NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
ROBERT F. WAGNER GRADUATE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC SERVICE
HPAM-GP 4834(001) – HEALTH CARE MANAGEMENT II:
ADAPTATION & THE PROFESSIONAL MANAGER
COURSE SYLLABUS – Spring 2015
Faculty:
Prof. Tony Kovner
Anthony.kovner@nyu.edu
Prof Jon Sendach
Jon.sendach@nyu.edu
Office hours by appointment; students are encouraged to e-mail faculty at any time.
Meeting Days/Times:
Wednesdays, 4:55 pm – 6:35 pm
March 25- April 6, 2015
Location:
Paulette Goddard Hall
79 Washington Sq East B02
Credits:
2 points
Pre-requisites:
HPAM-GP 4833 Health Care Management I: Control &
Organizational Design
Students who have not completed the prerequisite must have work experience in health
care organizations and must obtain permission to enroll in the course.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
HPAM-GP 4834 Health Care Management II: Adaptation and the Professional Manager is
Part 2 of a two-part 14-week course on health care management. All MPA students
specializing in health care management are required to complete Part 1 (HPAM-GP 4833
- Health Care Management I: Control and Organizational Design) in addition to Part 2.
This course is intended for graduate students and is designed to build an understanding
of managing health care services and health care delivery organizations.
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KEY COMPETENCIES ADDRESSED IN THE COURSE1
Core Focus:
 The ability to manage teams, projects and people; to work in change-oriented
healthcare organizations; and mentor a diverse and changing work force
(TP/CSD)
 The ability to hold people accountable to standards of performance and assure
organizational, professional and ethical compliance (IP/CSD)
 The ability to draw implications and conclusions to develop an evolving vision
that leads to organizational viability (IP/TP/CSD/CP)
 The ability to use information systems and evidence-based management
principles for problem-solving, strategic planning and decision-making, and
measuring change (IP/TP/CSD)
 The ability to present convincingly to individuals and groups the evidence to
support a point of view, position or recommendation (IP/TP)
 The ability to engage in continuous learning; to reflect on and assess one’s
strengths and developmental needs; to seek feedback from others; and
establish and sustain a professional development network (IP/TP)
Related Content:
 The ability to understand and apply legal and ethical principles to managerial and
leadership decisions affecting healthcare organizations (IP/TP/CSD)
 The ability to align human resource capacity and practices and processes with
strategic organizational goals (TP)
 The ability to measure, monitor and improve safety, quality, access and system
care delivery processes in healthcare organizations (IP)
 The ability to assess population and community health needs from a public
service perspective (IP/TP/CSD)
 The ability to synthesize evidence, and apply statistical, financial, economic and
cost effectiveness methods in organizational analysis (IP/TP)
 The ability to communicate and interact productively in a diverse and changing
industry, workforce and citizenry (IP/TP/CSD)
Assignments and participation in class and case study discussions in this course will
assess progress against the competencies listed above. No student will receive a B or
higher without demonstrating satisfactory progress toward mastery of each
competency.
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TP – Team Paper; IP – Individual Paper; CSD – Case Study Discussion; CP – Class Participation
2
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of Part 2, students will have acquired the knowledge base and skill set to:
 Design a strategic and marketing plan for health care organizations.
 Understand how health care organizations assess and adapt to change, and
evaluate health care strategic and marketing plans.
 Apply ethical principle to clinical and administrative decision-making in health
care organizations.
 Actively manage their careers in health management.
 Work productively with others on team projects by using critical thinking and
written and oral communication skills.
LEARNING METHODS
Teaching methods include:
 Knowledge transfer though assigned readings, lectures and in-class discussion
 Work/career simulation exercises through case studies (reading, analysis, in-class
discussion and faculty feedback) and student team presentations to class (to
include application of ethical reasoning to evaluate and responding with
recommendations to an ethical question or issue)
 Skill development though reflective learning and completion of a paper which
describes an ethical question or issue and offer an well-reasoned approach for
anticipating, managing and potentially decreasing the occurrence of the ethical
challenge in the future.
Classroom discussion and debate are essential to this course. Students are expected to
attend all sessions and come prepared to participate in the discussion of topics outlined
for each course session.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS AND JOURNAL ARTICLES
Students are expected to read the chapters and articles listed in the syllabus each week.
The primary texts used in the course is:
Required Texts:
 McAlearney AS, Kovner AR eds. Health Services Management: Readings, Cases
and Commentary. 10th ed. Chicago,IL: Health Administration Press, 2013. (MK10)
 White K. and Griffith J. The Well-Managed Healthcare Organization, 7th ed.
Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press, 2010 (WG7)
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Additional Recommended Texts: (available on reserve at Bobst Library)
 Berry LL, Seltman KD. Management Lessons from the Mayo Clinic. New York, NY:
McGraw Hill; 2008.
 Christensen CM Grossman JH, Hwang J. The Innovator’s Prescription: A Disruptive
Solution for Health Care. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2009.
 Kenney C. Transforming Health Care: Virginia Mason Medical Center’s Pursuit of
the Perfect Patient Experience. New York, NY: CRC Press/Taylor and Francis
Group; 2010.
 Kovner AR., Fine DJ, D’Aquila R. Evidence-Based Management in Healthcare.
Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press; 2009.
All assigned readings that are not included in the required textbooks will be posted on
Blackboard.
CLASS TOPICS AND READINGS
Session 8 (1) – March 25, 2015 - Strategy


