The Master of Healthcare Leadership (MHL) Program delivers advanced training in leading and managing integrated healthcare delivery. The MHL Program prepares students to transform healthcare settings using firm foundations in population health management, strategic thinking, critical analysis, and innovative change-management.
At $400 per credit hour, the MHL program at Cummings Graduate Institute is an affordable healthcare leadership master level degree program, averaging 75% less than the average cost of comparable programs.
Read more about MHL program tuition.
The MHL curriculum prepares graduates to:
- effectively collaborate with multi-modality leadership
- create a transformational culture around person-centered care
- deliver evidence-based change management and leadership efficiency
- quantify quality, risk management, and cost containment
- design cost-effective population health approaches and improvements
- lead improvements in healthcare cost containment, patient and provider engagement, legal and information systems management
- create a holistic culture of care with a focus on the Quadruple Aim
Entry Points: Fall & Spring I | View admissions deadlines
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MHL Program Mission
MHL Program Purpose
MHL Program Outcomes
Marketplace Demand
Graduate Employment Opportunities
MHL Program Mission
The mission of the MHL program is to prepare transformational healthcare leaders with strong foundations in population health management, strategic thinking, critical analysis, and innovative change management through a person-, provider-, and organization-centered perspective.
MHL Program Purpose
The Master of Healthcare Leadership (MHL) Program delivers advanced training in leading and managing integrated healthcare delivery. This degree is designed to address the unmet educational need to prepare healthcare professionals to design, implement, and measure outcomes of integration efforts in multi-topology healthcare delivery systems. The MHL Program prepares students to transform healthcare settings using firm foundations in population health management, strategic thinking, critical analysis, and innovative change-management. Cummings Graduate Institute’s overarching objective in offering this new degree program is to prepare well-rounded servant leaders in the transformational healthcare space.
The Master of Healthcare Leadership (MHL) Program Outcomes
- MHL graduates will effectively collaborate with multi-modality leadership within network-driven systems to create a transformational culture around person-centered care.
- MHL graduates will deliver evidence-based change management, leadership efficiency, and transformational insights to appropriately quantify quality, risk management, and cost containment for primary care and specialty medical settings.
- MHL graduates will design cost-effective population health approaches to treating chronic and comorbid conditions while addressing social determinants of health.
- MHL graduates lead innovative improvements in areas of healthcare cost containment, population health program design, patient and provider engagement, consumerization, access management, legal and information systems management.
- MHL graduates will create a holistic culture of care within their organizations with a focus on measuring success in achieving the Quadruple Aim.
Marketplace Demand
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, while chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the most common, expensive, and preventable health issues facing Americans, evidence from the Institute of Medicine demonstrates that at least half of Americans with chronic disease are not receiving good care. The American healthcare system is in need of a massive redesign, which will require highly skilled leaders to ensure that the redesign revolves around the needs of the US population. The Masters in Healthcare Leadership program provides specific training in population health and disease management, quality measurement, healthcare analytics and informatics, and innovative financing approaches that enable integration. With this incredibly unique skill set, MHL Graduates will be in high demand in the healthcare marketplace.
Cummings Graduate Institute cannot guarantee employment or job placement to graduates upon program/course completion or graduation from the institution.
Graduate Employment Opportunities
Students are trained as the next generation of healthcare leaders and managers. When students graduate from this program, they will enter the field ready to create ethical and innovative solutions to big problems and challenges facing today’s healthcare environments while remaining focused on patients and providers.
While many students may be employed full-time in healthcare leadership positions while enrolled in the MHL program, graduates prepared for transformational directors, managers and executive positions at Healthcare Systems (Hospital and Ambulatory), Payers, Management Consulting, Pharmaceutical companies, etc.
Cummings Graduate Institute cannot guarantee employment or job placement to graduates upon program/course completion or graduation from the institution.
Curriculum & Training
Course Subjects
Credit Hours
Number of clock and/or credit hours for the MHL Program
Maximum Timeframe
Minimum Timeframe
Curriculum & Training
Required Course offerings are designed to prepare graduates to successfully lead cultural change in healthcare according to CJ Peek’s (2009) “Three World View” while addressing Bodenheimer & Sinksy’s (2014) Fourth Aim. Our unique blend of courses reflect the MHL Program’s four pillars: Population Health Management, Critical Analysis, Innovative Change Management, and Technology Enablement.
Our unique blend of courses reflect the MHL Program’s four pillars:
- Population Health Management
- Critical Analysis
- Innovative Change Management
- Technology Enablement
All students complete a Capstone Project, an applied integrated care project demonstrating innovation in the field and ability to respond creatively and competently to the needs of rapidly-evolving patient population and healthcare environments.
