In today's dynamic and complex health care environment, there is a need for highly educated professionals who can understand and integrate the clinical and business aspects of the industry. In an era of consolidation, alliances, and complex regulation, patient care must be designed and delivered in a manner that takes into consideration many factors such as quality, safety, patient satisfaction, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and integration of services. A professional with proficiency in the clinical sciences of diagnosis and therapeutics, and the business disciplines of accounting, management, finance, marketing, law and information technology will be in high demand. Such a person would be employable in group medical practices, hospitals, insurance companies, clinics, long-term care organizations, pharmaceutical companies and government. They would be educated in a diverse skill set that includes clinical practice, practice management, hospital administration, health policy, research, conflict resolution and negotiation. There has been a recent trend toward combining business and health curriculum to address the need for professionals who can successfully navigate between both worlds. The Philadelphia University MBA/PA Program was designed to educate professionals to meet the present and future demands of the dynamic healthcare environment.

The Program:

The MBA/PA Program combines the one-year MBA program from the School of Business Administration with the two-year MS in Physician Assistant Studies from the School of Science and Health. This new program builds on the strength of these two well-established and highly recognized programs. The program also includes an integrated preceptorship experience; a healthcare management master’s project; and a healthcare leadership seminar. Students graduating from this rigorous three-year program would be awarded with a:

Graduates would be eligible to sit for the Physician Assistant National Certification Examination (PANCE), and -- as a PA-C, MBA, MS -- would find a wide variety of diverse employment settings from which to apply. The program focuses on health care leadership and utilizes leaders from industry to act as mentors.

To gain admission into the Dual MBA/PA Programs you must meet all admission requirements first for the PA Program. However, students may apply to the MBA program separately to be admitted to that program. Please review the web sites.

An outline of the program structure is listed below:

Program Sequence:

Admission Requirements:

1. Application to CASPA (Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistant) by August 15 (portal opens on April 15th). CASPA can be accessed on the web at: https://secure.caspaonline.org/
2. GMAT to Philadelphia University (GRE is not required)
3. Meet the program prerequisites for the Physician Assistant Program (located on page 3 of the MS in Physician Assistant Studies brochure)

Students entering the Program without any prior college-level business courses would need to complete Business Foundation courses prior to entering the full-time MBA Program. The foundation courses provide a comprehensive general business education and serve as the foundation for advanced study. These courses are often referred to as the common body of knowledge that graduates of an undergraduate business program are expected to have completed.

These can be completed on-line prior to entry. More information on these can be found at http://www.philau.edu/mba/Course/MBA-courses-foundations.htm. Students with college-level business courses will have a formal transcript evaluation by the School of Business Administration to determine if any foundation courses are required. For more information contact the Office of Graduate Admissions at 215.951.2943 or GradAdm@PhilaU.edu.