This course looks at the various financing mechanisms which impact the structure and delivery of health care in the United States with particular emphasis upon governmental financing, managed care, employer sponsored health plans, and emerging insurance models. The course examines the impact of these financing mechanisms upon diverse health delivery systems including acute care, medical practice organizations, long term care, and the pharmaceutical and medical devices sector.

This course covers a broad overview of finance topics from a data analytics perspective. Students will learn the ins and outs of applied data analysis and a conceptual framework for thinking about data from both a statistical and machine-learning perspective with applications in finance. Students will learn to understand and apply concepts like capturing and analyzing new sources of financial data, building predictive models, and running simulations of market events, using concepts of data analysis and probability in investment science, risk management, valuations, rates of return and profitability analysis. The course aims to provide a theoretical and practical framework in which students will be challenged to solve real-world problems in the finance field and gain familiarity with commonly used stochastic models.

The course examines the risk management process as applied to the whole range of risks to which a corporation is exposed: financial, insurable, operational, and business. It focuses on risk in general and how multiple sources of risk can be addressed with strategies that integrate risk management and capital management. Specific topics include hedging, insurance, post-loss investment, contingent capital, finite risk reinsurance, and insurance-linked securities. Emphasized throughout the course is that managing risk effectively is essential to corporate value, success, and survival.

This course provides an examination of modern financial markets. Specifically, we discuss the largest financial intermediaries including commercial banks, finance companies, securities firms, investment banks, mutual funds and hedge funds with a focus on balance sheet structures, regulation, and current issues and trends. We also examine various financial instruments, derivatives, and off-balance sheet activities that are useful from a risk-management perspective within the industry.

The course focuses on current practice and recent theoretical developments. It deals with the characteristics of individual securities and portfolios, criteria and models for alternative portfolio composition, criteria for evaluation and measurement of performance, and the impact of government regulation. The evaluation of current theory, its significance for the financial management decision-making, and the consideration of relevant empirical evidence are covered.

Current developments in global financial markets and instruments from the perspective of firm management. Topics include an overview of foreign security markets, trends in foreign exchange risk management, and the impact of international debt on multinational firms.

The course provides an analysis of the acquisition by one firm of all or some of the assets of another firm, and its impact on both the companies involved and on society. Topics include a discussion of the types of combinations, the motivations of the participants, the financial analysis required to carry out merger or acquisition activities, negotiation strategies, and the tax and accounting options that are available to the parties involved.

This customized course provides students with a unique opportunity to integrate their academic work with a wide range of professional studies including but not limited to independent studies, research projects, or internships.

These courses will explore topics of contemporary interest. Course titles include, but are not limited to Trends in Employee Benefit Planning, and Speculative Market Analysis, among others. Because the topic of this course will change, it can be repeated for additional credit when taken as a different topic.