UCSD tackles business of medicine

University to offer new master's degree

By Tony Fong
STAFF WRITER

December 6, 2000

After attending a business leadership program for health-care providers earlier this year, Therese Rymer had an awakening of sorts.

As the director of clinical services for the University of California at San Diego Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, she had made sure things that needed to be done were done.

But too often she and her staff were operating in crisis-management mode and flying by the seat of their pants.

The eight-month program taught her there was a better way of doing things. Next month, Rymer, a nurse practitioner for 25 years, and about a dozen other professionals in the health-care industry, will learn in greater detail what she glimpsed during the program.

Starting Jan. 4, UCSD will offer a new degree program for people who, like Rymer, are looking to back their clinical know-how with a business education.

The Master of Advanced Studies in Leadership in Healthcare Organizations is the first approved program under a statewide University of California system project designed for professionals looking to further their formal education and improve their career potential.

While it has become common for doctors to get their MBAs and go into the business end of medicine, the new program is different. It will provide a rigorous course of study in finance for doctors and other health-care providers who don't want to give up their clinical duties, said Dr. Charles Mittman, dean of clinical affairs at the UCSD School of Medicine.

The program also is open to students in the medical school and to medical residents.

In contrast to an MBA program that prepares someone to become a chief executive officer of a hospital system, Mittman said the program will prepare a physician to tackle the responsibilities of a chief medical officer or chief of staff.

"It's to equip people with a clinical background or a clinical orientation to be able to work as part of a team" of hospital administrators, Mittman said. He added that experience has taught him that many physicians who assume administrative duties often are unprepared.

The new master's program is part of an effort begun in 1998 when UC system President Richard Atkinson initiated the Master of Advance Study degree, tailored to help working professionals in specific fields who want to pursue graduate degrees.

Other schools in the University of California system are in various stages of developing MAS degree programs in digital media, education for teachers, and maternal and child nutrition.

Locally, the boom in the technology sector has created a need for advanced degree programs in the field, said Leslie Franz, UCSD Medical Center spokeswoman.

"Going back to school full-time is not really an option (for technology workers)," Franz said. "The issue for us is 'How do we address this?' "

The university is proposing a management school with an emphasis on programs for those who work in the high-tech and biotech industries, said Richard Attiyeh, vice chancellor for research and dean of graduate studies at UCSD.

In addition to the new Master of Advance Study program, UCSD offers a Master of Pacific International Affairs, a two-year professional degree with an emphasis on the business, politics and economics of the Pacific region. In July, UCSD received approval from the University of California Board of Regents to establish a school of pharmacy. The first classes will begin in September.

For Rymer, long stressful hours come with the job description. But a belief that better business decision-making will lead to better patient care compelled her to join the master's program.

"I honestly think that between the clinical side and the business side, the bigger difference you can make . . . is in the development of programs more wisely," something that can be accomplished with greater knowledge of the business of medicine, she said.

To complete the program, students have to finish 40 credit hours of course work. The cost is approximately $24,000 for part-time students, not including books, parking and incidentals.

For more information or to apply, call Grace Miller, director of health-care continuing education at UCSD Extension: (858) 964-1012.