MBA vs MHA: Salary, Career Paths, and Which to Choose

If you are looking for a career in the health facility field can choose one of these 2 popular programs- Master of Health Administration or Master of Business Administration.

Most of you will be wondering how these two degrees are different from each other.

MHA is a course where you will be trained exactly to work in the field of healthcare administration but MBA involves financial and economic training along with healthcare aspects. So here is an article which helps you know the comparison between them and also to make the right decision based on your career dreams and interests.

Also, Read - What Can You Do With a Healthcare Management Degree

What is MBA?

It is a globally recognized degree course that is designed to develop and enhance a student’s technical and other soft skills that are required in order to attain his/her goal in the field of business and management. An MBA in Healthcare Management supplements a specific focus of management within the healthcare industry to the general MBA degree, applying this business management and administration fundamentals to the unique requirements of healthcare.

What is MHA?

It is an accredited degree course that is designed and developed in order to train students in the field of population health, health care economics, health policy and management of health-related organizations, while also possessing those business subjects that are most commonly observed in several MBA programs like financial analysis and management, human resource management, marketing, communications, operations, and strategic business management. 

Comparison Between MHA and MBA

Course diversity

When the two courses are compared, it is observed that there is no much of a difference. In MHA, it is seen that this concentrates completely on health care whereas, in MBA, it is observed that this degree mostly have concern towards both subjects that are related to business as well as health care. Both programs focus on developing knowledge, skill, and attitude that are essential to Hospital Managers.

Course Credits

For MBA, there are 36 credits in total whereas, for MHA, there will be 37 credits in total out of which 31 are for required courses and other 6 fr elective courses.

Requirements for admission 

To get registered for these courses, the requirement is considered to be similar and they are listed below:

• You must have completed a bachelor’s degree.

• You should have scored a minimum GPA to be eligible.

• You should have either passed GMAT or GRE tests which are specifically taken for master in business degree.

• Transcripts

• Resume

• Letter of Recommendation

College Fee

The cost of an MBA degree can vary but the average tuition for a two-year MBA program beats $60,000. If you attend one of the top business schools in the US, you may have to pay $100,000 or more for tuition and fees. In-state students will have to pay about $6,500 to $36,000 for their entire MHA degree program, but if you are out-of-state students, you can expect an overall degree cost that can range from about $26,000 to $75,000.

Career Opportunities

When compared to MBA, an MHA graduate will be profoundly rooted in the business side of health care and qualified for a career focused on health care leadership since there are several other opportunities for an MBA graduate as they would have studied subjects that are completely different from health. 

Average Annual Income

The difference regarding the salaries is clearly shown in the table which gives you a brief idea about the income.

10 colleges that offer MBA in Healthcare

• UCLA Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles

• Columbia Business School, Columbia University, New York

• Darden School of Business, University of Virginia

• Foster School of Business and the School of Public Health of the University of Washington, Seattle

• Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, North Carolina

• Goizueta School of Business, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia

• Haas School of Business, University of California

• Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Massachusetts

• Johnson School of Business, Cornell University, New York

• Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Illinois

10 Colleges that offer MHA

• The University of Alabama, Birmingham 

• The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas

• The University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California

• The University of Colorado, Denver

• George Washington University, Washington, D.C

• Florida International University, Miami, Florida

• The University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida

• Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia

• Indiana University, Indianapolis

• Rush University, Chicago, Illinois