Do you have an interest in issues surrounding healthcare innovation? Are you interested in how we can meet healthcare demand with limited resources? Do you want to know how we can manage organisations in constantly changing healthcare systems?

Then Healthcare Policy, Innovation and Management could just be the programme for you. 

The programme focuses on the analysis of health systems and the translation of the results into innovative solutions; you’ll learn how to come up with, implement, manage, evaluate and improve innovative solutions. After you have completed your studies, you'll be an innovative professional who is able to influence the future direction of healthcare. Your broad skillset will open up many different career paths, including careers as a manager, care purchaser, a senior policy advisor, consultant or researcher. 

Why this programme?

Never has the need for innovation in healthcare been greater than today. Consumer demands and expectations are rising. Ageing and the advancement of new medical options have led to a growth in healthcare expenditures.

Healthcare Policy, Innovation and Management offers a multidisciplinary approach and brings together both theory and practice in its focus on innovation. And it does so on all possible levels, from micro-to-macro-level, from individual organisations to (inter)national healthcare systems, from patient relations to the process of caretaking.

Influencing the future of healthcare: innovation

Across Europe, healthcare has become one of the biggest employment sectors. State involvement in healthcare features an unprecedented growth. These developments raise fundamental questions, such as: 

• how to organise and implement patient-oriented healthcare,
• how to guarantee universal access to a fair package of health services,
• how to provide high-quality healthcare while containing costs,
• how to improve the performance of healthcare systems in general and healthcare providers in particular.

Key to all these issues is the need for innovation. The Healthcare Policy, Innovation and Management programme will therefore give you solid insight into all aspects of healthcare innovation at all levels and from different disciplines (including economics, financial and strategic management, policy sciences, innovation and quality management, process management). It will provide you with the competences needed to play a key role in initiating, governing, evaluating and managing healthcare innovations. And it will give you the ability to critically analyse health systems, to translate the results into innovative solutions and to influence the future of healthcare.

Improve your research skills:

In addition to the theoretical knowledge you'll gain, you will also improve your practical research skills and employability skills. So you will not only learn about for example the economics of healthcare or process management, you will also learn how to conduct scientific investigations into these or other topics. You’ll practice all the stages of academic research, including designing the research, collecting data, data-analysis and reporting the findings.

Key topics:

The key topics of the programme are:

• health economics
• innovation management
• quality management
• governance
• process management
• managing change and implementation
• strategic and financial management in healthcare

Career event:

In addition to your internship, you’ll also have other opportunities to get in touch with future employers.

Each year, the Healthcare Policy Innovation and Management programme organises a one-day career event. This day consists of a plenary panel discussion, workshops and a network meeting. You’ll be able to talk to alumni and to representatives from different healthcare organisations. Who knows, you may even meet your future employer there.