Healthcare Quality & Safety
At a Glance
Healthcare Quality and Safety (HQS) is the study and prevention of adverse events, suboptimal care, ineffective treatments, inefficient processes and unnecessary clinical variation in health systems.
Mission: We develop emerging leaders to improve lives and provide exceptional value in healthcare quality & safety.
Vision: Transforming education to empower quality and safety leaders, promote interprofessional collaboration, stimulate research, and improve outcomes.
Program Options & Tracks
All coursework is 100% online and uses an accelerated term format specifically designed for working professionals. This enables students to focus on building one set of skills at a time, but still graduate at the same pace as traditional graduate degree programs.
Master of Science in Healthcare Quality & Safety
The Master of Science (MS) program builds upon the foundation concepts presented in the graduate certificate and focuses on the advanced application of HQS concepts necessary for the analysis, management, and improvement of HQS and the systems that deliver healthcare services. This option contains 10 online courses and a capstone project, which is specifically designed to enhance the student’s career trajectory. This option can be completed in two years.
The master’s degree option provides students the opportunity to study and apply HQS concepts in different healthcare environments around the world.
Science Track
Students wishing to practice within the United States will learn how to apply HQS concepts to the organization, delivery, and financing of healthcare services specific to the unique aspects of the U.S. healthcare system.
Management Track
Students with an MBA, MHA, or qualifying education from the our program partners will combine their prior management training with HQS program concepts to lead quality improvement and patient safety in large, complex organizations.
Advanced Practice Certificates (APC) in Healthcare Quality & Safety
The Advanced Practice Certificates focus on building knowledge and skills in healthcare quality and safety or health system science. The primary audiences include: health professions students, medical residents and fellows, clinical faculty, and healthcare professionals interested in moving into administrative roles.
Students have the choice of earning the APC in:
- Healthcare Quality & Safety
- Healthcare Quality & Safety - QIPS Track
- Healthcare Quality & Safety Education
Advanced Practice Certificate (APC) in Health Systems Science
- Health Systems Science
- Health Systems Science Education
Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Quality & Safety
The graduate certificate focuses on the foundations of HQS. This option contains five online courses and can be completed in one year.
Program Features
- 100% online with no synchronous learning requirement
- Globally focused curriculum designed by and for HQS professionals
- Accelerated 7-week term format tailored to working professionals
- Courses taught by expert practitioner faculty who bring their extensive real-world experience to the classroom
- Complete a graduate certificate in one year or a master’s degree in two years by taking just one course at a time
Program Audiences
The HQS program is designed for health professionals, individuals working in healthcare for at least three years or studying healthcare concurrently in a professional program. Many of our students are augmenting their health professions’ roles after years in clinical practice, as a way of transitioning to administrative positions.
Professionals from all key stakeholder groups in healthcare are engaged in HQS, including:
- Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other clinicians
- Healthcare administrators
- Accountable Care Organization (ACO) leaders
- Health insurance professionals and third-party administrators
- Risk management and finance professionals working in hospitals and integrated delivery systems
- Pharmaceutical industry professionals
- Health IT specialists and analysts
- Public/government professionals engaged in healthcare oversight
Learn More from our Faculty & Students
At Jefferson's College of Population Health, our healthcare quality and safety program is developing emerging leaders to improve lives and provide exceptional value in the health industry.
Our HQS program is one of the first graduate programs to offer immersive and practical training in healthcare quality and patient safety completely online. This program is also one of the few that takes an integrative approach to learning where physicians, nurses, and non-clinicians collaborate on course material together in an interprofessional environment.
The HQS program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME), the specialized accrediting body recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) as the only accrediting body for healthcare management programs at the master's level. CAHME accreditation only applies to the HQS master's degree program; it does not apply to the Advanced Practice Certificates (APC) or graduate certificates.
Accredited status is a mark of quality. It is also an indication that a program in healthcare quality and safety has committed to participate in the establishment of distinct accreditation standards for master’s level healthcare quality and safety education.
Partnerships
This program also offers reduced program requirements and discounted tuition costs through partnerships with several professional organizations, including the American Association for Physician Leadership (AAPL), the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ), the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM), and others.