COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
California State University, Long Beach
Health Care Administration Program
HCA 698 Final Project/Business Plans in Health Care Administration
Semester Fall 2017
Instructor: Grace L Reynolds, D.P.A. Class Number: 11012
E-mail: Class Meets: Wednesday 4-6:45
Room: ET 103
Office Hours: Tuesdays 1:30-3:30
Phone: 562-985-5885 Additional Contact Information:
HCA Dept. Administrative Coordinator: Deby McGill,
Tel. 562/985-5694; fax 562/985-5886
I. Catalog Description
Project (3)
Prerequisites: Advancement to candidacy & a completion of minimum 27 graduate units in HCA.
Foundations of starting a new business in healthcare with a complete business plan, including pro-forma budget, market analysis, options for financing, marketing and advertising plan. Case studies to bring contextual focus on specific departments, organizations, and issues in healthcare. Letter grade only (A-F).
II. Student Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:
A. Analyze the essential elements of a business plan.
B. Develop a statement of purpose for new or existing businesses in healthcare.
C. Evaluate a detailed market research strategy that needs to support the business plan.
D. Differentiate between business options and scenarios, with strengths and weaknesses of each in the context of healthcare organizations.
E. Outline operating procedures and resources, implementation, transition plans in order to support the new or existing business scenarios in healthcare.
F. Evaluate the risk of existing operations associated with starting new or existing business scenarios.
G. Synthesize detailed financial information, including capital needs, equipment and supply list, balance sheet, breakeven analysis, pro-forma income projections for healthcare organizations.
H. Analyze sources of financing with recommendations.
I. Analyze legal, ethical and conflict-of-interest issues that may relate to the new or existing business scenarios in healthcare.
J. Analyze key elements in the selection of the management team.
K. Develop communication plan and related instruments to inform organization and relevant community.
III. Required Text
Kuratko, Donald F. (2013). Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process and Practice, 9th edition. Cengage Learning: New York.
IV. Course Modality
This course will be offered using traditional methods: face-to-face contact such as lectures, discussion, guest lectures and direct exchange of materials as
V. Course Overview
This course is designed to assist students with a structured format for producing the culminating project of the master’s degree.
Learning Objective / Domain / Competency / Assessment MethodConstruct the chapters of the project or business plan using American Psychological Association formatting / Professionalism / Professional standards and codes of ethics / Write up of the project using APA format and Library thesis/dissertation office guidelines
Differentiate the steps necessary to successfully operationalize and carry out a business plan project / Business Knowledge and Skills / Principles of database and file management / Write up of market analysis, feasibility analysis, and legal/regulatory issues for business plan
Analyze data using basic financial techniques and software / Business Knowledge and Skills / Data collection, measurement and analysis tools and techniques;
application software;
Basic financial statements and use of Excel templates / Production of financial statements and spreadsheets for business plans
Synthesize the peer-reviewed research literature and business sources on the topic chosen for the project / Business Knowledge and Skills / Health informatics
Electronic education and information resources and systems / Market analysis, feasibility analysis and legal/regulatory issues chapters
Policy on late assignments: No late assignments will be accepted. You may fax or e-mail your assignments if you are unable to come to class as long as the assignment is received by the posted due date.
Grading of assignments for this class:
Because the final project grade is a consensus grade of all three readers, students will not receive a letter grade for this course until final approval has been received from the Library Thesis/Dissertation office. Students meeting course requirements will receive a temporary grade of RP—report of progress for the fall 698 course—if they do the following:
1. Turn in all six assignments by the due dates in the syllabus: literature review table; Chapter 1 Market Analysis; Chapter 2 Feasibility Analysis; Chapter 3 Legal and Regulatory Considerations; Chapter 4 Financial Overview including completion of Excel template financial statements; References for entire project. ALL SECTIONS MUST CONFORM TO THE RUBRICS PROVIDED BY THE INSTRUCTOR.
2. The Literature Review table must include a MINIMUM of 15 peer-reviewed articles on the topic of the business plan and an additional 10 references on the topic (these can be webpages, business articles, newspapers articles, etc.). Student must have a MINIMUM of 25 references as noted above in order to be considered to have MET the Literature Review Table requirement.
3. The four chapters of the project must conform to the following parameters: Chapters 1, 2, and 3 MUST be 8 pages MIMIMUM, double-spaced. These are FULL pages. Students may have longer chapters, depending upon the business plan topic and need to explain complex issues, but any chapter LESS THAN 8 full double-spaced pages will receive an UNMET and deficiencies will need to be addressed before project is cleared to go to second and third readers.
4. Chapter 4 – Financial Information – must consist of no less than 8 pages of financial assumptions regarding revenue and expenses PLUS the Excel template, which will go into an Appendix for library submission.
5. A reference listing of all outside sources, peer-reviewed journal articles, webpages, etc. must be included with the final project copy. It must be in APA format; all references in the list must be cited in text. At a MINIMUM students will have the 25 references from the literature review table. References may exceed 25 in cases where students have done a thorough job referring to, and citing, outside sources.
Disabled students who qualify for alternative testing arrangements, please advise the instructor and make arrangements well in advance of the exams, preferably notify the instructor the first week of class of DSS classification.
COURSE FORMAT
Lecture/discussion; in- and out-of-class exercises; long written assignments comprising final project report.
Grading of the Project course: The grade for the Project course is the grade for the ENTIRE completed Project/Thesis after the full document has been accepted by the Library Thesis and Dissertation Office.
- Completion of the business plan adequately will result in a grade of B if this is agreed upon by all three readers.