Strategic planning
Meeting community health needs
Discussion question:
 What are main obstacles in implementing strategic plans, and how may these be
overcome?
Required Case:
 Allinder E, Dopoulos J, et al. An Investment Decision at Central Medical Health
System. In: MK10: 333-339.
Readings:
 Griffith J, White K. Marketing and Strategy. In: W
 Begun J, Heatwole KB. Strategic Cycling: Shaking Complacency in Healthcare
Strategic Planning. In: MK10: pp 303-321
 Foreman, S. Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York: Improving
Health in an Urban Community. Academic Medicine 79(12): 1154-1161. On NYU
Classes.
 Johnson MW, Christensen CM, et al. Reinventing your business model. Harvard
Business Review. 2008; 86(12): 50-59. On NYU Classes.
4
Session 9 (2) – April 1, 2015 - External Marketing

Marketing to the public
Discussion question:
 What kinds of marketing work best for increasing market share?
Required Cases:
 Kovner AR. New Chief of Ob-GYN: the next three years. In: MK10: 346.
 Berry L, Bendapudi N. Clueing in Customers. Harvard Business Review. 81(2):
100-106. On NYU Classes.
 Gawande, A. Annals of Medicine: The Bell Curve: What Happens When Patients
Find Out How Good Their Doctors Really Are?” The New Yorker. December 6,
2004. On NYU Classes.
Readings:
 Andreasen A, Kotler P. Segmentation, targeting and positioning. In: Andreasen A,
Kotler P. Strategic Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations, 7th ed. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall; 2008: 137-165. On NYU Classes.
Session 10(3) – April 8, 2015 - Internal Marketing

Marketing to front-line workers in the organization; facilitating organizational
change from within
Discussion question:
 How does management get a diverse workforce to buy-in to new organizational
goals such as “the patient comes first”?
Required Case:
 McAlearney AS. Challenges for Mammoth Health System: becoming the best
around. In: MK10: 324-333.
Readings:
 Griffith J, White K. Human Resources Management. In: WG: 346-382.
 Adelman K. Promoting employee voice and upward communication in
healthcare: the CEO’s influence. Journal of Healthcare Management. 57(2): 133148. On NYU Classes.
 Studer Q. Build a culture around service. In Hardwiring Excellence. Gulf Stream
FL: Fire Starter; 2003: 74-106. On NYU Classes.
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Session 11(4) – April 15, 2015 - Creating a High Performance Organization
DUE THIS CLASS - ASSIGNMENT 3 - STRATEGY PAPER
Discussion question:
 How were internal marketing principles successfully employed by North ShoreLIJ in its transformation to a high-performance learning organization?
Required Case:

Lamoureux K. Changing the Way Top Talent is Managed in Health Care: Building
a High-Performance Culture at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.
Bersin & Associates; February 2007.
Reading:
 Deo, C. The 3 Whys of Compelling Communication. From Heathcare Executive,
Mar/Apr 2015. On NYU Classes
 Mitchell, C. Selling the Brand Inside. The Harvard Business Review, January 2011.
On NYU Classes.
Session 12(5) – April 22, 2015 - Organizational Ethics

