USC launches new health systems management engineering program

The University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi School of Engineering, in conjunction with the Keck School of Medicine at USC, and the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, has launched the first master of science in Health Systems Management Engineering (HSME) Program on the West Coast. The program is now enrolling physicians, nurses, data & information technology professionals, quality improvement and patient safety specialists, and other administrative and operations staff interested in leading the transformation of the U.S. healthcare industry.

This unique program offered by the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering at USC Viterbi, aims to move graduates to the forefront of healthcare innovation and create new career paths. Professionals will have the opportunity to re-imagine or re-engineer how healthcare can be delivered more efficiently and learn how better patient outcomes can be achieved.

Students will have the opportunity to develop performance improvement and other industrial engineering skills, explore project and change management tools, and gain expertise in clinical informatics/data analytics, healthcare quality improvement, supply chain management, or other operational areas. Coursework focuses on improving and optimizing processes in healthcare, as well as strategies to help providers make decisions that are informed by data. Areas of focus can be customized through cross-campus electives.

David Belson, PhD, Program Director of the USC Viterbi M.S. in HSME Program, and an industrial engineer with over 30 years of experience, says, “The time for this program is now. Nationally, the pandemic has exposed critical staffing shortages, supply chain gaps, patient access inequities, and rising operational costs–to name just a few. The pandemic has accelerated the need for change, and increasingly, healthcare executives and key staff will need the skillsets offered by this program to understand and embrace new models of care.”

The HSME program was developed to be flexible for working professionals and is offered as a certificate or master’s degree program. It can be completed on a part-time basis while working, or full-time which takes approximately 18 months. Courses can be completed online remotely, in-person, or as a combination. The program content can also be tailored for a hospital, healthcare system, post-acute provider, professional association, and/or any other healthcare organization involved in staff education.

Scholarships and financial aid are available.  Applications for the first round of scholarships are due by September 15, 2022. A second round of applications is due March 1, 2023.

For any questions regarding the program, please contact Professor Belson at Belson@usc.edu. Visit here for additional program information. This story first appeared on PSQH.