Business Education for Healthcare Innovation
Summary
The healthcare delivery system is one of the most complex businesses in the country.It makes up almost 20% of the U.S. economy and is growing as an industry globally with increasing demand from the emerging middle class and the aging of the population. While large, healthcare is fraught with issues related to cost, variable quality, and patient access challenges. Talk to anyone who has worked in the system and you will hear a litany of issues that cry out for innovative business solutions. Having the right set of skills and knowledge are necessary for success in this field.
If you’re interested in healthcare management, but are looking for foundational knowledge to get started, you should check out the Business School Alliance for Health Management (BAHM).
BAHM was founded by a community of business schools who have faculty and programming in the field of healthcare management. BAHM members believe healthcare merits consideration as a separate focus area within business education. BAHM understands that many of the challenges in the health sector are related to business model failures, and that solutions will require mastery of core business disciplines presented in a rigorous fashion. This education is supplied by the traditional curricular approach of an MBA program.
However, the complexity of healthcare institutions and administrative/regulatory barriers inherent in the system make this a challenging subject for those developing innovative business solutions for this sector. Thus, BAHM members have recognized the need for programs that also provide an expertise and understanding of the institutions and business processes in the health sector. BAHM member schools all agree with this core assessment of educational needs to prepare tomorrow’s leaders in health care. BAHM schools are the world’s leading academic programs for one of the world’s most challenging careers.
“When students ask me about academic preparation for a career in the health sector, I suggest they seek out schools that offer both a fundamental education in business and an opportunity for mastery of the specifics of the health sector. This preparation is equally critical to your preparation for the first job out of business school as to your development as a leader in the field,” said Kevin Schulman, president of BAHM.
In terms of career opportunities, healthcare programs at BAHM institutions prepare students for diverse careers in consulting, finance, provider industries, insurance, biomedical technology, and health information technology. These are all exciting and growing fields, and firms in these areas as active recruiters on BAHM member campuses.
BAHM has developed a website to allow you to compare the different opportunities and unique resources of member institutions: www.BAHM-Alliance.Org
The BAHM member schools include:
- W.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University
- Carlson School of Management, University Minnesota
- Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley
- Harvard Business School
- Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
- The Indian School of Business (ISB), Mohali, India
- Owen School of Business, Vanderbilt University
- Questrom School of Business, Boston University
- J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University
- University of Colorado Denver Business School
- University of Miami School of Business Administration
- Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania
- Yale School of Management
Dan Mendelson, president and CEO of Avalere Health is adjunct faculty at Wharton’s School of Business. Following in the BAHM model, he teaches a class that analyzes the impact of government—as the largest healthcare payer—on healthcare business and how executives can understand and navigate the increasingly complex policy environment.
For additional information, please visit BAHM’s website.