Administered through the school's University of Regina campus and delivered primarily online , the LEADS-accredited online Master of Health Administration (MHA) program builds leadership, advanced management, strategic and analytical thinking, and policy capacity for current, emerging and future health sector leaders. Here, you will gain the knowledge and skills that are required to contribute to improving the effectiveness of program and policy development, program implementation and evaluation, health service delivery, and managerial and administrative performance.
During the program, you will develop the knowledge and skills that are required of professionals and managers in the health field. This includes :
Want to learn more about our online MHA program? Get in touch with our admissions staff.
Looking for answers to some of your key questions? We have you covered.
| Program Type | Course-based program |
| Program Specialization | Students have an opportunity to major in Health Informatics and Information Management (HIIM) |
| Program Length | 2-4 years (full-time or part-time study options) |
| Accredited | Yes. The Johnson Shoyama Graduate School has a strategic alliance with the Canadian College of Health Leaders ' (CCHL) Certified Health Executive (CHE) program and has been awarded a LEADS License to the MHA program. The MHA-HIIM major is also accredited through the Canadian College of Health Information Management (CCHIM). |
| Start Date | January or September |
| Application Deadline | October 1 (January intake) or May 1 (September intake) |
| Tuition | Effective September 1, 2023, the tuition rate for the full program (30 credit units) is approximately $27,807. Tuition is charged on a per-credit-unit basis, and students pay as they take courses. Students are also required to pay off-campus graduate st udent fees. |
| JSGS Scholarship Funding | Not guaranteed |
| GRE/GMAT Requirement | None |
| English Language Requirements | Proof of language proficiency is required. |
| Location | Online, with two brief in-person residencies |
| Potential Career Paths | Graduates of the MHA program work in positions that require advanced management and strategic ability, policy knowledge and skills, and exceptional analytical and evaluation capacity in the healthcare sector. |
The Johnson Shoyama Graduate School has a strategic alliance with the Canadian College of Health Leaders' (CCHL) Certified Health Executive (CHE) program and has been awarded a LEADS License. The CCHL, formerly known as the Canadian College of Health Service Executives (CCHSE), is a national, member-driven, non-profit association dedicated to ensuring that the country’s health system benefits from capable, competent and effective leadership. The CHE Program is a capabilities-based certification program, developed collaboratively with College members, staff, and Board.
The LEADS in a Caring Environment framework is a foundation for Canadian health leadership development.
This strategic alliance allows MHA students to participate in CCHL membership and take a modified version of the CHE at a reduced cost. Students who take JSGS 829 Decision Making and Leadership in Healthcare Organizations may also be eligible to receive the LEADS Learning Series certificate of completion from the CCHL. Completion of the LEADS Learning Series is one of four requirements for the CHE credential. CCHL and CHE participation is optional and entirely voluntary for MHA students. CCHL makes CHE admissions and certification decisions independently from JSGS.
During the course of the MHA program, you will learn to:
FLEXIBLE LEARNING: Delivered primarily online, this course‐based degree offers you the opportunity to obtain a master’s degree on your own schedule. As a working professional, you can attend courses on a part‐time basis while continuing your full‐time employment.
ENGAGED LEARNING: As part of your MHA program, you will participate in two, brief in-person residencies in Regina. Each residency is generally offered once per academic year, with one typically scheduled in the fall and the other in the spring. Organized as three-day sessions, the residency focuses largely on group exercises including case studies, management simulations, breakouts and presentations. Themes you may encounter include leadership, public engagement, health system centralization, and managing and evaluating quality improvement initiatives. To ensure program flexibility, the two residencies do not need to be done in a specific order but must be completed during your program.
APPLIED LEARNING: Courses are highly interactive using varied multimedia, discussion forums and supportive text‐based materials. As part of your applied learning, you have an opportunity to apply for an MHA Placement, where you spend one month embedded in a partner organization such as the Government of Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Health. During this time, you would work on a designated policy project under the supervision of a mentor within the organization and the course instructor.
Are you looking to specialize in your MHA degree? We offer a major in Health Informatics and Information Management (HIIM) that is accredited by the Canadian College of Health Information Management. The HIIM major focuses on the capture, quality, protection, and use of health information for the management and administration of the Canadian healthcare system.
