Health Care Management New Skills for New Challenges.

There is no shortage of healthcare related news these days. Particularly in Southern California, one gets a daily dosage of healthcare-related media coverage. The issues include financial and operational pitfalls in public and private organizations. Headlines include bankruptcies of HMOs, MSOs, and Medical Groups; and financial difficulties of the County Health Department. The increasing number of uninsured and under-insured and how to address their healthcare needs is another frequently covered topic. The recent double-digit increase in insurance premiums, along with the softening economy, will cause even more families, including those with part time and full time employment, to join the ranks of the uninsured.

The healthcare related sector captures 14 percent of the GDP, and employs over 11 million people. The employment and total healthcare expenditure will continue to rise along with the aging baby boomers and with a simultaneous increase in average life expectancy of the general population. With the expansion in demand for health services, there are already signs of a shortage of professionals in various segments of the industry. The nursing shortage is a prime example.

The shortage, however, will not be limited to nurses and other health professionals in the front line of healthcare delivery. There will also be a shortage of adequately trained individuals in business enterprise, support, and leadership in healthcare organizations. At the National Summit Conference held this year to address this issue, the attendees agreed that "....to meet the challenges of expanding technology and diverse, aging population in the 21st century, national leadership must strengthen the system that prepares healthcare managers at all phases, from entry education through mid-career development to the preparation of senior executives. The summit called on educational institutions to create "specialized education / training in Health Administration" with special emphasis on "career stage" development. The summit also called for a "Mandate for Diversity," the recruitment and education of diverse groups of individuals, as future healthcare managers and leaders. Diversity is used in its broadest fo rm, including "diversity in race, ethnicity, culture, gender, lifestyle, and age".

Los Angeles is an ideal environment to develop the future healthcare leadership for California, and indeed for the nation. Many of the health system changes in public and private settings that are currently sweeping the country have origins in Southern California. Moreover, Los Angeles is the most culturally and ethnically diverse county in the nation and provides fertile training for the various levels of education highlighted in the leadership summit.

In the greater Los Angeles area there is a wide range of educational options that have been developed and enhanced over the last decade, which address the need for healthcare management and leadership training. These options vary in financial and time commitment, and cover a continuum of training and professional development. The sources of the educational training are as diverse.

Professional membership associations, such as the Medical Group Management Association, Healthcare Financial Management Association, and American College of Healthcare Executives provide programs varied in length, method of delivery and fees.

Other sources of training include free seminars and meetings conducted by not-for-profit organizations such as The Healthcare Collaborative (THC), that holds monthly evening seminars on the campus of UCLA and quarterly breakfast meetings on current healthcare issues held at the Skirball Cultural Center.

For those who would like to enroll in a formal program to earn a degree or a certificate, there are a variety of options through the state universities such as the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), and California State UniversityNorthridge (CSUN). The Extension Program at UCLA offers a certificate program in Health Administration, requiring completion of six classes offered in the evenings. For those who would like to earn a bachelor's degree (BS), CSUN offers a program in Health Administration. At the graduate level, the options are a Master of Public Health (MPH) and a Doctorate in Public Health in Health Services Management at the UCLA School of Public Health, and a Master of Health Administration (MHA) at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Policy, Planning and Development. For mid-career professionals and those at the executive level, UCLA offers an MPH for Health Professionals in Health Services Management (MPH-HP). This program offers extended weekend classes and is compat ible with a full-time career.

The wide range of educational options, multicultural environment, and innovative approaches in healthcare organization in the Los Angeles area, provides ample opportunity for training managers and leaders to address the future needs of the healthcare industry.