Health management education

Until 2018, “health care manager” was not a separate profession in Ukraine, and only medical doctors could become health care managers in Ukraine. However, clinical competence is not the same as managerial competence. Moreover, good management practices positively shape the quality of care. The quality of services in the organization includes the level of staff training, maintenance of technical means and other attributes of service, which requires a wide range of management knowledge and skills.

Constant changes in the health care system of Ukraine and increased autonomy of health care institutions increase the demand for more competent management. Professional management skills are required together with the mandatory requirement to have a future management education (not less than a master’s degree) (starting from January 1, 2022).

Therefore, the Project is initiating the creation of a master’s program in Health Care Management. This initiative is supported by the National Health Service of Ukraine, which has expressed its intention to translate its expertise into an educational form in order to develop the competencies of managers and strengthen successful cooperation for the welfare of patients. For the sustainability of the master’s program, the Project sees it important to institutionalize a new educational program in a higher education institution that cares about program development, is willing to invest resources in the program, and so on.

The Master’s program in Health Care Management will recruit the first group of students in September 2021, and during the 2020-2021 academic year will offer individual modules. The modules have a mixed format: most of the lectures and materials are available in an online course, after which you can get a certificate. For the advanced level, interested managers can supplement online training with classroom meetings, which take place in an interactive format: case studies, role-playing games, discussions, guest meetings with industry experts.

In order to bring the development of managers’ competencies as close as possible to the realities of the Ukrainian health care system, in 2019 the project together with the Deloitte project – USAID and with the support of the National Health Service of Ukraine prepared a study on the educational needs of primary managers. The results of the study are presented in the Policy Brief.