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M ORE THAN 50 colleges in the United States offer a dual- degree MD/MBA program, and in many cases, these programs are completed within five years. For example, the option to enroll in an MD/ MBA program through the Har vard Medical and Business schools allows students to study medicine, as well as complete an internship in health-related business management and one year of business coursework, including fi nance, marketing, leadership, and technology and operations management. According to Harvard Business School, physicians whose career goals include hospital leadership or who hope to develop and market pharmaceuticals and medical devices should consider obtaining an MBA. A Case Study C. Martin Harris, MD, MBA, Chief Information Offi cer at Cleveland Clinic, IN RECENT YEARS, JOINT PROGRAMS CONFERRING A MEDICAL DEGREE AND MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AT THE SAME TIME HAVE GAINED POPULARITY. AS THE U.S. HEALTHCARE SYSTEM CONTINUES TO EVOLVE, PHYSICIANS WHO HOPE TO WORK IN ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITIES MAY FIND AN MBA TO BE A VALUABLE ADDITION TO THEIR RESUMES. knows fi rsthand how an MBA can ben- efi t physicians interested in information management, having jointly completed his undergraduate, MD and MBA degrees through a program at the University of Pennsylvania. "When I completed my degrees, comput- ers in medicine were very uncommon," says Dr. Harris. "I felt it was important to understand information management in improving the healthcare system, and the MBA program had the best information management program, which showed us how to effectively use information to drive outcomes, whether they are clinical or fi nancial outcomes or process measures." In addition to obtaining skills in infor- mation management, Dr. Harris has found the MBA to be especially helpful for analyzing health care at the macro level. "I gained the skill set necessary to think about systems of care and care as a continuum ...," he says. "What I mean by that is not thinking about an individual procedure, but rather thinking about the overall healthcare delivery system, from the time patients make an appoint- ment until they consider themselves well again and are no longer interacting with the system." As health care changes, Dr. Harris believes it will be valuable for physi- cians to develop a working knowledge of business practices. "As younger physicians consider their long-term career goals, they should under- stand that health care is moving toward a concept of value-based care, and it will require everyone to at least have some skills in this area," he says. "Depending on your career goals, you may not need to complete an entire MBA curriculum, but you need to understand the costs for delivering care. If you have a focus on managing the larger aspects of health care, having an MBA degree is incredibly helpful." ■ to an MD/MBA? By Tiffany Parnell Is There an Advantage CORE +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + +++ + +++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BUSINESS OF MEDICINE ❯ 6 | Greater Boston MD NEWS ■ M D N E W S . CO M