The Johannesburg Business School, a faculty of the University of Johannesburg, is introducing a new MBA learning pathway in Digital Healthcare Management.

The new Digital Healthcare Management learning pathway into our Master of Business Administration (with a Digital Transformation Lens) is designed to equip students from a healthcare background with the digital and management skills needed to elevate the South African public healthcare system. To achieve our goal of supporting South Africa’s development, we are potentially offering 20 fully-funded scholarships to students in this MBA learning pathway – limited to students in public healthcare.

*Applications close on 31 October 2024

The public healthcare sector in South Africa has major challenges, including skills, operations management, finance, energy supply, planning and monitoring, capacity constraints, availability of resources and the additional challenges of the digital age.

Digital Healthcare Management Learning Pathway

Digital Healthcare Management Learning Pathway

Through the new Digital Healthcare Management learning pathway into our MBA, students will learn the skills needed to lead digital healthcare initiatives in South Africa’s public health care sector. We have designed this learning pathway to catapult the public healthcare system by adopting digital systems and tools.

Digital Healthcare Management Modules

JBS seeks to engage healthcare professionals in South Africa, through a long-term strategy that includes core digital modules, and industry-based research projects. Our healthcare research team, in collaboration with top global healthcare research universities, are committed to extending this MBA learning pathway into advanced healthcare research projects.

The new Digital Healthcare Management learning pathway commences with five (5) new elective modules: students will need to select three modules of 10 credits each and one (1) non-credit bearing module that is compulsory.

The curriculum covers themes such as economics, legislation and ethics, big data and analytics, operations management, innovation and healthcare operations management in the context of digital healthcare management. We looks forward to partnering with our MBA graduates in this learning path to solve the challenges of South Africa’s public sector healthcare.

This modules presents a critical review of the latest healthcare technologies and innovations and its impact on the operations of healthcare facilities from delivery of service to costs. This includes mobile technology, tele-health, healthcare at home, technology innovations etc. The module also discusses the innovation lifecycle and its impact to healthcare improvement.

The purpose of this module is to introduce students to an integrated systems approach to improve and optimise healthcare delivery and healthcare facilities management. The module provides and introduction to digital business models, business processes, sensor to ERP, integrated systems, capacity and resource management, and also specific optimisation approaches such as queuing theory.

Define data in healthcare and how data can deliver value in operations and management of health care facilities and the sector. Introduction to data analytics tools, data and reporting, data and management. Introduce the use of data for business intelligence; for informed decision making from facilities operations management to strategic investments. Ethics of data gathering, handling, analysis and sharing.

This Defines and determines how governmental policies and legislations influence the practices of the healthcare sector, from healthcare facilities to medical practitioners to medical aids. Define healthcare ethics and how its application influences healthcare decisions from facility operations to patient diagnosis. Aspects such as malpractice, confidentiality, patient rights, etc. will be considered from both the ethical and legal standpoint. The impact of laws, policies and healthcare ethics on the adoption of digital technologies towards the transformation of the sector; security and privacy of information. How does public healthcare legislation differ in countries with optimally operating public healthcare services and its ethic protocol.

The Economics in Healthcare Management module introduces students to the fundamentals of economics and the application of the fundamentals in the healthcare sector in SA. The module defines and determines how the various role-players of the healthcare sector impacts healthcare costs. The role players that would be considered in the module are the public, patients, healthcare service providers, healthcare practitioners, medical aids, government, and public and private institutions. The module would adopt an inclusive approach with the objective of sustainable social systems. This would include economic evaluation and priority investment strategies for current facilities, technological-social-economic evaluation to maximise strategic investment to advance service delivery. The module would also consider the impacts of digital transformation on healthcare economics.

This module is compulsory for students specialising in healthcare. The purpose of this module is to introduce students to the healthcare sector in South Africa and globally. It contextualises the South African healthcare sector; its needs, its challenges, its role-players, drivers and barriers and considers its future path. The module also looks at the demand, drivers and challenges of the global healthcare sector and current trajectories in healthcare management.

The purpose of this module is to provide exposure to students to international experts in healthcare management via seminars and workshops and to world class healthcare facilities, with the aim of identifying opportunities for improvement to local healthcare facilities. The international study module would be for a period ranging from 1 to 2 weeks, with specified activities per day.