During the course of the program, you will develop graduate-level skills in the information sciences (i.e., information technology, information management, data analytics) and health administration (i.e., Canadian health care system, health service policy and management). The required MHA-HIIM courses will cover the theories, methods, and practice of the discipline, including:
In addition to the core learning outcomes of the MHA program, as an MHA-HIIM student, you can also expect to learn to:
Graduates of the MHA-HIIM program will gain the knowledge and skills necessary to support the development and implementation of policies and systems for the management, quality, availability, and use of health system information. They will be prepared to work in domains spanning business intelligence and sustainability, data quality and information management, health information analytics and research, data and information governance policy and standards, information technology, organization and behavioural management, and privacy and security.
The Master of Health Administration-Health Informatics and Information Management program is accredited by the Canadian College of Health Information Management.
Accreditation marks the alignment to standards that ensures the currency, quality, and consistency of JSGS graduates and their readiness to meet institution and industry needs and provides them with an opportunity to write the Certified in Health Information Management (CHIM) national certification examination.
“Driving change in healthcare requires sound leadership and JSGS excels at incorporating this aspect. The program is delivered by experts who bring the insights needed to solve today’s healthcare challenges, including an Indigenous perspective, which is often lacking in other courses.”
As an MHA student, you must complete 30 credit units consisting of two required in‐person residencies (1.5 credit units each) and nine online courses (27 credit units).
Students must select nine courses from the following:
This course will examine issues and challenges related to the health of Indigenous populations in Canada. Health and illness concepts will be embedded within historical, social, cultural and political realities. Students will have the opportunity to critically examine and reflect on Indigenous health issues and health care practices.
This course is an introduction to basic biostatistical methods and principles as they apply to public health data. An emphasis is placed on the applications of statistical methods to public health data, interpretations of the resulting analyses and critical appraisal of these methods.
This course will review the historical development of the Canadian health care system and its supporting principles, governance structures and fiscal arrangements; and examine contemporary structures and relationships. Issues such as benefit coverage, health human resources, user fees, pharmaceuticals, regional health boards, and health reform in a comparative context will be examined.
This course covers the underlying concepts, principles, historical development, theory, and current practice of health promotion. The focus of learning is not so much on “how to do” health promotion, as on “how to think” about the conceptual, ideological, and political issues which underlie health promotion practice.
This course covers basic concepts and principles of the cycle of health program planning, which includes needs assessment, program development and implementation, process, impact, and outcome evaluation. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection will be addressed.
This course will address health human resource management. Its scope will include the knowledge and skills necessary to working with self-regulating professions and in a highly unionized environment. Essential aspects of collective bargaining, negotiation and professional organization will be covered, as will working with the public/private divide in healthcare provision.
This course will provide students with an understanding of issues involved in the management and organization of health services. Students will examine issues related to managing health in terms of regional health authorities, health ministries and individual health organizations.
This course will cover leadership theory and practice, with a focus on effective leadership in the public sector and ethical decision-making. It will address decision-making models relevant to the health sector, including emerging philosophies (e.g., LEAN).
This course applies the techniques of epidemiology and biostatistics to evaluate population-based health programs. In addition, students will become familiar with the principles of public health, prevention, and health care quality management.
Focusing on the health care imperative of accountability to the community, this course deals with the measurement of performance in health care organizations. Management control focuses on the implementation of business strategies and the attainment of organizational goals.
This course covers the financial management function in health care organizations including operating and capital budgeting processes along with budgetary and financial controls. There will be extensive use of financial analysis tools for the health care organization and skills needed to develop basic finance and accounting foundations will be reviewed.
This course is designed to provide students with an introduction to economic concepts and analysis relevant to health, health care and health care systems. Students will examine economic aspects of various elements of the health-care sector, identify relevant policy questions and apply economic concepts and techniques to analyze them.
This course provides an overview of issues at the intersection of health law and policy. It will include a basic introduction to the foundations of health law followed by an examination of topical issues in this domain.
In this course, students learn the key data literacy and data analysis skills required to investigate complex data sets to answer pressing healthcare questions and effectively communicate results to peers. Taking a broad-but-shallow approach, the course follows the stages of the cross-industry standard process for data mining (CRISP-DM) data life cycle; students will learn to import and filter data using databases, how to prepare data for analysis, choose appropriate data visualizations, perform exploratory data analysis to understand the properties of data, to use modern machine learning techniques to analyze data, and how best to present your findings and use them to inform evidence-based decision making.
This course covers legislation, regulation and standards governing access, use, and disclosure of health information, the ethics of information privacy, privacy program management, and privacy by design. Students will examine privacy, compliance, and risk policies and procedures, as well as emergent issues such as medical identity theft and fraud, genomic privacy, and social media health platform privacy.
