Industry CFO and Sacred Heart University Professor John Domansky Helps Online MHA Students Navigate Health Care Finance and IT
| 4 Min Read
As an MBA and regional chief financial officer for a nationwide ambulatory surgery centers company, Sacred Heart professor John Domansky brings over 30 years of experience to his teaching in the online Master of Health Administration (MHA) program. His courses include Health Care Finance Management & Accounting, as well as Business of Health Care IT.
Domansky says his courses focus on real-world decision-making, problem-solving, and the relationship-building skills that administrators need to serve organizations and their patients. He cites an early-career experience that changed his perspective on health care and continues to influence his teaching.
“I try to bring real-world decision-making into the classroom on a weekly basis,” he said. “Most of that content comes directly from what I’m dealing with in my current job.”
–Professor John Domansky
Preserving Health Care Access
As the new CFO for a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) in rural Texas, he learned firsthand how quickly residents in small or remote communities can lose access to essential health services and life-saving care without the revenue that supports it.
“The hospital was so cash-strapped that it literally depended on whatever it collected from insurance companies each week to make payroll,” he recalled. “If they didn’t collect enough, they weren’t going to make it.” Domansky notes that hospitals large and small still face similar challenges today, with annual revenue margins averaging 1-2%.
In addition to upgrading financial policies and practices, his advocacy with community leaders, businesses, and the CAH board led to a new local tax structure to stabilize the facility’s operating budget long term. “It saved the hospital,” he said. “That experience was genuinely eye-opening and changed how I approached health care from that point forward.”
Domansky says his online MHA students experience similar revelations as they gain a broader perspective on the ways administrative practice and health care finance continue to evolve—from planning and budgeting to revenue cycles, reimbursement and financial reporting, and in response to legislative action.
Preparing Students for New Business Models
Domansky also leverages his experience to prepare MHA students for the way advances in health IT are escalating systems integration.
“Over the last 20 years, health care technology and organizational strategy have become completely intertwined,” he said. “IT used to be a siloed function. Now technology touches virtually every piece of equipment and every process in a health care organization.”
Lectures and discussions in his MHA courses often highlight common issues he encounters as a regional CFO for a large clinical organization.
“I try to bring real-world decision-making into the classroom on a weekly basis,” he said. “Most of that content comes directly from what I’m dealing with in my current job.” He also emphasizes project-based learning tailored to each MHA student’s current role or potential career path.
“Over the course of eight weeks, students work through every component, identifying environmental pressures and community needs, developing financial assumptions and a business case, mapping out financing plans and implementation timelines. Each week builds toward that final deliverable,” he said.
“It’s really something to see students from all these different clinical backgrounds, working at organizations across the country, building out real service line proposals that they could actually bring to their leadership teams.”
Enduring Lessons for Future Success
Reflecting on his long career, Domansky offers the same key advice to new health care administrators that he received along the way: The natural boundaries between clinical and non-clinical health care professionals are best bridged through listening, effective communication, and respect for colleagues working toward the same goals.
“In health care leadership, in any leadership, it all comes back to relationships,” he said, emphasizing the benefits of collaboration to address new challenges and foster innovative practices in health administration.
Advance Your Career Faster with an SHU Master of Health Administration Online
Prepare for high-growth leadership roles in clinical or non-clinical settings with an online Master of Health Administration from Sacred Heart University. Designed for early and mid-career professionals, this two-year online program will prepare you for administrative health care careers in hospitals and health systems, government, nonprofit organizations or industry.
With asynchronous 8-week online courses and tech support available 24/7, you can study at your convenience and complete assignments wherever you are, regardless of your shift or schedule. Keep working while earning a valuable credential that can help you achieve your goals sooner. A background in health care is not required for admission.
Sacred Heart’s MHA curriculum features interdisciplinary coursework that helps you gain the foundational knowledge to lead with confidence, as well as specialized electives to customize your degree.
Core courses include:
- Health Care Finance, Management & Accounting
- Health Policy, Law & Ethics
- Strategic Management & Marketing in Health Care Organizations
- Leadership in Health Care Environments
- Health Care Informatics
Elective options include:
- Health Economics
- Negotiations & Conflict Resolution
- Innovation & Organizational Change Management
- Nonprofit Grant Management
- Emergency Planning & Preparedness
- Communications & Crisis Management
You’ll learn from supportive faculty with significant clinical and enterprise experience, and the insight to prepare you for what’s next in health care. Become a future-focused leader with SHU’s flexible online Master of Health Administration and transform your career.
Learn more about the online Master of Health Administration and request more information to get started today.