Course Subjects
|
Pillar I: Population Health Management (6 credit hours required) |
Pillar II:
Critical Analytics (6 credit hours required) |
Pillar III:
Innovative Change Management (6 credit hours required) |
Pillar IV::
Technology Enablement (6 credit hours required) |
| MHL 4000: Essentials of Population Health Management | MHL 4200: Healthcare Finance Analytics | MHL 4400: Leadership & Strategic Development in Healthcare Settings | MHL 4600:
VBC Programs |
| MHL 4100: Quality in Healthcare | MHL 4300:
Health Policy & Advocacy |
MHL 4500:
Value Based Care Leadership |
MHL 4700:
Informatics & Analytics |
| MHL 1100 Portfolio
(3 credit hours required) |
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|
MHL 5000 MHL Capstone Project (3 credit hours required) |
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Credit Hours
Students will earn three (3) credit hours for each course as listed and described in the Degree Program Course List and Descriptions below. Course units (credit hours) are clearly delineated in each course syllabus.
Number of clock and/or credit hours for the Master of Healthcare Leadership (MHL) Program
A total of thirty (30) credit hours are required for graduation.
Required courses make up twenty-four (24) credit hours. The breakdown of required credit hours is as follows:
| Core Courses | 24 credit hours |
| Portfolio Course | 3 credit hours |
| Culminating Project Course | 3 credit hours |
| Total credit hours for degree program | 30 credit hours |
Maximum Timeframe
The Maximum Time frame to complete the program is measured in calendar years for the MHL program. Students must complete the program within three and a half (3.5) years and are only permitted to attempt 45 credits before program termination. However, if exceptions are granted by the Director of the Program, students may complete their degree within five (5) years of enrollment.
Minimum Timeframe
The minimum timeframe for completing the program is eightteen (18) months, which would include four (4) twelve (12) week terms (Fall, Spring I, Spring II) and one (1) seven (7) week summer term.
| Course Number | Course Title | Credit Hours | Course Description | Pre- or Co- requisites |
| Population Health Management – 6 credit hours – required | ||||
| MHL 4000 | Population Health Management | 3 | Population health focuses on the health and well‐being of entire populations. Populations may be geographically defined, such as neighborhoods, states, or countries, or may be based on groups of individuals who share common characteristics such as age, gender, race‐ethnicity, disease status, employee group membership, or socioeconomic status. With roots in epidemiology, public health, and demography, a key component of population health is the focus on the social determinants of health and “upstream” collaborative interventions to improve population health and variance, identify and reduce health disparities, and reduce healthcare costs. Given the shifting health care environment – from fee‐for‐service to value‐based care – health administrators and managers who are able to apply epidemiological and demographic tools to measure, analyze, evaluate and improve population health will be well‐positioned for positions in health care as the field continues to evolve. | n/a |
| MHL 4100 | Quality in Healthcare | 3 | Quality progress in healthcare has been at best inconsistent and fragmented. The U.S. health system lacks agreement on a single set of quality measure standards which would enable accurate measure of value. Clinical and administrator professions lack the skills, tools, and techniques to lead quality-driven healthcare. Instead, healthcare systems make up their own quality standards based on their populations, thus creating a disjointed effort with often disparate results. The value transformation is to enable quality automation as a tool for tracking effectiveness in quality of care and streamlining safety protocols. In this course the student will explore existing NCQA HEDIS level quality programs at the population level, healthcare plan metrics and clinical quality measures. The definition of healthcare quality is not just quality measures, but rather a holistic, integrated, patient-centered approach of tracking quality and performance improvements. This course will explore the foundations around the history of HEDIS® (NCQA) programs to drive effective quality initiatives at various points of care. The exploration of the future of quality initiatives and the impact on payment reform. Emerging strategies for incorporating telehealth and other patient engagement innovations. Longitudinal based approach to quality measurements towards patient-centered care. | Pre-req.
MHL 4000 |
| Critical Analysis – 6 credit hours – required | ||||
| MHL 4200 | Healthcare Finance Analytics | 3 | “Where does the money come from?” Economics of healthcare informatics and value-based payments including models under MIPS/MACRA, commercial payer value and fee-for-service contracts, grants, pay-for-performance, downside/upside risk and full capitation. In an ever changing, regulatory compliance landscape where does healthcare services play a role in the various payment models? What happens when the providers must act as “payviders” and trust their data/analytics for effectively proving value? What kind of network topology is more efficient in quantifying value, reducing costs and improving outcomes? How to best build and provide analytics to quantifiable bridges to payers and government programs to move towards value-based payments for health systems. The purpose of this class is to assist the student in developing the necessary analytical ability, attitudes, and decision-making skills required of a healthcare manager in a changing and transformational environment. | Pre-req.
