December 2000
Volume 64 |
Number 12
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| ASA
to Offer Certificate in Business Administration |
Asa C. Lockhart,
M.D.
The ASA Committee on Practice Management has developed the Certificate
in Business Administration (CBA) program. The purpose is to offer
a skill set not covered in a traditional medical education that
of core business skills. In an era that espouses managed care
but practices managed premiums, this void has been detrimental
to many of our members. We have an appreciation of the clinical
pathways in patient care, but we often do not understand the complex
financial pathways of health care. The course was designed under
the assumption that the participant has no prior formal business
education. It will provide an overall orientation of the business
skills needed to successfully manage the operations and functions
of your health care organization or medical practice and allow
you to actively participate in its strategic success.
The program is a certificate program. Most physicians do not
have an undergraduate degree in business, and few are willing
to spend two years pursuing a formal degree program such as an
M.B.A. that requires more than 750 lecture hours. These realities
led the Committee on Practice Management to formulate a certificate
program instead of an accredited degree program (which would have
mandated subject matter) so that the distilled essence and core
essentials could be selected because they were germane rather
than just being a curriculum requirement of a degree plan.
The CBA is a 100-lecture-hour undertaking. The CBA will be presented
in a mixture of live on-site and videotaped distance learning
modules. There are 10 basic modules; most of the modules are 10
hours each. The modules and format follow:
1. Successful Leadership and Management – 10 hours,
on site (OS). Covers topics such as competencies of physician
executives, managerial functions and systems, transactional and
transformational approaches, leadership styles language and developing
leadership skills.
2. Business Communication – three hours, video distance
learning (V). Covers the instructional objectives of providing
an understanding of business communications and technical report
writing.
3. Integrated Marketing Communications in Communications in
Health Care – five hours, Web-based. Will help the participant
to understand the basics of promotion strategy in marketing, examine
the role of promotion within an integrated marketing communications,
review marketing with respect to promotion and prepare for strategy
development through case analyses.
4. Management for Human Resources – 10 hours (V).
This module will help the physician to gain an appreciation for
employment and labor law, effective selection techniques, compensation
and reward systems, performance appraisal, coaching and counseling
and handling employee problems and termination.
5. Organizational Behavior – 10 hours (OS). Offers
such goals as developing skills in individual and group-based
decision-making, assessing individual communication style, developing
strategies to successfully negotiate with various parties and
resolve conflict inherent in health care, gain an understanding
of the team development process, and develop strategies to integrate
goals and facilitate cross-functional effectiveness.
6. Health Care Services Marketing – 10 hours (V).
Here, one will be exposed to the basic understanding of the principles
of marketing, provide a review of the American Medical Association
guidelines for health care marketing and develop skills in the
development of a marketing plan for a specific organization.
7. Strategic Analysis and Business Plan Development –
12 hours (OS). This capstone course will integrate the earlier
courses into the big picture: to conduct an internal and external
analysis and Strength-Weakness-Opportunity-Threat (SWOT) profile
of your own unit, developing scenarios and strategies relative
to environmental assessment, niche, vision and mission, business
plan development tied to SWOT analysis and needs assessment and
assessing the market and the competition, marketing plan and the
financial plan.
8. Accounting and Financial Analysis of Health Care Organizations
– 10 hours (V). Provides a basic understanding of the
concepts and principles of accounting, different types of business
organizations and an understanding of the financial analysis of
financial statements through a case analysis and provides an understanding
of health care-specific ratios.
9. Financial Management and Budgeting – 10 hours
(V). In this module, the participant learns to develop strategies
for financial decision-making, flexible budgeting and variance
analysis, cash budgeting and fiduciary responsibilities.
10. Integrated Delivery Systems and Managed Care –
10 hours (OS). Learn to level the playing field as you come to
understand the terminology and basic concepts of integrated delivery
systems, managed care basic concepts, contracting and fee schedules
analysis and negotiation strategy and understand the legal and
regulatory issues involving an integrated delivery system.
11. Legal Aspects of Health Care – 10 hours (V).
Review compliance guidelines, regulatory and other legal constraints
that affect the inter-relationship and functions within the health
care industry, Stark implications and antitrust guidelines and
provide an understanding of the organizational issues and requirements
for the multitude of types of entities that comprise the health
care industry.
| After completing the CBA program, you will be able to make
your own determinations and you will not be dependent on someone
else's executive summary. It will enhance your ability to
determine for yourself what a particular report does or does
not say. |
Since the interaction with fellow students offers a profound
educational dimension and enhancement of the learning experience,
the CBA plans to offer interactive chat rooms via an intranet
that will be established for the class to complement the videotaped
distance learning modules. The live sessions will be Saturday
and Sunday mornings.
The first class will be on site in Houston, Texas, in late March
2001, where the students will undergo orientation to the course,
have an opportunity to meet each other and the faculty that will
be guiding them through this unique educational experience and
begin the first modules. In case you need to secure the time for
the upcoming live sessions, they will take place in Houston one
of the last two weekends in March, one of the last two weekends
in August prior to Labor Day and one of the first two weekends
in January 2002. At this time, the only firm date is Friday, October
12, 2001, in conjunction with the ASA Annual Meeting in New Orleans,
Louisiana.
Houston was chosen as the site for several reasons. It has logistical
advantages as far as the location for the faculty, it is centrally
located so that no one has a transcontinental flight and would
not need to miss work time for travel, weather concerns are minimized
and, finally, it gives ASA some negotiating advantages with the
Houston hotels. In December after ASA confirms exactly how many
are participating, we can confirm hotel space and finalize the
dates.
What are some of the reasons one would choose to participate
in the CBA program? After completing the CBA program, you will
be able to make your own determinations and you will not be dependent
on someone else’s executive summary. It will enhance your ability
to determine for yourself what a particular report does or does
not say. It is a combination of distance learning and on-site
instruction that offers a balance between maximizing course content
while minimizing time away from your practice. It is a competitively
priced opportunity to obtain 100 hours of a fully developed program
for the same price as some single-topic weekend courses. The tuition
includes e-mail access to faculty, both distance and on-site learning
as well as a graded project that provides feedback on your understanding
of the material.
For those who later decide to pursue a formal M.B.A., they may
petition their program to waive certain foundation courses since
most physicians have not had these courses as undergraduates.
While this cannot be assured, some universities have done so on
a case-by-case basis for similar certificate programs. The bottom
line: You will achieve self-edification, level the playing field
and bring some balance to your side of the table.
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Asa
C. Lockhart, M.D., is a private practitioner, East Texas Anesthesiology
Associates, Tyler, Texas. |
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