These days, when most of us hear the phrase “risk management,” we think of financial risk management and get a bad taste in out collective mouth. The utter failure of financial risk managers to stick to the basics has created the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. No wonder when we hear about ‘healthcare risk management’ we no longer immediately think of the patient-facing care and education component of healthcare. When you hear ‘healthcare risk management’ do you think of your doctor’s advice on diet, nutrition, vitamins, medicine, how to take this, why not to do that? Those are all risk management strategies, by the way. Your doctor is empowering you to manage your health risks. But, no, that’s not what someone is talking about when they tell you they are certified in healthcare risk management.

Healthcare risk management no longer refers to the outward facing view of assisting patients in managing their health risks. Instead healthcare risk management now is inward facing, with the stated purpose of lessening the exposure of healthcare institutions all along the supply chain to litigation. Certification in healthcare risk management is now offered by most states. It is an expected certification for applicants to many administrative positions.

Because the United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not offer a type of universal healthcare to citizens, risk management in healthcare must encompass different criteria than else where. In the United States, the purposes of introductory courses in healthcare risk management are several.

Typically, students are first introduced to the history and evolution of risk management as a discipline within business administration. This positions the student to view the subject matter as a central element in allowing the medical profession to function.

Once the student has learned to take a business admin point of view, subjects of relevance to institutional healthcare are covered. These include management of insurance claims, the legal trinity of malpractice, liability and negligence and risk exposure in the medical services supply chain.