MHL 4000 |
| MHL 4300 | Health Policy & Advocacy | 3 | Practical approach to healthcare policy and advocacy for U.S. students learning in a unique landscape of health policy and decision-making. Analyze, advocate and develop comprehensive policy solutions that can address far-reaching health equity problems. This course starts with a History of US Healthcare System and associated Policy and Politics. A historical inference of the creation of ONC, HHS and CMS and the repercussion each of these governmental institutions have enacted on the healthcare of the U.S. population. Advocacy domains, major players and stakeholders around: Mental & Behavioral health, pediatrics, elderly, patient-centered advocacy, co-design with communities, providers health and sustainability, special populations with special needs, SDOH, poverty and housing. This course will activate the student to think about local and individual responsibility for their own community advocacy with a focus on classification of existing/influential entities with power at the local, state and federal levels. | Pre-req.
MHL 4000 |
| Innovative Change Management – 6 credit hours – required | ||||
| MHL 4400 | Leadership & Strategic Development in Healthcare Settings | 3 | Leadership in healthcare is in a constant state of {r}evolution based on competing and chaotic factors enacted by healthcare stakeholders. Effective leadership directly affects staff satisfaction, attrition/retainment, and cost containment. Employees are interested in leaders who can lead in a positive and encouraging manner. When the healthcare organization’s staff are satisfied with their employment, patient satisfaction rises and quality of care improves. Health care organizations can see this trickle-down effect through increases in patient satisfaction scores over time. The promotion of effective communication and positive attitudes enhances a healthy environment for all employees and staff. Health care organizations must promote transformational leadership qualities; this will directly result in desired clinical and financial outcomes. Servant leadership will be the focus for creating the next generation of healthcare leaders. This course explores leadership styles and operational structures that promote integration amongst disciplines and healthcare providers. Students will begin to analyze their own leadership style and to examine the types of leaders and team members they will need to gather to improve population health, per capita costs, and the healthcare experience while maintaining a high quality, balanced work life for providers. | Pre-req.
MHL 4000 |
| MHL 4500 | Value Based Care Leadership | 3 | Optimization of programs, dealing with diverse stakeholders with the focus of improving clinical and financial outcomes. Focus on the future of the next generation leader towards sustainability. Competing priorities in “counting the beans” vs transformational leadership. We’ve always done it this way! We don’t know what we don’t know! Are detrimental paradigms for today’s Healthcare leaders. How do CTO, CMO, CMIO, CEO, COO, CExO, et al- become a cohesive force towards increasing outcomes and lowering the cost of healthcare? With physician leadership and health care providers increasingly living in two worlds of FFS and FFV, what are the right leaders to enact sustainable transformational change in healthcare organizations? | Pre-req.
MHL 4000 |
| Technology Enablement – 6 credit hours – required | ||||
| MHL 4600 | VBC Programs | 3 | Vast changes are coming to the way we purchase healthcare. What should a healthcare system be doing now to be successful in the world of value-based payments and price transparency? How do HCCs impact benchmarks and quality scores? Discuss the importance of managing HCCs year over year. What resources are available from CMS to help? The link between cost and quality and how they get measured through the lens of at-risk bearing entities such as Accountable Care Organizations (ACO). How do these organizations thrive (and flounder) in today’s ultra-competitive environment? | Pre-req.
MHL 4000 |
| MHL 4700 | Informatics & Analytics | 3 | Analytics it’s about telling a story through data. To make the best use of the massive amounts of data (big data) being collected by hospitals and health systems, executives are turning to powerful analytical tools to find operational efficiencies and other cost savings. As healthcare becomes increasingly data-driven, healthcare organizations find themselves inundated with more information than ever before. Figuring out what to do with all the data may not be easy, but for healthcare executives it is a challenge worth tackling because health systems that successfully implement a data analytics program can significantly enhance their economic outcomes and fiscal stability. Students will be exposed to the idea of becoming Data Therapists and Data Diggers. Using Analytical tools (eg Tableau) to focus on data domains that support storytelling and engagement. Students will engage in interactive building projects that will include data quality, data accessibility and data visualization functions. | Pre-req.
MHL 4000 |
| Portfolio – 3 credit hours – required | ||||
| MHL 1100 | Portfolio | 3 | The MHL candidate will complete an electronic portfolio to integrate all prior learning, related coursework, and experiences by compiling and improving artifacts created throughout the MHL program. The Folio provides a venue for the student to demonstrate mastery of the program outcomes expected prior to beginning the Capstone Project. The student’s advisor and/or portfolio committee works with candidates on an individual basis to ensure that each artifact required in the portfolio is adequately prepared, competency statements and other requirements are written, and a presentation medium is selected to connect these items together. The student will also prepare the Folio for its defense to the Folio Committee. The outcome of this course is a completed Folio defense and approval to begin the Capstone Project. | Pre-req.
