Health Policy Graduate Certificate

About the Health Policy Graduate Certificate

• The program is designed to be completed in one year.
• Pricing schedule makes the program affordable and competitively priced.
• Students network and connect with nationally recognized faculty and peers.
• Capstone projects focus on policy development relevant to the student’s interests in public advocacy, practice or educational arenas.

Rapid changes in health care delivery are challenging practicing clinicians, administrators, educators and researchers to engage more fully in health policy at all levels. Arcadia University’s Health Policy Graduate Certificate is a 12-credit program that offers participants the opportunity to obtain knowledge and skills for health policy development through a formal educational process without committing the resources to a full degree program.

Courses are offered online with on-site presence required for initial orientation and presentation of Capstone projects. The ultimate goal of the program is to enable participants to have a wide perspective on health policy and to be leaders in their practices, their organizations, their professions and their communities.

Graduates will demonstrate the ability to do the following:

• Decision making: Develop strong decision analysis and decision-making skills to manage the many factors that contribute to good health policy and its application.
• Data: Demonstrate the ability to locate and utilize large amounts of complex data to inform decisions related to formulating and applying health policy.
• Economics: Develop a full understanding of how economic and financial factors are involved in allocating limited resources and affect health policy decisions.
• Market choices: Describe the relationship between market forces, as demonstrated by individual and collective choices (in purchasing, providing payment for), and the use of health-care resources in establishing health policy.
• Global Context: Understand the global context for development of sound health-care policy.

Admission Requirements

Students may take two courses before formal application and matriculation. Acceptance into a course does not guarantee admission. Apply at www.arcadia.edu/GradApp.

The following program-specific requirements must be met:

• Proof of graduation (transcript) with a GPA of 2.75 or better from an accredited health-care professional degree program
• Current state professional license or regulatory designator
• One written recommendation (professional or academic)
• Brief essay articulating goals for obtaining a certificate in Health Policy
• Basic computer skills including Internet and e-mail
• Computer system requirements that can be found at http://student.arcadia.edu/online/require_all.htm.

Tuition and Fees

2015-16 Tuition: $800 per credit

Health Policy Graduate Certificate Requirements

(12 credits)

The curriculum for the Health Policy Certificatem program consists six, 2-credit courses.

Students start in the fall semester and must complete the sequence of courses as outlined. The program is designed to be completed in one year. A two-year schedule is possible with permission of the Program Director.

All courses are held online, with some required online class meetings as well as work done individually. Two on-site sessions (one day each) are required. The first is held at the start of the program for orientation purposes. The second is held at the end of the program for student presentations of their Capstone projects.