Thumbnail

Health Care Advisory Services

Elective Course Guide

Description of careers for which concentration prepares students:
This concentration assists students in preparation for careers in analytical or advisory capacities within the health care industry whether in hospitals, health maintenance organizations, government agencies or consulting firms. The concentration is offered in association with the Health Services Administration Program in the School of Policy, Planning and Development.

Description of the academic content and requirements for concentration:
This concentration includes one required course, PPD-509, Problems and Issues in the Health Field, and three elective courses from a range of opportunities.

Required for Concentration:
PPD-509: Problems and Issues in the Health Field

Electives (Choose three of the following):
DSO-582: Service Management: Economics and Operations
ISE-507: Six-Sigma Methods and Applications or DSO-549: Application of Lean Six Sigma
ISE-508: Health Care Operations Improvement
MOR-555: Designing High Performing Organizations
PPD-510b: Financial Management of Health Services (prerequisite is core Accounting)
PPD-513: Legal Issues in Health Care Delivery
PPD-600: Management of Managed Care Organizations
PPD-601: Management of Long-Term Care Organizations
PPD-604: Seminar in Hospital Administration
PPD-696: Health Care Venture Development

Students completing the Health Care Advisory Services concentration are expected to include DSO-582 and MOR-555 as two of their course selections.  Students completing the concentration who wish to apply more than 9 units of PPD course work to the M.B.A. must petition for permission and receive approval to do so prior to taking the course(s).

For descriptions of courses offered by the School of Policy, Planning and Development, please consult the USC Catalogue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nine-unit Limit: 

Students earning a Marshall master's degree are expected to complete their graduate electives within the Marshall School of Business by taking courses that begin with prefixes ACCT, BAEP, BUCO, DSO, FBE, GSBA, MKT, and MOR.

MBA students: Unless the student is completing a dual degree program, MBA students may complete up to nine units of graduate-level course work at USC outside the Marshall School of Business for elective credit. A request for an exception to take a non-Marshall course must be submitted via petition (Marshall General Petition Form) to the student's program office prior to registering for the course. Units beyond the maximum 9.0 units are not counted toward the student’s MBA degree.

  • An exception is made for those students completing the Business of Entertainment Certificate through the School of Cinematic Arts, which requires 4 Cinema courses (16.0 non-Marshall units). 
  • For MBA students who participate in Marshall’s International Exchange Program, a maximum of 15.0 units of USC-500O may be applied to the MBA degree.  No other non-Marshall coursework may be applied to the MBA degree.
  • Further exceptions to the maximum 9.0 units of non-Marshall course policy are rarely approved, and only if the student is on the Dean’s List with a minimum GPA of 3.60, coupled with a compelling reason for why the course uniquely aligns with their academic and career goals. 
  • Only courses beginning with the Marshall prefixes may be applied to the Marshall portion of a dual degree program.

MS, MMS, and Graduate Certificate students: Students in MS, the MMS, and Graduate Certificate programs may not apply non-Marshall courses to their degree unless (a) the courses are included in the published curriculum of the program or (b) permission is granted by the Academic Director of the program prior to taking the course. A request for an exception must be submitted via petition (Marshall General Petition Form) to the student's program office prior to registering for the course.