StudyQA — Master: Computer Science with a Concentration in Digital Arts

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The Master of Health Care Delivery Science (MHCDS) program at Dartmouth delivers this specialized knowledge to a diverse, global group of participants—the managers and professionals who are poised to be the health care leaders of tomorrow.

The faculties of the Tuck School of Business and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice (TDI) have partnered to offer the MHCDS degree from Dartmouth College. The combination of The Dartmouth Institute's advanced research expertise in health care outcomes with the Tuck School's proven success in teaching leadership and teamwork, finance, and operations creates an educational opportunity unmatched by other programs.

At the heart of the program is a commitment to the value-based improvement of health care delivery—achieving better outcomes for the same or lower costs—that is scientifically, ethically, and managerially sound.

The MHCDS degree has been designed to accommodate the needs of people who are already leading the delivery of healthcare. The rigorous curriculum is delivered through a combination of residential, distance learning, and on-site projects where students apply the learning they have gained through the program directly back to initiatives at their own institutions.

In addition to knowledge and skills, participants gain tangible results through personal leadership development and action-learning projects. They will also continue to benefit throughout their careers from an active and committed alumni network.

Organizations supporting the program will advance their mission of value-based improvement as they invest in leadership resources and build their capacity for continual change.

Core courses:

Science of Health Care Delivery

The objective of this introductory course is to lay the groundwork for making decision makers capable of undertaking systemic redesign of health care delivery. Taught primarily in the first residential period, the class will have the opportunity of hearing from renowned health care reform authorities such as Elliott Fisher, Jim Weinstein, Gil Welch, and Jack Wennberg, as well as experts in competitive strategy from the Tuck School of Business. Through use of cases, students will be introduced to new ways to think about health care delivery, including understanding variation, shared decision making, clinical microsystems, and other ways to bend the value curve in health care and to produce ethically founded, competitive, new models for care delivery.

Finance Essentials for Leaders in Health Care Delivery

The goal of this foundational course is to develop a framework with tools and models to enable participants to make value-enhancing financial decisions in health care delivery. The course will develop the relevant ideas in three stages.

Health Economics and Policy

This course will equip participants with knowledge of health economics that enables them to understand the current state of affairs and to incorporate sound economic analysis in their role as managers. Topics to be covered include: economics of risk pooling and insurance markets, especially adverse selection and moral hazard; cost analysis; incentive effects of different payor and financing systems; supply of medical and physician services; supplier induced demand; and the economics of nonprofit organizations.

Clinical Microsystems: Designing, Leading, and Improving Patient-Focused Care

This course will give participants the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to design, lead, and improve microsystems of care in order to continuously improve the quality and value of the care delivered.

Leveraging Data to Inform Decision-Making

Data are derived from a number of sources, including variable study hypotheses, designs, and analyses. This course will provide leaders with the tools to evaluate these data. Participants will attain skills in developing and analyzing the findings from structured clinical studies and learn to use those findings to aid in decision-making. Finally, students will gain skills in identifying appropriate study designs and methods of analysis for addressing questions in their organizations and markets.

Health Care Operations Management

Two themes will run throughout the course: 1) aligning the design and management of processes with the goals of the health care system and 2) managing variability.

Management and Leadership of Health Care Organizations

Participants take the vantage point of a high-level manager in a health care system and understand how divisions, departments, and microsystems currently interact, and how they might. This course will explore all aspects of a health care organization that are necessary for success, from human resources to credentialing, from finance to supply management, and from union management to physician management in a voluntary staff model.

Health Communications — Theory and Skills

Strategic Marketing for Health Care Organizations

Marketing philosophy is necessary to create, communicate, and deliver value to satisfy the needs of customers (patients, suppliers, and community) while meeting the goals of physicians, practitioners, and organizations.

Population Health and Preventive Care

In this course, students will learn about the multiple determinants of health, how to measure health status, how health behaviors can be modified through social marketing, and how health disparities and socioeconomic status influence population health status.

Management of Organization Change

Our focus will be on the specifics of health care organizations, but much can be learned from studying other firms and industries that have seen substantial change.

Effective Information Technology for Health Care Organizations

Leading Innovation

This course will prepare participants to lead an innovation initiative in health care delivery or to support, enable, or catalyze the efforts of those who do.

Strategy for Health Care Organizations

This course will focus on strategic innovation, strategy implementation, and combining strategic thinking with leadership skills to create successful change.