Ethical issues in healthcare organizations
Discussion question:
 How does institutional culture and ethics shape strategic planning and decisionmaking in healthcare organizations?
Required Case:
 Song S, McAlearney A. What benefits the community? In: MK10: 416-417.
Readings:
 Cultural Leadership. In: WG: 39-68.
 Brinkley RW. The case for values as a basis for organizational culture. Frontiers of
Health Services Management. 30(1): 3-13. On NYU Classes.
 Nelson W. An Organizational Ethics Decision-making Process. Healthcare
Executive. 20(4): 9-14. On NYU Classes.
 Rosenthal E. Benefits questioned in tax breaks for nonprofit hospitals. New York
Times. December 16, 2013. On NYU Classes.
 Young GJ, Chou C, Alexander J, et al. Provision of community benefits by taxexempt US hospitals. NEJM. 2013; 368(16): 1519-1527. On NYU Classes.
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Session 13(6) – April 29, 2015 - Managerial Ethics

Ethical dilemmas confronted by healthcare leaders
Discussion question:
 How does a healthcare manager manage “ethically”?
Required Cases:
 Kovner AR. Whose hospital? In MK10: 390-408.
 Song PH. CEO compensation: how much is too much? In MK10: 417-418
Readings:
 Donnellan JJ. A moral compass for management decision making: a healthcare
CEO’s reflections. Frontiers of Health Services Management. 30(1): 14-26. On
NYU Classes.
 Nelson WA, Donnellan JJ. An executive-driven ethical culture. Healthcare
Executive. 2009; 24(6): 44-46. On NYU Classes.
 Weber L. 2001 Business Ethics in Healthcare: Beyond Compliance. Indianapolis:
Indiana University Press; 2001: 3-22. On NYU Classes.
Session 14(7) – May 6, 2015 - Managing Your Career
DUE THIS CLASS—ASSIGNMENT 4: Career Objectives Paper

Career Goal Setting and Decision-making
Discussion question: Where is health care going; how will this affect your career?
Required Cases:
 McAlearney AS. Now what? In MK10:59-69.
 Melman D. Nowhere Job. In: MK10: 69-70.
 Agoritsas S. Manager Morale at Uptown Hospital. In: MK10: 70-72.
 Kaplan D, Kovner AR. A Sure Thing. In: MK10: 73-76.
 McAlearney AS. The First Day. In: MK10: 76-77.
Readings:

