Training the Leaders: The State of Education for Public Health Finance Among Top Public Health Programs

When assessing the performance of the nation's public health system, it must be recognized that services are provided within a fiscally constrained environment. To make the most effective use of the existing resources and to develop new resources, public health managers must possess certain financial management skills. The purpose of this study is to assess the current state of finance education among MPH programs in comparison to both health administration programs and to the established practice based competencies for public health finance. Findings indicate that no MPH program requires finance course work for all students in their programs. For MPH students in the area of health policy and management, all programs require at least one finance class and a significant majority either require or offer as an elective more advanced classes. Examination of the content of finance courses offered for MPH students indicates that the curricula are based on traditional MHA style courses and do not address many issues relevant to public health managers. Roughly 1/3 of recognized practice based competencies for public health finance are not addressed in a MHA style course including vital elements such as grants acquisition and management, public budgeting practices, and ratio analysis for performance improvement that reflect the population health focus of public health agencies.