The Master of Science in Health Administration program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Health Professions has been acknowledged for excellence by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education as the winner of the 2019 CAHME/Baylor Scott and White Health Award for Excellence in Quality Improvement Education.
The honor, established in 2016, recognizes the UAB MSHA program for embedding quality throughout its curriculum, for incorporating practitioner faculty in experiential learning, and for its collaboration with UAB Health System on a Student Workforce Program that gives first-year students real-world health care experience.
“Reviewing the applications for the CAHME/Baylor Scott and White Health Award always gives me a sense of optimism for the future of health care,” said Anthony Stanowski, president and CEO of CAHME. “The commitment to quality improvement — embodied by this year’s winning program from UAB — means these students will enter their careers ready to drive health care quality to new heights.”
The CAHME/Baylor Scott and White Health Award provides the UAB MHSA program, ranked second in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, with up to $5,000 in scholarship money to fund educational materials related to quality improvement education. It also provides an invitation to the Baylor University Robbins Case Competition in Healthcare Management — an event that a UAB MSHA team won in 2018 — and congratulatory banner ads in ModernHealthcare. In addition, a three-minute video profile will be shown when the award is delivered at the CAHME Award Ceremony on March 25 at the ACHE Congress in Chicago.
“We are delighted to receive this recognition for providing excellence in quality improvement education,” said Amy Y. Landry, Ph.D., Howard W. Houser Endowed Professor in Health Administration and MSHA program director. “We try to emphasize the importance of quality improvement and patient safety throughout our curriculum. Our MSHA students have the opportunity to work on ‘real-world’ improvement projects in our coursework and in our student workforce collaboration with the UAB Health System. Our Executive MSHA includes the option for students to pursue either a graduate certificate or dual degree in health care quality and safety. A focus on quality improvement supports the mission of our program: Developing leaders to shape tomorrow’s health care through an exceptional master’s level educational experience.”
This is the second year in a row that CAHME, the premier accreditor in its field, has honored the UAB MSHA program with a national award. In 2018, the program received the 2018 CAHME/Cerner Award for Excellence in Healthcare Management Systems Education. The award recognized its outstanding education in the use of information technology and management systems in health care.