- Provision of brilliant creative insights and impeccably presented sections/chapters of the business plan may earn you an A, if this is agreed up by all three readers.
- Poorly written business plans will earn you a C.
- Grades are based on overall organization and clarity, quality and thoroughness of the literature review, appropriateness of the analytic or other methods, quality of presentation of results or completion of the business plan, overall writing quality and general contribution to the health care administration knowledge base.
The final grade on the Project is a consensus grade of all three faculty readers. All comments from all three readers must be corrected and addressed before the Project will be released to you for presentation to the Library.
Second readers WILL NOT begin review of your project until the first week of the spring semester 2018, approximately January 27, 2018.
Only after the Library has determined that all formatting is complete and correct will you be given clearance to receive a final grade for the Project course and cleared to graduate.
Simply finishing the Project/Thesis does NOT guarantee the quality of the Project/Thesis; finishing the Project/Thesis does NOT guarantee you will receive an A.
A Note about Good Written English and Grammar: For many graduate students, English may not be their first language. For others, English may be the first language, but students may have significant challenges in creating well-crafted prose. All students are encouraged to take advantage of the Writers’ Resource Lab, which provides editorial help for students on both a walk-in basis and by appointment. If the instructor specifically refers you to the Writers’ Resource Lab for writing assistance, it is possible that your compliance with this will be a prerequisite to any further reading of your Project/Thesis. Due to the large number of students and short deadlines, DO NOT expect the instructor to edit your grammar and English writing for the 25-35 pages of your project more than once. After reading your first draft of any of the sections of the project, if there are more than 3 spelling, punctuation or grammatical errors on at least 3 pages, the instructor will refer you to the Writers’ Resource Lab for individualized assistance (http://www.csulb.edu/colleges/cla/departments/english/wrl/).
Students are expected to be proactive in using software available for spelling and grammar checks and for ensuring that they use proper English—this is a basic expectation for graduate students who have progressed to the final semester of coursework.
Students completing a business plan are expected to complete the Excel template for the financial statements which will be made available for that purpose in addition to the four written sections of the business plan.
Length, Format, and Typing of Final Project
The usual length of the completed project/thesis will be between 25-40 pages, including all chapters, references, tables and figures. The final copy of the project or business plan must conform to all requirements by the University Library, http://www.csulb.edu/library/guide/serv/
Specifically, thesis requirements are outlined in the January 2015 manual, University Style and Format Guidelines for Master’s Theses and Project Reports, available online at http://www.csulb.edu/library/guide/serv/documents/thesis_manual.pdf. NOTE: Students must use the most recent edition of this manual, as of the semester during which the thesis/project is submitted and completed. Other style issues (citations; references) will follow the APA style manual (6th edition).
Costs
Students are advised that thesis/project can involve certain costs in addition to tuition. These include a copyright fee paid to the Library at submission of the project. There may be other fees that the University or Library impose on students upon project/thesis completion. Students are encouraged to seek clarification from the Library when they are at the point of submitting their final projects to the Thesis/Dissertation office.
Information about textbooks/readings
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition (2009). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
The 2015 edition of the University Style and Format Guidelines for Theses, Project Reports, and Dissertationsis available online at http://www.csulb.edu/library/guide/serv/documents/thesis_manual.pdf.
More information from the Library can be found at http://www.csulb.edu/library/guide/serv/thesis_format.html
Timeline
GENERAL GUIDELINES ON THE THESIS PROJECT:
[1] Each written assignment should be word processed, be double-spaced and have 1 inch on top, bottom, and right margins. The left margin should be 1.5 inches.
[a] It should have section headings, where appropriate, printed in bold.
[b] It should have page numbers on each page except the first page. The page numbers should be CENTERED in the bottom of the page and must conform to the Library’s thesis guidelines.
[c] The assignments should be printed in a 12 character per inch font.
[d] There should be double spacing between paragraphs and after a heading.
[e] Each written assignment should conform exactly to the page structure and format requested in the University Guidelines. In most instances, this will require careful thought and editing on content.
[2] References, when used in any assignments, should be listed on the last, and a separate page.
[3] The final thesis project draft, with corrections required by the course instructor, is due to the instructor on December 6, 2017 in order to graduate in Spring 2018 and meet the Library submission deadline. Submit your final draft first to the instructor and make revisions based on his/her comments/suggestions. Upon the instructor’s approval of your revision, submit your thesis to your two faculty readers and then make revisions based on their comments/suggestions. (NOTE. Each review and critique by the instructor and two faculty readers requires at least 2 weeks’ time, so please plan accordingly.) Second readers WILL NOT begin review of your project until approximately January 27, 2018.
[4] After receiving the two faculty readers’ approval of your final revisions, you will (a) obtain a final signature page from the instructor and faculty readers (see pp. 31-32 in the University Thesis Guidelines) and (b) finalize the formatting of your final thesis to submit it to the university library. Project reports are typically 25-40 pages long, including tables, figures and/or appendices.
The Library has moved to an electronic submission format. All students are expected to adhere to guidelines and follow instructions with respect to electronic submission to the Library.
All students are expected to be proactive about formatting their Project or Business Plan according to Library guidelines. Failure to conform to Library formatting guidelines can hold up your graduation by at least one full semester. It is the responsibility of each student to work with the Library thesis office to ensure compliance with all formatting and other Library guidelines.
[5] The purpose of this course is to develop the ability/habit of critical thinking and reasoning while learning and this can be best accomplished in a setting of phased learning. The written assignments and the feedback students receive from the instructor are designed to advance the cause of critical thinking and writing. This means students are expected to revise written assignments based on instructor’s comments.