Managerial Epidemiology in Health Administration Education: Population Health in the Age of Healthcare Reform

In the new age of healthcare reform, the practice of healthcare management is changing and the education of healthcare administrators must be adaptable. A course in epidemiology can provide the population-based knowledge and skills that healthcare administrators must utilize in their efforts to promote quality of care. The purpose of the research described herein was to empirically describe the extent to which epidemiology, specifically a course in managerial epidemiology, is offered, required, and taught in theory and practice to assist in achieving the educational goals in healthcare management programs at the undergraduate and master's level. We conducted a national survey of all university-based programs that are members of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) to specifically test the following hypotheses: 1) not all undergraduate healthcare management programs are teaching a course in managerial epidemiology; 2) barriers exist that challenge the integration of a managerial epidemiology course in the undergraduate and graduate curriculum. Our results show that compared to graduate health management programs, few undergraduate health management programs offer, require, or teach managerial epidemiology. We propose recommendations for the integration of a managerial epidemiology course in the healthcare management curriculum and discuss the role of managerial epidemiology in healthcare management education.