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Master’s in Health Care Management Competencies
The Master’s in Health Care Management (MSHCM) Standards and Competencies are based on the competency model developed by the Healthcare Leadership Alliance (HLA) and a Global Consortium for Healthcare Management Professionals (International Hospital Federation, 2015; Stefl, 2008). Moreover, the MSHCM includes competencies specific to Interprofessional Collaboration (Interprofessional Education Collaborative, 2016).
The MSHCM Competencies are used throughout the program to assess a student’s level of expertise on select signature assignments using the Dreyfus Model; recognized by the HLA as a framework for assessing skill development (Stefl, 2008). The HCM Competencies are also used by the student as a self-assessment tool (See CAT below) to self-reflect on current strengths and opportunities as they grow in the health care manager role.
The MSHCM competencies are categorized into six domains. The definitions for the domains are as follows:
| Domain | Standard |
| Leadership | The ability to inspire individual and organizational excellence, create a shared vision, and successfully manage change to attain an organization’s strategic ends and successful performance. |
| Communication and Relationship Management | The ability to communicate clearly and concisely with internal and external customers, establish and maintain relationships, and facilitate constructive interactions with individuals and groups. |
| Professional and Social Responsibility | The ability to align personal and organizational conduct with ethical and professional standards that include a responsibility to the patient and community, a service orientation, and a commitment to lifelong learning and improvement. |
| Health and Healthcare Environments | The understanding of the healthcare system and the environment in which healthcare managers and providers function. |
| Business | The ability to apply business principles, including systems thinking, to the healthcare environment. |
| Interprofessional Collaboration | The integrated enactment of knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes that define working together across the professions, with other health care workers, and with patients, along with families and communities, as appropriate to improve health outcomes in specific care contexts. |
The MS in Health Care Management (MSHCM) Competencies Assessment Tool (CAT)
The CAT is adapted from the American College of Healthcare Executives’ (ACHE) Healthcare Executive Competency Assessment Tool (ACHE, 2023).
The CAT is designed as a self-assessment tool for students to help identify individual strengths and areas for development in the MSHCM Competencies. The assessment measures the student’s self-rated competency attainment, and therefore there are no right or wrong answers.
The CAT uses the following scale of skill acquisition (International Hospital Federation, 2016).
- Novice (1)– Has an incomplete understanding, approaches tasks mechanistically, and needs supervision to complete them.
- Emerging (2)- Has a working understanding, tends to see actions as a series of steps, can complete simpler tasks without supervision.
- Basic (3)– Has a good working and background understanding, sees actions at least partly in context, able to complete work independently to a standard that is acceptable though it may lack refinement.
- Proficient (4)- Has a deep understanding, sees actions holistically, can achieve a high standard routinely.
- Exemplary (5)– Has an authoritative or deep holistic understanding, deals with routine matters intuitively, able to go beyond existing interpretations, achieves excellence with ease.
This is an interactive self-assessment survey of the Health Care Management Competencies.
You will be prompted to print your results at the end. Once printed, click EXIT to register for completion of the survey.