MHL 4000 MHL 4100, MHL 4200, MHL 4300, MHL 4400, MHL 4500, MHL 4600, MHL 4700, *Reserved for MHL degree-seeking students |
| Capstone Project – 3 credits – required | ||||
| MHL 5000 | Capstone Project | 3 | The MHL candidate will complete a Capstone Project to demonstrate mastery of program outcomes for the MHL program. The Capstone Project is an applied integrated care project that demonstrates a student’s innovation in the field, and ability to respond creatively and competently to the needs of rapidly evolving patient populations and healthcare environments. Students will work closely with their advisor, faculty mentor, & faculty members to develop a project that is closely tailored to the student’s career goals after graduation, and which reflects a growing area of opportunity in the healthcare marketplace. Students will begin working on their project when they begin the program through assignments and research conducted in each of their courses. Ideally, the Capstone Project will demonstrate the student’s knowledge of applying evidence-based practice, as well as a thorough entrepreneurial knowledge of the challenges and opportunities in integrated care settings. Students will accumulate a scholarly review of literature, which informs their integrated care project design and implementation, and empowers them to develop a business plan demonstrating skill in entrepreneurial design, planning, and execution.
Course Learning Outcomes:
|
Pre-req.
MHL 1100 MHL 4000 MHL 4100, MHL 4200, MHL 4300, MHL 4400, MHL 4500, MHL 4600, MHL 4700, *Reserved for MHL degree-seeking students |
Time to Complete Degree
CGI takes pride in offering a flexible healthcare leadership master’s program, offering full-time and part-time enrollment options to complement each individual student’s lifestyle and availability.
An average pace to complete the Master of Healthcare Leadership (MHL) Program is two (2) years. To complete the MHL program in two (2) years, students must complete six (6) credit hours in each of the Fall, Spring I, and Spring II academic terms, three (3) credit hours in the first Summer term of enrollment, six (6) credits in the next Fall academic term, and one (1) credit each in the next Spring I, Spring II, and Summer terms.
The Maximum Timeframe to complete the program is measured in calendar years for the MHL program. Students must complete the program within three and a half (3.5) years.
The Minimum Timeframe to complete the program is measured in months for the MHL program. Students enrolling with no transfer credits must participate in the program for a minimum of eightteen (18) months.
Timeframe Examples
Examples of possible MHL program completion timeframes are illustrated below.
Please note these examples are provided for context purposes only. Personalized Program of Study plans are developed for each student with the guidance of their Advisor upon enrollment at Cummings Graduate Institute and are unique to each student’s term of entry, availability, and transfer credits (if applicable).
| 18- month Timeframe | ||
| Term | # of Courses | Credit Hours |
| Program Fee | NA | NA |
| Fall | 3 | 9 |
| Spring I | 3 | 9 |
| Spring II | 3 | 9 |
| Summer | 1 (Capstone-1) | 1 |
| Fall | 1 (Capstone-2) | 1 |
| Spring I | 1 (Capstone-3) | 1 |
| Total Credit Hours | 30 | |
| 2 Year Timeframe | ||
| Term | # of Courses | Credit Hours |
| Program Fee | NA | NA |
| Fall | 2 | 6 |
| Spring I | 2 | 6 |
| Spring II | 2 | 6 |
| Summer | 1 | 3 |
| Fall | 2 | 6 |
| Spring I | 1 (Capstone-1) | 1 |
| Spring II | 1 (Capstone-2) | 1 |
| Summer | 1 (Capstone-3) | 1 |
| Total Credit Hours | 30 | |
| 3 Year Timeframe | ||
| Term | # of Courses | Credit Hours |
| Program Fee | NA | NA |
| Fall | 1 | 3 |
| Spring I | 1 | 3 |
| Spring II | 1 | 3 |
| Summer | 1 | 3 |
| Fall | 1 | 3 |
| Spring I | 1 | 3 |
| Spring II | 1 | 3 |
| Summer | 1 | 3 |
| Fall | 1 | 3 |
| Spring I | 1 (Capstone-1) | 1 |
| Spring II | 1 (Capstone-2) | 1 |
| Summer | 1 (Capstone-3) | 1 |
| Total Credit Hours | 30 | |
Start your MHL program application.
Complete the form below to begin your application to the Master of Healthcare Leadership program. Applicants for the MHL to DBH pathway should use this application as well.
