Northern Arizona University is partnering with Dignity Health Global Education (DHGE), a leading health care workforce development company, to offer an affordable online MBA in Healthcare program with the aim of improving patient-centered, value-based care in Arizona and beyond.
The program, offered through The W. A. Franke College of Business, offers an online program specifically created for health care professionals at a much lower cost than a traditional program. The structure accommodates tuition reimbursement, minimizing out-of-pocket expenses for learners from all health systems. Prospects can furthermore apply to the DHGE and CommonSpirit Health Equity Impact Scholarship, potentially driving down their own spend on tuition to zero.
“In the wake of the global pandemic, the importance of a vibrant and innovative health care sector is greater than ever before,” said NAU President José Luis Cruz Rivera. “Key to achieving this level of excellence is ensuring that health care leaders have the requisite skills to address mission-critical issues like quality, access and affordability. Our Franke College of Business’s groundbreaking partnership with DHGE promises to help achieve this objective for the benefit of the state of Arizona and the nation overall.”
The health care industry is quickly changing, with an increased focus on delivering patient-centered, value-based care; the continuing pressure of financial control while costs are ballooning; and the COVID-19 health crisis that expedited changes in an already continually evolving environment. All health care professionals, both clinical and non-clinical, should be equipped to optimize processes in their organization to achieve optimal outcomes.
“While it’s understandable on an individual level to opt for a lower-cost option over a high-quality one, it’s entirely unacceptable that health care professionals have to make the choice in the first place,” said Andrew Malley, CEO of Dignity Health Global Education. “This is why DHGE is proud to be partnering with Northern Arizona University to launch a high-quality, online MBA specifically created for health care professionals.”
The program was designed in conjunction with health care professionals to ensure it will meet the needs of the changing industry.
“Unlike many MBA programs, which specialize around functional lines such as finance, marketing or analytics, my preference is to specialize along industry lines because every industry has its unique processes, models, problem structures, metrics and key performance indicators,” said Ashok Subramanian, dean of The W. A. Franke College of Business. “That’s why I’m very excited about this partnership. Health care is a unique industry, and combining NAU’s business expertise with DHGE’s industry insights will allow us to teach business in the right industry context. This feeds well into NAU’s philosophical approach and will empower health care professionals to excel in their careers and achieve greatness for their organizations and their communities.”
DHGE chose to partner with NAU because of its status as a nationally ranked nonprofit institution and its focus on student success and access.
“They pride themselves on being student-centric and teaching-focused,” said Kurt Hayes, DHGE’s chief learning experience officer. “This means that we have the opportunity to work with faculty that is incredibly collaborative and willing to pull in outside resources, such as leading health executives from across the country, to make this program the best it can be. Imagine a true collaboration of industry and academia that results in relevant and applied learning—this is what we’re doing with NAU.”