Comparing the Master of Health Care Management, Health Care MBA, and MHA Degrees

MHCM or MS in Health Care Management programs prepare early and mid-career professionals, often exclusively clinicians, for management roles within health care facilities. These degrees focus on core management competencies, including organizational policy, finance, and strategic thinking, to help graduates effectively run departments or institutions. The coursework is laser-focused for those who work in hospitals or care organizations and are typically not designed to bring together students from differing job functions in health care. Programs do not generally offer the tools and training in industry-wide redesign to transform care delivery at scale.

Health Care-focused MBA programs provide a solid grounding in business fundamentals—finance, marketing, operations—with electives tailored to the health sector. These programs are ideal for individuals looking to make a career transition into health care. While they emphasize financial and operational decision-making, they offer less focus on clinical outcomes or care delivery. For a clearer understanding of how this degree type fits into the broader health care leadership landscape, see our in-depth page on health care MBAs.

MPH degrees are oriented toward public and community health, emphasizing epidemiology, health behavior, and health policy. These programs prepare students for roles in public health departments, non-profits, and global health organizations. The coursework often includes biostatistics and environmental health, offering a broader population-level perspective. To learn more about the MPH degree type, visit our dedicated article on the subject.

MHA programs focus on the operational and administrative aspects of running healthcare institutions, such as hospitals and health systems. Students build foundational competencies through granular training in spreadsheet modeling, health analytics, and accounting. These programs are often geared toward early-career professionals seeking managerial roles. Explore our page focused on the MHA and learn who will benefit most from a degree in health administration.

MS programs in health care typically allow for specialization in areas like informatics, quality improvement, or healthcare analytics. These degrees can be particularly well-suited to professionals who want to dive deeply into one technical or research-oriented area. While they provide strong subject-matter expertise, they may not always offer broader leadership or systems-level training.

The MHCDS program at Dartmouth College is designed for clinicians and health executives with 10+ years of experience who want to drive meaningful improvements in health care delivery. Its curriculum integrates core elements from other degree types: business training from an MBA (e.g., operations, accounting, financial management), population health and policy analysis from an MPH, and leadership principles from an MHCM. What sets MHCDS apart is its interdisciplinary, large-scale focus on care delivery design across the industry.

The program emphasizes practical application, with students directly applying new knowledge to projects in their own workplaces. A diverse cohort of students in clinical practice, finance, operations, strategy, policy, and insurance facilitates peer-to-peer learning and encourages breaking away from the traditional health care silos. The program’s low-residency structure—blending online instruction with periodic in-person sessions—makes it possible to continue working while advancing professionally. MHCDS weaves together the strengths of multiple programs into a single, targeted pathway for improving how care is delivered and leading sweeping transformations.