An in-depth analysis of health information functions critical to health care operations; enterprise information governance with a focus on information as a strategic asset; and the role of health information professionals in quality improvement, care coordination, and performance and utilization management. Implementing strategic and organizational change and integrating best practices in project management will also be covered.
This course is an experiential learning opportunity. Students spend one month embedded within a partner organization such as the Government of Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Health, during which time they work on a designated policy project under the supervision of a mentor within the organization, and the course instructor. *Restrictions apply; approval by Graduate Chair is required.
This course introduces the principles of taxonomy and purposes of controlled terminologies and classification systems used in Canada and internationally. It addresses the importance of standards conformance, design of semantically interoperable infostructures, and the processes, policies and procedures used in the collection, coding, and mapping of health data. Labs require working with health data sets and data tools.
This is an integrative course on information technology used for tactical and strategic decision making in all facets of health care. It focuses on defining information needs, interpreting the capabilities of health information systems, setting forth feasible alternatives, adhering to international and national standards, and guiding the diffusion of information technology.
For those that decide to enroll in the MHA-HIIM program, you are required to complete 30 credit units, consisting of two required in‐person residencies (1.5 credit units each), seven required online courses (21 credit units) and two elective online courses (6 credit units).
Students must enroll in the following required courses:
This course is an introduction to basic biostatistical methods and principles as they apply to public health data. An emphasis is placed on the applications of statistical methods to public health data, interpretations of the resulting analyses and critical appraisal of these methods.
This course covers the financial management function in health care organizations including operating and capital budgeting processes along with budgetary and financial controls. There will be extensive use of financial analysis tools for the health care organization and skills needed to develop basic finance and accounting foundations will be reviewed.
In this course, students learn the key data literacy and data analysis skills required to investigate complex data sets to answer pressing health care questions and effectively communicate results to peers. Taking a broad-but-shallow approach, the course follows the stages of the cross-industry standard process for data mining (CRISP-DM) data life cycle; students will learn to import and filter data using databases, how to prepare data for analysis, to choose appropriate data visualizations, to perform exploratory data analysis to understand the properties of data, to use modern machine learning techniques to analyze data, and how best to present your findings and use them to inform evidence-based decision making.
This course covers legislation, regulation and standards governing access, use, and disclosure of health information, the ethics of information privacy, privacy program management, and privacy by design. Students will examine privacy, compliance, and risk policies and procedures, as well as emergent issues such as medical identity theft and fraud, genomic privacy, and social media health platform privacy.
An in-depth analysis of health information functions critical to health care operations; enterprise information governance with a focus on information as a strategic asset; and the role of health information professionals in quality improvement, care coordination, and performance and utilization management. Implementing strategic and organizational change and integrating best practices in project management will also be covered.
This course introduces the principles of taxonomy and purposes of controlled terminologies and classification systems used in Canada and internationally. It addresses the importance of standards conformance, the design of semantically interoperable infostructures, and the processes, policies and procedures used in the collection, coding, and mapping of health data. Labs require working with health data sets and data tools.
This is an integrative course on information technology used for tactical and strategic decision making in all facets of health care. It focuses on defining information needs, interpreting the capabilities of health information systems, setting forth feasible alternatives, adhering to international and national standards, and guiding the diffusion of information technology.
MHA-HIIM students must register for two elective courses selected from the MHA offering.
All MHA and MHA-HIIM students are required to complete two in‐person residencies (1.5 credit units each):
Master of Health Administration students only. Each in-person residency will be an intensive three to five-day session focusing largely on group exercises including case studies, management simulations, breakouts and presentations. Each residency will have different guiding themes including strategic planning, coaching and communication skills and managing and evaluating quality improvement initiatives. Each Residency is 1.5 credit hours.
Master of Health Administration students only. Each in-person residency will be an intensive three to five-day session focusing largely on group exercises including case studies, management simulations, breakouts and presentations. Each residency will have different guiding themes including strategic planning, coaching and communication skills and managing and evaluating quality improvement initiatives. Each Residency is 1.5 credit hours.
The intent of the MHA course schedule is to provide students with assistance in planning for upcoming semesters.
