Health Care Administration, Bachelor of Science (559P, 559)
Department website: http://www.wku.edu/publichealth
Program Coordinator
Nadia F. Houchens, nadia.houchens@wku.edu, (270) 745-3616
The undergraduate degree program in health care administration prepares the student for administrative positions in various types of health care facilities and agencies, such as acute care, long term care, group medical practices, managed care organizations, health insurance agencies, public health agencies, clinics, and health related organizations such as manufacturing, marketing and consulting.
Program Requirements (73 hours)
A baccalaureate degree requires a minimum of 120 unduplicated semester hours. More information can be found at www.wku.edu/registrar/degree_certification.php.
Students who began WKU in the Fall 2014 and thereafter should review the Colonnade requirements located at: https://www.wku.edu/colonnade/colonnaderequirements.php.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| HCA 120 | Health Literacy for Consumers | 3 |
| Select one of the following: | 3 | |
| Contemporary Healthcare Issues | ||
| Human Values and the Health Sciences | ||
| Biomedical Ethics | ||
| Social Ethics | ||
| Ethics and Critical Thinking | ||
| Ethical Issues and Dilemmas in Social Work | ||
| HCA 340 | Health Care Organization and Management | 3 |
| HCA 342 | Human Resources Management for Healthcare Managers | 3 |
| HCA 343 | Quality Management for Healthcare | 3 |
| or HCA 353 | Quality and Patient Safety in Long-Term Care | |
| HCA 344 | Health Systems Management | 3 |
| HCA 345 | Long-Term Care Administration | 3 |
| HCA 346 | Ambulatory Care Administration | 3 |
| or HCA 355 | Nursing Facility Administration | |
| HCA 347 | International Comparisons of Health Care Systems | 3 |
| or PH 410 | Global Perspectives on Population Health | |
| ACCT 220 | Principles of Financial Accounting | 3 |
| or HIM 252 | Healthcare Payment Systems | |
| HCA 383 | Management Applications in Healthcare | 1 |
| HCA 440 | Health Economics (or any 300 level or higher economics course) | 3 |
| Select one of the following: | 3 | |
| Legal Aspects / Health Care | ||
| Legal Environment of Business | ||
| Business Law | ||
| Legal Issues in Health Information Management | ||
| HCA 442 | Principles and Methods of Health Planning | 3 |
| HCA 445 | Health Care Finance | 3 |
| HCA 446 | Health Care Informatics | 3 |
| HCA 447 | Information Systems Laboratory | 1 |
| HCA 448 | Health Care Analysis and Evaluation | 3 |
| HCA 449 | Internship in Health Care Administration | 3 |
| FIN 330 | Principles of Finance | 3 |
| or HCA 401 | Fundamentals of Health Care Financial Management | |
| Select one of the following: | 3 | |
| Biostatistics in the Health Sciences | ||
| Introductory Statistics | ||
| Social Statistics | ||
| AH/HIM 290 | Medical Terminology | 2 |
| Select two 3-hour HCA electives with permission of advisor | 6 | |
| Total Hours | 67 | |
Additional Courses
In addition to meeting the Colonnade requirements, students pursuing the health care administration curriculum must take the following:
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ECON 202 | Principles of Economics (Micro) | 3 |
| or ECON 203 | Principles of Economics (Macro) | |
| Select one of the following: | 3-6 | |
| Human Anatomy and Physiology | ||
| Personal & Public Health and Public and Community Health | ||
| Introduction to Epidemiology | ||
| Total Hours | 6-9 | |
Some of these required courses fulfill Colonnade subject area requirements. Requirements for admission (reference number 559): 30 hours including the above courses with overall GPA of 2.5 or better. (ECON 202 or ECON 203 and one of the following options BIOL 131; PH 100 & PH 381; or PH 384).
All courses listed above require a minimum grade of “C” (both prerequisites and core courses).
Students will not be allowed to enroll in 400-level HCA classes until they are fully admitted into the HCA program.
Requirements for degree completion: 67 hours of program courses with an overall GPA of 2.5 or better.
| First Year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | ||
| ENG 100 | 3 | HIST 101 or HIST 102 | 3 | ||
| Colonnade - Arts & Humanities | 3 | ENG 200 | 3 | ||
| Colonnade - Quantitative Reasoning | 3 | COMM 145 | 3 | ||
| Colonnade - Natural & Physical Science (Not Biology) | 3 | BIOL 131 or PH 100 | 3-4 | ||
| HCA 120 | 3 | PH 383, MATH 183, or SOCL 300 | 3 | ||
| 15 | 15-16 | ||||
| Second Year | |||||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | ||
| ECON 202 or ECON 203 | 3 | AH 290 or HIM 290 | 2 | ||
| ENG 300 | 3 | ACCT 220 or HIM 252 | 3 | ||
| PH 381 or PH 384 (only if PH 100 is taken) | 3 | World Language or General Elective | 3 | ||
| Connections - Social & Cultural | 3 | General Elective | 3 | ||
| General Elective or Natural & Physical Science (if BIOL 131 not taken) | 3 | Connections - Systems | 3 | ||
| 15 | 14 | ||||
| Third Year | |||||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | ||
| HCA 340 | 3 | FIN 330 or HCA 401 | 3 | ||
| HCA Elective | 3 | HCA 345 | 3 | ||
| Connections - Local to Global | 3 | HCA 344 | 3 | ||
| HCA 383 | 1 | HCA 342 | 3 | ||
| PH 447, HCA 247, PHIL 322, PHIL 323, MGT 305, or SWRK 433 | 3 | HCA 446 | 3 | ||
| HCA 447 | 1 | ||||
| 13 | 16 | ||||
| Fourth Year | |||||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | Summer | Hours |
| HCA 343 or HCA 353 | 3 | HCA 445 | 3 | HCA 449 - Internship in HCA | 3 |
| HCA 441, MGT 200, MGT 301, or HIM 225 | 3 | HCA 347 or PH 410 | 3 | ||
| HCA 346 | 3 | HCA 442 | 3 | ||
| HCA 440 (or upper-level ECON course) | 3 | HCA 448 | 3 | ||
| HCA Elective | 3 | General Elective | 2 | ||
| 15 | 14 | 3 | |||
| Total Hours 120-121 | |||||