Health Sector Part-Time MBA

This course provides a dynamic introduction to the health sector, beginning with the burden and distribution of disease and current patterns of expenditures. While the emphasis will be on the American system, a global context will be developed. The basic elements of insurance and payment, service delivery, and life sciences products will be described, and put in the context of the unique economic structure of the sector. The intense challenges of the sector will be explored, as well as both the ethical issues presented and the opportunities that emerge. Public policy and technological and practice development as drivers of change will be addressed throughout.

The overarching theme of this course is health care organizational transformation. The course will provide knowledge and skills needed to develop and implement high performing health care systems capable of delivering accessible, high quality, efficient services. It will draw upon relevant information from disciplinary areas of study including strategy, operations, marketing, finance, law, human resources, quality improvement, and information technology.

This course will examine issues and opportunities in life sciences including the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical devices sectors and the life sciences service industry supporting these sectors, through the eyes of the CEO. The course will investigate who manages these companies and what are the strategies that are used to build successful enterprises. This course will introduce students to individuals and institutions at every stage of the development cycle from idea generation and start-up fundraising to manufacturing and global expansion. We will specifically look at key elements of strategy and the execution of that strategy by examining companies that have either succeeded or failed, by discussing the pros and cons of different approaches and teasing out the lessons one can derive from leaders in the field and case studies examining their approaches.

The overarching theme of this course is health care organizational transformation. The course will provide knowledge and skills needed to develop and implement high performing health care systems capable of delivering accessible, high quality, efficient services. It will draw upon relevant information from disciplinary areas of study including strategy, operations, marketing, finance, law, human resources, quality improvement, and information technology.

This course will examine issues and opportunities in life sciences including the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical devices sectors and the life sciences service industry supporting these sectors, through the eyes of the CEO. The course will investigate who manages these companies and what are the strategies that are used to build successful enterprises. This course will introduce students to individuals and institutions at every stage of the development cycle from idea generation and start-up fundraising to manufacturing and global expansion. We will specifically look at key elements of strategy and the execution of that strategy by examining companies that have either succeeded or failed, by discussing the pros and cons of different approaches and teasing out the lessons one can derive from leaders in the field and case studies examining their approaches.

The subject of the course is the translation of medical technologies into new products and services for the healthcare system. The course begins with a rigorous study of university research commercialization including intellectual property, licensing and planning, creating, funding and building new entrepreneurial ventures. Concepts and tools are presented for assessing new technologies and their potential to be the basis for commercialization. Comparisons will be made of how technologies can be sourced and commercialized out of three very different environments: universities, national laboratories and corporate laboratories. Cross-disciplinary teams of students will be formed which will evaluate translational research projects currently being developed at Boston University and their potential for commercialization, providing a unique linkage between the scientific research activities of the university and the professional schools. Each week there will be a case study which will discuss examples of both success and failure in technology commercialization. Some of these case studies examine Boston University life sciences spin-out companies, and the founders and CEO's of these ventures will share their experiences with the class.

Digital technologies are fundamentally transforming the health sector. Health information technology now permeate every segment of the health value chain, starting with the search for health information, to improving patient outcomes, to improving health. In this course students explore the evolving digital health landscape through a mix of case studies, practitioner talks, individual papers and team projects. Students will enhance their digital health requirements and systems selection toolbox. They will develop competence in current digital health technology standards, gain a deeper understanding of the strategic drivers of digital health through the eyes of the healthcare CIO and CMIO, the operational challenges from the perspective of the end user and the healthcare providers, and challenges of incorporating digital health technologies into existing workflows.

This course provides an in-depth understanding of health sector marketing in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors for both products and services (hospital, ACOs, payers, life sciences, pharma and biotech, medical devices, medical software, and so on). The course explores how the tools of marketing (e.g., consumer behavior, pricing, promotion, channels, branding, communication, segmentation, etc.) can be employed in the rapidly changing health sector with particular attention to changing organizational structures, financing, technologies, market demands, laws, channels of distribution, on-line and mobile applications, and regulations which require new approaches to marketing. Topics to be addressed include marketing to physicians, DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) Marketing, new product development particularly for pharmaceuticals and medical devices, adoption of medical and service innovations, typical decision making units in the health sector, traditional as well as social media, and social marketing. The course will have you keep in mind always while making marketing decisions that medicine, in the purest sense, is a profession with an intellectual discipline, a tradition of service, and an ethical code of conduct, and that service to the patient, as individuals and in the aggregate, is foremost in marketing decision making.

