Financial Management in Health Care
PostgraduateMUR-SHP6392025
Course information for 2025 intake View information for 2024 course intake
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Enrol by
- 16 Feb 2025
- Entry requirements
- Part of a degree
- Duration
- 15 weeks
- Price from
- $2,160
- Upfront cost
- $0
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Financial Management in Health Care
About this subject
On successful completion of the subject you should be able to:
- Develop leadership strategies in order to develop financial management skills in the workplace, through application of applied learning to discussion topics, activities and assignments
- Discuss how political, corporate and clinical complexities impact on financial management, and analyse the impact of poor quality health provision has on financial systems and budgets
- Use sound financial knowledge to be able to develop projects and analyses outcomes and long term sustainability
- Communicate an understanding of the principles of budgeting, financial reports and cost benefit analysis
- Apply contemporary financial management principles to decision making
- A week-by-week guide to the topics you will explore in this subject will be provided in your study materials.
This subject is designed to foster knowledge and understanding of concepts, principles and practices of health care funding and how this translates to financial management in a range of health care settings. Students will develop an understanding of effective and practical approaches to financial management and how this is linked to organisational strategy and sustainability. The subject explores financial management in healthcare at the strategic funding level, the organisational level and at the manager level.
Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport.
Assessment in this subject is used to provide opportunity for students to demonstrate knowledge and understanding, analysis and evaluation skills, critical reflection and application of theoretical concepts to practice. Additionally, these assessments allow students to further develop their academic and professional communication skills. Detailed written feedback is provided on the essay, discussions and project proposal to facilitate learning and achievement of subject learning outcomes.
ONLINE DISCUSSION FORUM: Students are expected to each lead one discussion from the list of discussion topics. Leaders will be assigned for each discussion topic or students can nominate if they have an interest in a particular topic. At the end of the discussion period the leader will summarise the discussion. Quality of contribution from students is also assessed.
ESSAY: Discuss whether an increased spending on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in health equates to an increase in the quality of health outcomes. You should examine but not be limited to;
• the increase in proportion of GDP spent on health in Australia over the past 10 years;
• evidence as to whether health outcomes are improving or not and why;
• If there are better/worse access and equity issues.
Your response should consider and compare Australian outcomes with other countries and explore options for improving quality patient outcomes with allocation of funds. Word count 1000 words (excluding cover page and references).
BUSINESS PROPOSAL: Develop a business proposal, which aims to improve service outcomes. Your proposal should include;
• an argument to convince your CEO as to why the project is necessary, utilising financial markers.
• all financial implications associated with implementing and sustaining the program.
• the financial and clinical KPIs that will be used for evaluation.
• Alternative solutions and the argument as to why your solution is financially beneficial. Your assignment should include at least 5 evidence based references and 5 additional journal articles which are not from the Subject Guide and which should be current (within the last 5 years). Word Count 2500 words (excluding cover page and text references).- Online Discussion Forum (35%)
- Essay (25%)
- Professional Plan/Business Proposal (40%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
This research-based university in Perth has a strong interdisciplinary focus and a reputation for outstanding teaching and ground-breaking research. With more than 25,000 students and 2,400 staff from over 90 countries, and campuses in Dubai and Singapore, Murdoch embraces free thinking, shared ideas and knowledge to make a difference, and Open Universities Australia is certainly part of that.
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- QS Ranking 2024:
- 27
- Times Higher Education Ranking 2024:
- 26
Entry requirements
Part of a degree
To enrol in this subject you must be accepted into one of the following degrees:
Core
- MUR-HCM-MAS-2025 - Master of Health Care Management
Others
Enrolment in a Graduate degree.
Additional requirements
No additional requirements
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
Related degrees
Once you’ve completed this subject it can be credited towards one of the following courses
Master of Health Care Management
PostgraduateMUR-HCM-MAS