Gerontology Degree Online

AIU's online Gerontology program is a targeted degree program designed to help students develop a comprehensive core of knowledge about the U.S. healthcare system, including its structure, operations, regulations and management, with a focus on services for the aging population.

The online Gerontology program is designed to provide students with an opportunity to study healthcare directly across many disciplines, in order to help students prepare to pursue opportunities in healthcare management. Added focus is placed on the management of teams that interact with patients who have special medical, social and financial conditions associated with advanced aging.

Our online Gerontology program can help you learn you how to:

• Demonstrate an ability to interpret and explain concepts effectively in various healthcare organizations and situations
• Implement strategies of the aging services industry including nursing care, home healthcare services, retirement communities, delivered services, rehabilitation and therapy facilities, memory care services and assisted living
• Apply principles of economics and finance to make effective decisions in various healthcare settings for various contemporary healthcare practices and functions
• Analyze the relationships between costs, quality, and access to healthcare in the U.S.
• Formulate current operation’s management practices and principles used in the current healthcare environment
• Evaluate the types of information and information systems capabilities/technology needed by healthcare organizations
• Evaluate potential ethical and legal conflicts in healthcare related to legislative and regulatory issues affecting healthcare
• This business program is programmatically accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).

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Total tuition for this degree program may vary depending on your educational needs, existing experience, and other factors.

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The AIU Bachelor of Healthcare Management degree program combines the required general-education courses designed to provide a liberal-arts foundation with core concepts in healthcare management, as well as specialized courses designed to help provide students with the knowledge, skills, and ability to pursue opportunities in health-services management for aging populations.

For a Gerontology Degree Online, your classes may include:

Death and Dying

This course investigates contemporary healthcare management issues involved in death and dying, building upon prior coursework examining ethical and legal issues in healthcare and sociology and aging. Topics include rates and causes of death in the US, terminal illness, assisted suicide, euthanasia, and end-of-life decision-making. Ethical and legal considerations in the provision of care by healthcare organizations including hospice, skilled nursing facilities, and hospitals will also be examined.

Sociology and Aging

This course is designed to provide an introduction to the psychological aging process. Discussion covers current information and issues related to the aging process. Both theoretical and empirical information are investigated relative to the senior sector of the population. Stages of aging, disorders in the aging process along with perceptual, cognitive personality and interpersonal social human traits are considered. Death, dying and the psychological patterns in patients and loved ones are addressed. Throughout the course the role of the healthcare organization plays in dealing with various stages is addressed.

Ethical and Legal Issues in Healthcare

This course provides a working knowledge of law and ethics in a wide variety of healthcare topics, enabling students to deal with common legal and practical problems facing patients, their families, practitioners, caregivers, and society within the healthcare industry. Students must possess a basic knowledge of ethics and the law as it applies to their areas of responsibility.

Marketing to an Aging Population

This course applies market segmentation strategies to the aging population and investigates related decision makers with insight on how marketing can influence decisions. Marketing strategies are discussed including those through a variety of public media options as well as internal to the serving organization. Ethics are a component of this course.

Research Methods for Healthcare

This course explores research methods used to determine current performance and forecast demand and probability as it relates to the healthcare industry. Special attention is given to methods of data gathering, sources, and restrictions on the use of data as well as patient rights.

Case Management for Gerontology

This course focuses on the social aspects of aging including financial planning, housing, legal concerns, health issues, and family/spousal relationships. Life altering conditions which shift life styles, independence and dependence are also discussed along with separation of life long partners and the social and physiological implications. Emotional distance created by physical and mental disabilities in patients and partners covered.

Administration Long Term Care I

This course has an emphasis on the trends and developments that are transforming long-term care. It explores the options available in care settings, programs, and services. In addition, it examines aspects of management including leadership, human resources, marketing, regulatory and legal issues, and financing to long-term care. Case studies, exercises, and self-assessment will help students internalize and apply the concepts.

Healthcare Information Systems

This course is designed to assist healthcare students in understanding principles of analysis, design, evaluation, selection, acquisition, and utilization of information systems in the healthcare organization. Sufficient technical detail on computer hardware, software, networks, and data management is included to enable the student to become conversant with modern information technology and its use in healthcare organizations.

Counseling for Gerontology

This course discusses the various medical, mental and physical issues related to aging along with social and financial issues that may evolve with an aging population. Counseling theories and methods are discussed along with a discussion of various counseling services offered. An overview of changes in the aging human body is discussed including cardiovascular and central nervous systems and their impact on mental abilities and behavior patterns.

Program Capstone

The emphasis in this course is on applying and synthesizing concepts and techniques from all previous health specialization courses. This course provides an opportunity for the student to use the assimilated materials in a cohesive approach through challenges that reflect situations they may address in actual practice.

University Catalog

Course content subject to change.

What is a Bachelor of Healthcare Management with a Specialization in Gerontology degree?

AIU’s bachelor’s degree in healthcare management is designed to provide knowledge, skills, and abilities relevant for pursuing potential career paths within the healthcare field. The specialization in gerontology emphasizes students’ development of a comprehensive core of knowledge about the U.S. healthcare system, including its structure, operations, regulations, and management, with a focus on services for the aging population.

How long does it take to earn the online gerontology specialization in healthcare management degree?

Our bachelor’s degree programs are designed as 48-month programs. However, many factors can impact your time to completion. The time it may take you to earn your bachelor’s of healthcare management degree can be influenced by course loads proficiency and/or transfer credits, and breaks.

What kind of courses will I take to earn a specialization in gerontology?

As you work to complete your specialization in gerontology, you will be immersed in courses such as: Sociology and Aging; Marketing to an Aging Population; Counseling for Gerontology; and Case Management for Gerontology.

When can I begin my gerontology specialization classes?

Courses for the Bachelor of Healthcare Management with a Specialization in Gerontology degree start approximately every five weeks. Your actual start date is based on several factors, including receiving academic and financial documentation.

How many credits will I need to graduate with a gerontology specialization degree?

The gerontology specialization degree program consists of 180 credits. You may be eligible for transfer credit, which is evaluated on an individual basis. Not all credits are eligible to transfer. Please see the University Catalog for transfer credit policies.

Why should I pursue a gerontology specialization degree?

Upon earning your healthcare management degree with a gerontology specialization, you should have a deep understanding of management in healthcare with an emphasis on senior services such as long- and short-term care, home care, rehabilitation, nursing care, community-based services, and chronic care. By studying key topics in gerontology, you can: be able to collaborate in healthcare teams utilizing effective management techniques and leadership strategies to solve healthcare problems; have the know-how to support the implementation of technology applications within a health care organization; and be able to implement strategies of the aging services industry including nursing care, home healthcare services, retirement communities, delivered services, rehabilitation and therapy facilities, memory care services, and assisted living.