Personal Leadership

The focus of the course is concrete — building an understanding of one's strengths and opportunities for improvement as leaders, and using that knowledge to identify actions that advance leadership potential.

A complete application file consists of an application form, a current resume or CV, recommendations, a statement of institutional support, official transcripts, standardized test scores (if required), and an application fee.

Application Form
Basic information is provided in an online form on the Apply Yourself website.

Official Transcripts
All applicants must submit official transcripts for all programs, both undergraduate and graduate, for which you were awarded a degree (e.g., BA, BS, MD, MS, MBA). If you are currently enrolled in a degree program, you are required to submit a current official transcript of courses completed and work in progress.

Letters of Recommendation (three)
Recommendation forms should be given to three people who are able to speak with certainty about your leadership, team orientation, communication skills, intellectual ability, and interpersonal skills. If you are currently employed, we prefer that you submit recommendations from people who know you well and are in a position to judge your professional performance and leadership, such as your direct supervisor. If you are unable to provide a recommendation from a direct supervisor, please briefly explain why in the optional essay section. Please contact your evaluators well in advance to give them sufficient time to write and return their evaluations by the deadline. Given the importance we place on recommendations, we will not review any applications until we receive recommendations from all of the evaluators listed in your application. It is your responsibility to make sure your evaluators are aware of the deadlines and to ensure that all three recommendations have been submitted. Recommendation letters submitted through the Apply Yourself website reach us more quickly than paper letters, so we strongly encourage you to ask your recommenders to submit their letters online.

Personal Statement
Please include a two-page, 500-word statement that explains the significant personal, professional, or social experiences that have contributed to your decision to study in the MHCDS program. Please also address how the MHCDS degree will help you achieve your personal and professional goals. This personal statement provides you with an opportunity to help the admissions committee gain greater insight about you as a potential member of the MHCDS community. Please be clear, succinct, forthright, and thoughtful in your response.

Statement of Institutional Support
Because the MHCDS program is designed for working professionals, applicants must confirm that their employer understands and supports their participation in the program. Language we ask for in this written statement, signed by a direct supervisor or appropriate organizational leader, should include reference to the requirement of attending four brief residential periods and participating for an average of 15 hours per week during non-residential periods. NOTE: This statement of support will be uploaded by you, the applicant. It is not confidential.

Standardized Test Scores (GRE, GMAT, or MCAT and TOEFL or PTE Academic if applicable)
Applicants may submit self-reported scores through the online application, but your application is not complete until we receive the official score report (or receive your MCAT verification code). Results must not be more than five years old. This requirement may be waived for applicants holding an advanced or professional degree. Contact George Newcomb if you have been awarded an advanced degree and are seeking to have the standardized test requirement waived. All nonnative English speakers must submit either the TOEFL or the PTE Academic to demonstrate proficiency in English. This requirement is waived for applicants who have recently lived for at least three years in an English-speaking country or who received a degree from an institution outside the U.S. where instruction is in English. Results must not be more than two years old.

To send official score reports for the GMAT, GRE, and MCAT:

GMAT: Please use the code Z04-FF-50 to send your GMAT scores to the Master of Health Care Delivery Science program.
GRE: Please use the following codes to send your GRE scores to the Master of Health Care Delivery Science program: the school code for Dartmouth is 3351 and the department code is 0699.
MCAT: Please email your MCAT verification code and AMCAS ID to: health.care.delivery.science@dartmouth.edu.
Application Fee
There is a $200 application fee, which can be paid by credit card when you submit your application or by check made payable to The Trustees of Dartmouth College (please send checks to the address listed under "Official Transcripts"). The application fee is non-refundable and is not credited toward any charges when an accepted applicant registers as a student.

Interview
Strong interpersonal skills are essential for success as a leader and team member in the MHCDS program and beyond. Interviews will take place by invitation only. If we would like you to interview we will contact you to schedule an interview after your application is complete. At that time, we will invite you to visit Dartmouth College for a campus tour and in-person interview. Interviews also can be conducted by phone or video link.

Team Applicants
We strongly encourage organizations to send teams of two to five participants as a means of investing in the organization's leadership resources and to build the momentum that will advance the organizational mission through value-based improvement. If you are applying as a member of a team, please submit one Statement of Institutional Support for the entire team. This statement should include a brief explanation of the value to your organization of your team's participation in this program. Please also describe in a sentence or two how the skills and experience of each individual team member contribute to the strength of the group as a whole.