Friedman L, Kovner AR. 101 Careers in Healthcare Management. New York, NY:
Springer; 2013: 17-21; 317-326. On NYU Classes.
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COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Written Assignments
Assignment 3: Strategy Paper (April 8)
6-8 pages for strategic plan, 2-3 pages for annotated bibliography, 12 point font doublespaced.
Please complete this written assignment as a three-person team. Your task is to develop
a strategic plan for a healthcare organization. This organization can be real or fictitious,
but it must be reasonably realistic. You may develop the strategic plan for a department
or area of the organization or for the organization as a whole: in either case, please be
sure to consider the alignment between department-level and organizational-level
strategy in your analysis. Please include a one-page appendix signed by all members of
the team specifying who completed what tasks involved in writing the paper.
In your paper, please examine the following issues:
 What is the organization’s mission? Who does it serve? What is its current
performance? If you do not have complete information on the organization’s (or
unit’s) performance, describe performance as thoroughly as possible based on
your available knowledge from observations and other informal indicators. Be
clear about assumptions you are making in these assessments. If you cannot
comment on all relevant dimensions of performance, state clearly what
important information is unavailable but will need to be ascertained for your
strategic plan to be viable.
 Develop three measurable objectives for next year’s performance for the
organization (unit) and a rationale for the strategy.
 Identify obstacles to implementing the strategies and recommendations to
overcome these obstacles.
 Prepare an annotated bibliography (6-8 references) that supports your findings
and recommendations. This bibliography is intended to provide you with an
opportunity to explore pertinent components of your strategic plan in the health
care and general management literatures. Please focus on research studies
rather than opinion articles. You may consult the general management as well as
the healthcare management literature. In each annotation, specify the focus of
the reading, its key findings, its usefulness and significance to the manager, and
its limitations.
Journals you may wish to review include: Health Care Management Review, Journal of
Healthcare Management, Journal of the American Medical Association, The New
England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Nursing Administration, Health Affairs,
Healthcare Financial Management, Medical Care, Medical Care Research and Review,
Harvard Business Review, Frontiers of Health Services Management, Joint Commission
Journal on Quality and Safety, and Milbank Quarterly.
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Assignment 4: Career Objectives Paper (April 29)
3-5 double-spaced pages in 12 point font)
Please describe your career objectives for the next 3-5 years and how you plan to
achieve them. The goal of this assignment is to create a personalized guide for your
professional development. Please include your resume and feel welcome to consider
personal factors such as work/family balance as they relate to your professional goals. In
your paper, please discuss the following:
 Current managerial experience in terms of roles, skills and style, include an
assessment of your strengths and weaknesses.
 A specific job desired within 3-5 years. If you do not have a target job in mind,
please use this assignment as an opportunity to research different career paths
and select a job that strongly interests you. What skills and experience are
required to be hired for and excel in this desired job>
 A detailed plan to achieve your 3-5 year career goals. Please include your
strategy for expanding your skills, strengthening expertise and developing in
areas of weakness.
GRADING
% Grade
Due Date
45% Assignment 3:
45% Assignment 4:
10% Class Participation
April 8, 2015
April 29, 2015
Throughout
Lateness Policy
Please observe written assignment due dates. Assignments not received by class time
on the due date may be penalized up to a full grade (e.g. A to B).
Class Participation
Class participation is an important part of the course. Students will be evaluated on
attendance, engagement in the classroom, and on constructive contributions to class
discussions. Students will receive a mid-year grade on class participation when they
receive feedback on Assignment 3.
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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:
Academic Integrity is vital to the mission of NYU/Wagner, to education at NYU Wagner
and membership in the Wagner community.
It is a core value. It forms the foundation of trust among students, and between
students and teachers.2 Cheating has no place in our community. Academic dishonesty
or other offenses against the community are not individual acts affecting only the
individuals involved. Cheating violates our communal trust in each other; it is an offense
against our community of scholarship. If tolerated, it undermines all we stand for.
Honesty matters at Wagner, just as it does in the broader world of public service.
It is a shared value. Administration, faculty and students each play a vital part in
promoting, securing and nurturing it. I invite you to visit the NYU Wagner website and
review our Academic Code and Academic Oath (www.wagner.nyu.edu/current/policies),
as well as the Wagner Student Association’s Code of Professional Responsibility. If at
any time you have a question about Academic Integrity or suspect a violation of our
code, seek guidance from any member of the faculty or administration.
It is a promoted value. It is incumbent on all members of the community to promote it,
through scholarship, responsible participation in School events, assistance to other
community members who are struggling with it, and by upholding the codes of the
school and the Wagner Student Association.
 Included below is a list of resources for understanding and avoiding plagiarism:
"Plagiarism: What is It and How to Recognize and Avoid It," The Writing Center at
Indiana University, www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html
 “Principles Regarding Academic Integrity,�
? Northwestern University,
www.northwestern.edu/uacc/plagiar.html
 “Sources,�
? Dartmouth College, www.Dartmouth.edu/~sources/contents.html,
and www.aug.edu/sociology/plagiarism.html
REFERENCE CITATION:


For research resources regarding appropriate citation of the many different sources
you will use in your work, see Writing on the NYU/Wagner webpage, under "Current
Students/Academic Services."
For your information, a quick reference guide to the AMA Manual of Style is posted
on Blackboard.
2
McCabe DL, Trevino LK, Butterfield KD. Cheating in academic institutions: a decade of research. Ethics &
Behavior, 2001: 11(3), 219-232.
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Grading for Strategy Assignment (Each of 4 parts is 25%, Grades are 3 for Superior, 2
for Adequate and 1 for Acceptable.) Grades: A= 11-12, A- =9-10, B+ =7-8, B: =5-6, C =
4).
1
Evidence for Current Performance.
2
Selection of Measurable Objectives with rationale for choice.
3
Evidence for why the strategy will succeed
4
How overcome constraints and grasp opportunities for implementation.
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Grading for Career Objectives Paper
2012 (Kovner) 4834
(Each of 3 parts is 33%. Grades are 3 for Superior, 2 for Adequate, 1 for Acceptable).
Grades: A = 9, A- = 7-8, B+ = 6, B = 4-5, C = 3.
NAME _______________________________________________________________
1.
Current Managerial Experience, strengths and weaknesses.
2.
Specific Job Desired, skills and experience required to get and excel in the job?
3.
Plan to achieve desired job within 3-5 years, developing skills and experience
required.
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