HFMA Academy: MBA offers research bonus

A spin-off benefit from the MBA in healthcare finance, which started with its first intake of students this year, is the production of potentially valuable research into issues relevant to NHS finance.

The MBA in healthcare finance is delivered by BPP University and graduates of the HFMA advanced higher diploma in healthcare business and finance are eligible for entry onto the programme.

Although eight students began the MBA programme in February, one has deferred and seven will undertake a healthcare consultancy project, worth half of the MBA programme’s overall 60 credits.

The HFMA Policy and Research Committee agreed to provide non-academic support to the students for their projects, which will run over three months from October. As part of this support, each student has been assigned a committee member as a non-academic sponsor.

Students will have an academic sponsor assigned by the university and this is the key role in ensuring students meet all the academic criteria required for the project.

However, the non-academic sponsor will support the student with help on how the work fits into professional practice in the NHS and providing access to data, ideas and contacts from the NHS finance function.

The prime goal here is to help the students deliver a high-quality project that helps them towards achieving their MBA. But the committee was also excited by the potential to deliver some important research on key financial issues.

Policy and Research Committee member and HFMA trustee Lee Outhwaite described it as a win-win for students and the healthcare finance community. ‘This is a chance to increase the capacity for research on healthcare finance,’ he says. ‘The NHS faces some significant changes as it looks to deliver the targets set out in the NHS long-term plan and in particular as it moves to system working. These changes will have implications for how the finance function will work in the future.

‘The research projects put forward by the MBA students provide a great opportunity to think through some of these issues from an academic point of view. And it makes sense for the association to support this work where it can.’

While students have been free to select their own project topic, the committee held a session with the students to discuss possible areas of interest, informed by this year’s HFMA member survey. This was followed up by one-to-one sessions with each of the students to refine their ideas and offer feedback.

Then in September, the students presented their proposals to a full meeting of the committee, answering questions and listening to feedback. With just three months to complete the project, non-academic sponsors will have a formal meeting/call with their student a minimum of once a month, although contact is likely to be much more regular.

Projects selected by students – and endorsed by the committee – cover a range of areas. Integration is a key theme, with separate projects looking at the impact of integrated care systems (ICSs) on the finance function, the role of senior finance leaders in the transition to ICSs, and the merger of finance teams in the creation of a combined organisation. 

Other projects will look at high utilisation patients and how culture affects the delivery of efficiency savings.