This is an applied consulting project course. Students enrolled in this course will be divided into teams of four students during the first class; the assignment of teams is largely dependent upon having a shared interest in one of the number of prospective consulting projects. Each team will select from a pre-designated list of business development-strategy-marketing consulting projects. Projects in the past have ranged from developing an international pricing strategy for the introduction of a new product by Genzyme to providing a marketing plan for a web-based entrepreneurial venture to developing a strategy for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to maintain the loyalty of their referring physicians. Client companies/organizations have requested these projects, are paying the school for the privilege of having an MBA team, and are covering all expenses associated with the projects. In return, they anticipate receiving a consulting report from the student team at the end of the semester. The deliverables for this assignment are the consulting report as well as a 30-minute in-class presentation followed by a ten-minute question-and-answer period. The team will also be expected by the client to make a presentation to the client's management. These projects constitute a way for students to apply what they are learning in the MBA program to a real health sector management situation; an opportunity to gain experience and broaden their familiarity with health sector organizations with which they have had little or no direct experience; a way for local, regional, and national health sector organizations to benefit from their expertise and hard work in solving a management problem; and a continuing linkage of the Boston University MBA and Health Sector Management Programs to the health sector community.

This course examines an array of compelling opportunities for innovation, incremental and disruptive, across products and services, created within existing organizations or by starting new businesses. It bridges design and implementation, examining the unique and complex array of elements that make successful innovation in the health sector so difficult, and developing the skills and knowledge needed to effectively address those challenges. The course provides a conceptual framework, and then emphasizes hands-on engagement, concrete exercises, written cases, and in-class speakers who are engaged in real-world innovation initiatives. Students will have the opportunity to focus on areas of particular interest and relevance to current or future work. They will leave better equipped to drive or support the viable, value-creating innovation so desperately needed in the health sector.

This program is designed for MBA students who seek to understand the rapidly changing global forces of the health sector, as they intersect with the dynamics of an emerging country, through the vehicle of experiencing and learning about India. The field study program will include visits to government agencies, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, health sector start-up companies, health centers, research laboratories, and academic research settings. Issues of particular interest include technology and bio-pharma development, effective service delivery with limited resources, the role of entrepreneurial initiative in complex environments, international trade and competition in the health sector, and the potential to leapfrog development in underdeveloped settings. Open to all MBA students.

Lean and Six Sigma are powerful improvement methodologies that promote process improvement, cost reduction and significant enhancement of bottom-line profitability. The purpose of this course is to thoroughly examine the concept of quality, to define it in terms that are useful for managers, to survey the ideas of major quality thinkers and theorists, to develop proficiency in the use of quality tools, and to consider the challenges of quality program implementation in real business situations. Throughout the course we will investigate similarities and differences between quality management in manufacturing and service contexts. The course has three major objectives. The first goal is to define quality and explore important philosophies and useful frameworks for managers or consultants. The second goal is to focus on the Lean and Six Sigma tools available for the pursuit of lasting quality improvements. The third is to bring the experiences of Lean Six Sigma practice into the classroom. We'll benefit from the expertise and experience of Lean and Six Sigma professionals who will help us to understand the challenges of Lean and Six Sigma implementations and analyze the lessons they have learned from projects they have undertaken.

This is an experiential course aimed at developing ideas for digital products and services ("web services"), within the context of a multi-stage "innovation tournament." The tournament structure will force the screening of certain ideas in the initial stages, and in such cases, some students will get reassigned to the surviving ideas. Participants will learn specific tools, methods, and concepts related to the creation of such services (e.g., opportunity sensing, management of variation, innovation/business analytics, crowd sourcing vs out sourcing decisions, existing versus incremental enabling technologies, idea interdependence and information architecture, task sequencing for enhancing cycle time and service quality) and will be required to develop web based test tools. The instructor anticipates that the best performing ideas will have high potential for entrepreneurial development. Thus, this course can serve as a front end to conduct follow-on development by working either in the IS, operations, health sector management, energy or entrepreneurship concentration courses, and/or by working with affinity groups in the BU community, such as, ITEC. Participants will be expected to read assigned material on visualization of ideas, and engage in the generation of promising ideas prior to starting this class. Make sure you have basic familiarity with how the web works. You need not be technical, nor have deep experience with the web development. Rather, you simply should understand the basic ideas behind URLs, HTML, and how web browsers work. You can figure this out by reading the Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web). We will also provide you with a mock-up of a typical website along with a tutorial on how to upload and edit this web site.

This course covers the ways in which companies use intellectual property to protect their investments in knowledge assets. Traditionally a concern for technology-intensive businesses, patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets have become important business tools throughout the knowledge-based economy. A good understanding of what IP assets are and how they work has become essential for managers in all types of organizations. This is not a law course, nor a how-to manual rather it is intended to develop your analytical understanding of fundamental economic and legal aspects of intellectual property systems, and how they drive competition and strategy.

This course focuses on the process of identifying and obtaining the necessary resources to launch an entrepreneurial venture through the development of a business plan. A well-written business plan will communicate the business concept in a way that attracts the various resource providers necessary for the venture's success. Students will individually develop a business concept and prepare and present a professional business plan.