Health Sector Management

COURSE CODE: hm703

This course provides a dynamic introduction to the health sector, beginning with the burden and distribution of disease and current patterns of expenditures. While the emphasis will be on the American system, a global context will be developed. The basic elements of insurance and payment, service delivery, and life sciences products will be described, and put in the context of the unique economic structure of the sector. The intense challenges of the sector will be explored, as well as both the ethical issues presented and the opportunities that emerge. Public policy and technological and practice development as drivers of change will be addressed throughout.

COURSE CODE: hm820

This course provides students with tools from the fields of economics, strategy, and finance to understand the problems faced by firms involved in both the provision and payment sides of the health care sector along with those in the life-sciences industry. The course focuses on models that clarify the tradeoffs in the healthcare sector. The goal is to provide students with frameworks for profit maximization, frameworks that are unique to healthcare.

COURSE CODE: hm710

This course will provide knowledge and skills needed to develop and implement systems capable of delivering accessible, high quality, efficient health care services. It will draw upon relevant information from disciplinary areas of study including strategy, operations, marketing, finance, law, human resources, quality improvement, and information technology.

COURSE CODE: hm717

This course will examine issues and opportunities in life sciences including the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical devices sectors and the life sciences service industry supporting these sectors. The course will investigate who manages these companies and what are the strategies that are used to build successful enterprises. There will be a review of the expertise that is needed in these companies or that must be out-sourced including development, manufacturing, marketing and finance. The principals governing the industry including patent law, regulatory and FDA compliance will be addressed. Formerly, "Bio-Pharma and Medical Device Companies: Strategies, Solutions and Execution"

COURSE CODE: hm710

This course will provide knowledge and skills needed to develop and implement systems capable of delivering accessible, high quality, efficient health care services. It will draw upon relevant information from disciplinary areas of study including strategy, operations, marketing, finance, law, human resources, quality improvement, and information technology.

COURSE CODE: hm717

This course will examine issues and opportunities in life sciences including the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical devices sectors and the life sciences service industry supporting these sectors. The course will investigate who manages these companies and what are the strategies that are used to build successful enterprises. There will be a review of the expertise that is needed in these companies or that must be out-sourced including development, manufacturing, marketing and finance. The principals governing the industry including patent law, regulatory and FDA compliance will be addressed. Formerly, "Bio-Pharma and Medical Device Companies: Strategies, Solutions and Execution"

COURSE CODE: hm801

The subject of the course is the translation of medical technologies into new products and services for the healthcare system. The course begins with a rigorous study of intellectual property, licensing and the core aspects of planning, creating, funding and building new entrepreneurial ventures. Concepts and tools are presented for assessing new technologies and their potential to be the basis for a new entrepreneurial venture. Comparisons will be made of how technologies can be sourced and commercialized out of three very different environments: universities, national laboratories and corporate laboratories. Cross-disciplinary teams of students will be formed which will evaluate translational research projects currently being developed at Boston University and their potential for transformation into a start-up company to commercialize the technology, providing a unique linkage between the scientific research activities of the university and the professional schools. Each week there will be a case study which will discuss examples of both success and failure in technology commercialization. Some of these case studies examine Boston University life sciences spin-out companies, and the founders and CEO’s of these ventures will share their experiences with the class.

COURSE CODE: hm817

For students interested in enhancing their skills for positions in the rapidly growing field of healthcare information technology, this course utilizes healthcare delivery, life science, and business leaders to deliver current perspectives and trends in the use of information technology (IT) to enhance patient care outcomes while delivering more cost-effective care. Students explore various methods and approaches that can be applied to both develop and evaluate IT systems encompassing electronic medical records, administrative systems, healthcare mobile applications, and the emerging field of digital therapeutics. The course provides strategic perspectives important to the healthcare chief information officer, chief medical information officer, other managers, prospective healthcare IT entrepreneurs, and users of both clinical and administrative IT systems. Its focus is not on the technical specialist.

COURSE CODE: hm833

This elective provides an in-depth understanding of health sector marketing in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors for both products and services (hospital, managed care and health services of all types, life sciences, pharma and biotech, medical devices, medical software, and so on). The course explores how the tools of marketing (e.g., consumer behavior, pricing, promotion, channels, branding, segmentation, etc.) can be employed in the rapidly changing health sector with particular attention to changing organizational structures, financing, technologies, market demands, laws, channels of distribution, on-line applications, and regulations which require new approaches to marketing. Topics to be addressed include marketing to physicians, DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) Marketing, new product development particularly for pharmaceuticals and medical devices, adoption of medical and service innovations, typical decision making units in the health sector, and social marketing. (The course is still in development so there will likely be more topics added.) The course will have you keep in mind always while making marketing decisions that medicine, in the purest sense, is a profession with an intellectual discipline, a tradition of service, and an ethical code of conduct, and that service to the patient, as individuals and in the aggregate, is foremost in marketing decision making.

COURSE CODE: hm840

Students enrolled in this course will be divided into teams of 3-4 students during the first class. Each team will be assigned a business development/strategy/marketing consulting project for a local, regional, national, or international health sector organization. These projects have been requested by these organizations; the organizations are covering all expenses associated with the projects and anticipate receiving a consulting report from the student team at the end of the semester. The deliverables for this assignment are the consulting report as well as a 30 minute in-class presentation followed by a 10 minute question-and-answer period. The team may also be asked by the organization to make a presentation to the organization’s management. These projects constitute a way to apply what you are learning in the MBA program to a real health sector management situation; an opportunity to gain experience and broaden your familiarity with health sector organizations with which you have had little or no direct experience; a way for local, regional, and national health sector organizations to benefit from your expertise and hard work in solving a management problem; and a continuing linkage of the Boston University MBA and Health Care Management Programs to the health sector community.

COURSE CODE: hm848

COURSE CODE: om840

Lean and Six Sigma are powerful improvement methodologies that promote process improvement, cost reduction and significant enhancement of bottom-line profitability. The purpose of this course is to thoroughly examine the concept of quality, to define it in terms that are useful for managers, to survey the ideas of major quality thinkers and theorists, to develop proficiency in the use of quality tools, and to consider the challenges of quality program implementation in real business situations. Throughout the course we will investigate similarities and differences between quality management in manufacturing and service contexts. The course has three major objectives. The first goal is to define quality and explore important philosophies and useful frameworks for managers or consultants. The second goal is to focus on the Lean and Six Sigma tools available for the pursuit of lasting quality improvements. The third is to bring the experiences of Lean Six Sigma practice into the classroom. We’ll benefit from the expertise and experience of Lean and Six Sigma professionals who will help us to understand the challenges of Lean and Six Sigma implementations and analyze the lessons they have learned from projects they have undertaken.

COURSE CODE: si814

Formerly FE814 (students who took FE814 may not take SI814). This course covers the ways in which companies use intellectual property to protect their investments in knowledge assets. Traditionally a concern for technology-intensive businesses, patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets have become important business tools throughout the knowledge-based economy. A good understanding of what IP assets are and how they work has become essential for managers in all types of organizations. This is not a law course, nor a how-to manual rather it is intended to develop your analytical understanding of fundamental economic and legal aspects of intellectual property systems, and how they drive competition and strategy.