Bachelor’s in Health Services Management

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The Health Services Management (HSM) program uses an innovative, instructional approach specifically designed to prepare students to manage the business and operational side of healthcare delivery and related industries. This approach emphasizes the development of “soft” (non-technical) and “hard” (technical) skills necessary to achieve professional success. This is not a writing intensive program. Instead, we focus on preparing students for real world scenarios facing Health Services Managers. This is accomplished largely through case studies as opposed to traditional term papers, book reports, and annotated bibliographies. More specifically, we require students to produce professional deliverables consistent with that typically expected in industry, such as informal and formal business correspondence, action plans, root cause analyses, contingency plans, white papers, and the like. The emphasis is not on the quantity, but rather the quality of the submissions.

All HSM courses are delivered entirely online and leverage a collaborative meeting platform to conduct team meetings, deliver presentations, and interact in real time with industry leaders. We employ an 8-week term format as opposed to a traditional 16-week semester for the 3000 and 4000 level courses. This accelerated model allows students to focus on fewer courses while becoming more immersed in the discipline. In order to aid students in judging the amount of time necessary to fulfill course requirements, the HSM courses employ a standardized structure that balances one’s individual effort with that of his or her team. The program welcomes students from a wide array of professional backgrounds and academic preparation and is geared to non-traditional, working adults.

Finally, Brazosport College offers the country’s first 4+1 program between colleges and universities. This program allows eligible seniors to take up to 12 credit hours of graduate coursework from a partnering college or university whereby those earned credits are transferred into the bachelor’s program as electives or, if appropriate, a specialization. This allows students the opportunity to complete up to one-year of graduate school and possibly earn a Graduate Certificate by the time their complete their bachelors degree. The graduate programs make their curricula available entirely online.

Lower Division Academic Requirements - 44 Hours

Completion of the General Education Core Curriculum (42 hours)
Two science labs corresponding to Core science courses (2 hours)

Lower Division Technical Requirements - 31 Hours

Students admitted to the program with an Associate of Applied Science degree (AAS) or at least 25 credit hours of coursework completed in a particular technical field will have those credits applied to this requirement of the bachelor degree. Students who haven’t completed 25 hours in a particular field may be required to complete additional coursework applicable to the degree, with the guidance of program faculty.

Students admitted with an Associate of Arts (AA) or Associate of Science (AS) degree will be evaluated upon program admissions to determine whether or not elective courses are applicable to this requirement. Students will complete a preliminary degree plan that outlines what courses may be required to complete this portion of the degree.

Completion of 3 credits hours in business/technical writing, and 3 credit hours in business computer applications are required to complete this component of the bachelor’s program:

ENGL 2311 Technical and Business Writing OR POFT 2312 Business Correspondence and Communication
One Course From:
- POFI 1301 Computer Applications I
- ITSC 1301 Introduction to Computers
- BCIS 1305 Business Computer Applications OR BCIS 1405: Business Computer Applications
- COSC 1301 Introduction to Computing

A total of 31 credit hours is required to complete this portion of the degree. Courses taken to satisfy requirements for the General Education Core Curriculum cannot be used to meet these requirements.

Upper Division Requirements - 33 Hours

An additional 33 major credits are required to complete the bachelor’s degree.

MHSM 3302 - US Health Care Delivery Credit Hours: 3
MHSM 3303 - Statistics for Health Care Managers Credit Hours: 3
MHSM 3304 - Communication for Health Care Professionals Credit Hours: 3
MHSM 3335 - Financial Management for Health Care Managers Credit Hours: 3
MHSM 3325 - Healthcare Law and Ethics Credit Hours: 3
MHSM 3311 - Health Care Information Technology Credit Hours: 3
MHSM 3305 - Management and Organizational Behavior Credit Hours: 3
MHSM 3345 - Healthcare Operations Management Credit Hours: 3
MHSM 4310 - Human Resources in Health Care Management Credit Hours: 3
MHSM 4320 - Health Economics and Policy Credit Hours: 3
MHSM 4361 - Health Services Management Capstone Credit Hours: 3
Note: Health services management capstone may be taken once all upper-division MHSM courses have been successfully completed or the final core MHSM course may be taken concurrently with the capstone course. Ordinarily the capstone course is taken during the last term in the program; however, there may be specialization or program electives remaining to be completed.

Program Electives - 12 Hours

Students have five options to complete the 12 hour elective requirement:

Transfer in up to 12 lower division (1000 and 2000 level) credit hours previously earned in a technical program or complete additional lower division courses taken while enrolled in the baccalaureate program with Program Chair or Division Chair approval. Other lower division hours, including credit for prior learning, may be considered with Program Chair or Division Chair approval.
Complete a 12 credit hour specialization offered by Brazosport College:
1. Specialization in Human Resources Management
2. Specialization in Project Management
3. Specialization in Supply Chain and Logistics Management
4. Specialization in Health Services Management
  (not available to Health Services Management Majors)
5. Specialization in Organizational Leadership
  (not available to Organizational Leadership/Innovation Majors)
6. Specialization in Innovation
  (not available to Organizational Leadership and Innovation Majors)
Complete a 12 credit hour specialization offered by Brazosport College partner institutions. Please consult with the Program Chair or Division Chair for details. Eligible students may qualify for federal student aid to assist in covering the cost of taking approved courses from partnering colleges and universities. Current available programs include:
1. Strategic Deterrence (Bellevue University)
2. Data Science (Bellevue University)
3. Business Analytics (Bellevue University)
4. Cybersecurity (Bellevue University)
5. Information Security (Bellevue University)
6. IT Project Management (Bellevue University)
7. Healthcare (Bellevue University)
8. Management (Bellevue University)
9. Tax (Bellevue University)
10. Quantitative and Financial Analysis (Bellevue University)
11. Human Resources Management (Bellevue University)
Eligible students may take graduate level courses as part of the 4+1 program partnership with other universities, and then reverse transfer those earned credits into the electives. This ‘head start’ towards a master’s degree also allows students to select an area of specialization offered by our partner institutions. Eligible students may qualify for federal student aid to assist in covering the cost of taking approved courses from partnering colleges and universities.
Students may choose up to four courses 3000 level or higher that best fit their career goals and interests.