**Classes may change as circumstances require.
| MHA and MHA-HIIM Courses | Fall Semester | Winter Semester | Spring Semester |
| JSGS 812 - Indigenous Health Policy | X | X | |
| JSGS 814 - Biostatistics for Public Health | X | ||
| JSGS 817 - Health Policy | X | ||
| JSGS 823 - Health Promotion | X | ||
| JSGS 824 - Health Program Planning and Evaluation | X | ||
| JSGS 826 - HR Management in Healthcare | X | ||
| JSGS 827 - Health Care Organizations and Administration | X | X | |
| JSGS 829 - Decision Making and Leadership in Healthcare Orgs | X | X | |
| JSGS 832 - Population-Based Health Program Management | X | ||
| JSGS 833 - Performance Measurement in Healthcare Orgs | X | ||
| JSGS 834 - Financial Management of Healthcare Orgs | X | ||
| JSGS 837 - Health Economics | X | ||
| JSGS 841 - Health Law and Policy | X | ||
| JSGS 843 - Data Science for Health Analytics and Decision Support | X | ||
| JSGS 856 - Health Information Privacy Policy | X | ||
| JSGS 858 - Enterprise Information Management | X | ||
| JSGS 887 - Clinical Terminologies and Classifications | X | ||
| JSGS 888 - Health Informatics and Health Information Technology | X | ||
| JSGS 830AA - MHA Residency I (Fall) | X | ||
| JSGS 830AB - MHA Residency II (Spring) | X | ||
| JSGS 886 - MHA Placement | X | X | X |
Effective September 1, 2023, the tuition rate for the full program (30 credit units) is approximately $27,807. Tuition is charged on a per-credit-unit basis, and students pay as they take courses. Students are also required to pay off-campus graduate st udent fees.
NOTE: Tuition and fees are subject to change. Should there be a discrepancy between the information posted on the institution's website and information posted on the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy website, the institution's website should be viewed as accurate.
The MHA program has two intakes each year with the following application deadlines:
To meet the deadlines above, all components of your application must be received by 11:59 PM CST on the deadline. The admission process is competitive and applicants are encouraged to submit a complete application to ensure a timely review.
Applicants must meet the entrance requirements of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, with the following additions (where applicable):
As the MHA program includes two residencies to be completed at the University of Regina campus, this can be problematic for international students regarding travel expectations. As well, given the competitive nature of the program and our desire to see students succeed within it, we would expect the international applicants to be those who have some Canadian experience/connection or compelling experience from other jurisdictions.
Admission to the MHA program is very competitive, with JSGS typically admitting a limited number of students per year. As such, not all qualified applicants will be offered admission, and typically successful candidates have an average in excess of 70 percent.
When applying to the JSGS University of Regina campus, please note that you must submit an application through the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research .
You may choose to upload unofficial transcripts, supporting documents, letter of intent, and resume via your online application portal.
You will have the opportunity to enter the names and email addresses of your referees in the online application portal. Once you pay the application fee and submit the application, the system will automatically contact your referees with a link for their submission. Remember to advise your referees to check their spam folder for the auto-email from uregina.ca domain.
To troubleshoot document uploads, referee issues, other technical aspects of the online application, contact the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research at grad.publicpolicy@uregina.ca.
The Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy is a joint program with the University of Saskatchewan. In order to share information between the two provincial universities and the School, applicants to programs offered through the JSGS are asked to complete the student waiver form.
Upload unofficial transcripts for all post-secondary education, that is, from each accredited institution you’ve attended where you’ve received at least one grade for one course for academic credit. If you are registered in such a course presently, upload a transcript even without the course completed.
Do NOT upload University of Regina transcripts. FGSR staff will access these internally.
JSGS will evaluate applications based on unofficial documents. JSGS only requires official documents after an acceptance letter is issued.
International applicants may need to submit proof of English proficiency in the form of a recognized test. Search for your post-secondary institution on the WHED database. If this database clearly indicates solely English as language of instruction, this will suffice as proof of English proficiency.
The University of Regina’s online application form includes a personal statement section where applicants are asked to answer the following four questions:
As you answer these questions, please keep in mind the Admissions Committee is assessing your ability to write in a clear, coherent and professional manner. You should make every effort to ensure your personal statement is free of spelling and grammatical errors, is properly referenced (if applicable), and is concise. Please limit your response to each of the questions to no more than 200 words.
When considering applications to the MHA program, the Admissions Committee places a considerable degree of emphasis on applicants’ professional experience. The personal statement is an excellent opportunity for you to highlight your professional strengths, how they will inform your graduate studies, and why the program is important for you at this stage of your career. You are also encouraged to be specific in your responses to the above question, and focus on why you wish to pursue graduate studies in health administration.
Applicants may be invited to participate in a brief interview by phone or video as part of the admissions process.
Two letters of reference required for the MHA application
Apply to the MHA program through the University of Regina campus using the button below.
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