and affordability. Emphasizes learning about how the business and policy of healthcare works in the United States, with comparisons drawn to other countries’ healthcare systems. Analyzes the potential contributions to health system improvement made by healthcare reform, technologies such as artificial intelligence, and other disruptive innovations. Designed for students interested in learning more about healthcare industry operations and the business and policy innovations that drive performance improvements in this sector.
Offers students an opportunity to understand general business strategy concepts as they relate to the healthcare industry. Explores how to analyze market opportunities and challenges as they apply to various healthcare organizations, such as hospitals, physician organizations, and nursing homes. Presents and discusses analytical frameworks for making strategic decisions, drawing on different disciplines, including economics, management, and psychology. Strategic issues include mergers and acquisitions, vertical integration, joint ventures and alliances, performance-control systems, and organizational design.
Health Policy (choose one):
Offers students an opportunity to obtain practical knowledge concerning the planning, organization, administration, management, evaluation, and policy analysis of health programs. Surveys what we know and think about public health administration and policy and what we do in practice. Introduces the main components of public health policy and administration using notable conceptual frameworks and case studies. Requires permission of instructor for students outside designated programs.
Uses basic economic concepts to illuminate the many factors that shape health, healthcare, and the healthcare system in the United States. Examines the role of these concepts in explaining the challenges faced in achieving three core goals of the healthcare system: increasing access, limiting cost, and improving quality. Explores how policy makers, market participants, and others can remedy access, cost, and quality deficiencies. Illustrates how economic concepts can be applied to the study of health and health behaviors.
Examines contemporary healthcare policies, programs, and politics. Discusses the structure of the healthcare system and its costs, efforts to develop universal health coverage, the spread of managed care, and related topics.
Health Elective (choose one):
Explores the role of economic, social, and individual factors in explaining racial and ethnic health disparities and examines intervention approaches to eliminate them. Topics include genetic and social constructions of race and ethnicity, measuring race and ethnicity, and the differences in prevalence and patterns of disease across groups; cultural and structural factors that affect healthcare delivery, such as discrimination, racism, and health status; and public health approaches to prevention and improving healthcare delivery.
Offers students an opportunity to obtain practical knowledge concerning the planning, organization, administration, management, evaluation, and policy analysis of health programs. Surveys what we know and think about public health administration and policy and what we do in practice. Introduces the main components of public health policy and administration using notable conceptual frameworks and case studies. Requires permission of instructor for students outside designated programs.
Introduces the field of environmental health, which encompasses concerns related to physical, built, and social environments. Discusses the tools used to study environmental exposures and diseases. Examines environmental health hazards, the routes by which humans are exposed to hazards, various media in which they are found, and disease outcomes associated with exposures. Offers students an opportunity to become familiar with methods used to conduct environmental health research and with the federal and state agencies responsible for protecting environmental health.
Seeks to educate students about the role of advocacy in public health while providing tools and support to address current healthcare issues. Provides information and theory about advocacy, education, and community organizing in public health practice and skills geared toward direct application. Covers various techniques related to developing and conducting an advocacy project within a community setting. Offers students an opportunity to develop, communicate, and refine a community-based advocacy program. Requires permission of instructor for students outside designated programs.
Presents an overview of global health issues and focuses on less economically developed countries. Covers measures of disease burden; demography of disease and mortality; Millennium Development Goals (under the auspices of the United Nations); infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria and their prevention; vaccine utilization and potential implications; chronic diseases; tobacco-associated disease; nutritional challenges; behavioral modification; mother and child health; health human resources; and ethical issues in global health.
Focuses on the aspects of urban development and life that impact the health and well-being of city residents. Offers students an opportunity to learn about the impact of migration patterns, built environments, occupational stratification, and other cultural and community contextual factors that impact health status and healthcare access. Examines the level of overall health and healthcare found in urban populations, particularly the urban poor, and the disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities in the United States and elsewhere. Considers public policy approaches for addressing the unique health issues of urban areas. Examines urban health issues both from a national and international perspective. Requires permission of instructor for students outside designated programs.
Explores individual, interpersonal, and social influences on health. Offers students in public health an opportunity to learn the application of the social and behavioral sciences. Examines foundations of public health, including prevention and the prevention paradox, theories of disease causation, and public health ethics. In addition, multilevel influences on health are examined, including behavioral theories and social determinants of health. Throughout the semester, attention is paid to disparities in health. Finally, we examine strategies to reduce health disparities, such as education, interventions, and policy-level changes, and discuss their relative effectiveness. Requires permission of instructor for students outside designated programs.
General Elective (choose one):
Any course from the health elective list above, or:
Introduces students to concepts of and tools used in project management as applied to urban and regional policy issues.
Seeks to prepare students to pursue grant-based funding from a variety of funding agencies and foundations. Offers students an opportunity to develop practical skills in proposal writing and budget development. Examines all aspects of the proposal-writing process, from identifying high-potential funding opportunities to writing and submitting proposals. Assignments offer students an opportunity to apply their learning to real-world interests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, our online courses are offered asynchronously, meaning you can view class lectures on your own time. Our on-campus courses start after 5 p.m.
Students can finish the degree in as few as four semesters as a full-time student. We recommend a maximum of three courses per semester.
Tuition is $1,013 per semester hour (SH). Total tuition is $40,520, based on 40 SH (10 courses). The university also charges some additional fees per semester and/or for specific on-campus amenities. See our tuition and financial aid page for more details.
No, you do not need to provide GRE or GMAT scores in order to apply.
A general difference is that public policy is more involved in the design and impact of policy, while public administration is more concerned with implementing and managing policies.
Here is a comparison of sample MPP courses and sample MPA courses:
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For a more detailed explanation, read our article “MPP vs. MPA: What’s the Difference?”
No, it is available only at the Boston campus.
No, concentrations are optional. Students may take general electives if they’d rather shape their degree differently.
Yes, eligible students may pursue an optional 6-month co-op in addition to the required internship.
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