Media Relations

CAHME’s Role

CAHME does not direct U.S. News methodology.
CAHME provides a list of universities with accredited programs, and two main contacts for each university with accredited programs.
The survey is conducted by U.S. News & World Report. CAHME is not responsible for the delivery of the email survey, the methodology, or the dates of the implementation of the survey.

U.S. News & World Report

CAHME does NOT direct or endorse U.S. News methodology. CAHME provides to U.S. News a list of CAHME Accredited programs and two contacts per University.

On August 5, 2024, U.S. News & World Report notified CAHME that the graduate healthcare management rankings will be annual. This is a significant change from the prior process of releasing rankings every 3 or 4 years. U.S. News reported that the rankings draw significant page views, which is attributed to the growing interest in healthcare management as a profession.

Click Here Once You Have Read the Above Statement

Information Session

CAHME recorded the information session to update program directors on the U.S. News & World Report survey of CAHME Accredited programs.

to watch the presentation, click here

To download the slides, click here

CAHME’s Role In Rankings

CAHME does NOT direct U.S. News methodology. For a list of what CAHME provides to U.S. News for the graduate healthcare management rankings, click below.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is U.S. News & World Report's methodology?

You can read about U.S. News & World Report‘s methodology here: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/health-schools-methodology

If you have questions or suggestions for improvement about the U.S. News methodology, contact U.S. News directly.

Why are healthcare quality and safety programs excluded this year?

The Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education accredits healthcare quality and safety programs in a process started in 2017. Healthcare quality and safety programs are accredited under the same processes and procedures, self-study guide, reviewed by the same Accreditation Council and approved by the CAHME Board. While competencies vary, HQS programs are unequivocally CAHME Accredited.

To avoid confusion in comparing HQS programs with traditional programs, we requested, and U.S. News agreed, to provide a specialty filter to distinguish between HQS programs and traditional programs.

When the number of HQS CAHME Accredited programs reaches the minimum number of 5 required by U.S. News to warrant a specialty filter, HQS programs will be included in the U.S. News rankings.

Why doesn't U.S. News provide a specialty filter for healthcare quality and safety?

CAHME requested U.S. News provide a specialty filter. However, U.S. News policy is that 5 or more programs are needed to activate a specialty category. As of today, there are not enough HQS programs to create a specialty filter for healthcare quality and safety and population health management.

US News historically included the Healthcare Quality and Safety designation in the university name.

Why does CAHME collect a secondary contact for U.S. News?

To demonstrate our cooperation with this international media outlet, and as a service to our programs who want to participate, we ask all programs for a secondary contact. This helps you ensure that your own university is well represented in the voting process.

You do not have to provide a secondary contact for your program. U.S. News will then randomly select a secondary contact from your university’s website.

Our university has multiple CAHME accredited programs. How does U.S. News & World Report manage rankings for us?

Universities with multiple CAHME accredited programs are listed once.
An exception is made if the programs are in different schools in the university, in which case each school will be listed once.

- An example of this is Boston University which has an MBA program in the Questrom School of Business and an MPH in the School of Public Health.

Each university gets to appoint 2 candidates to vote on the rankings, regardless of the number of CAHME accredited programs.

What if my program wants to be removed from the U.S. News listing?

If a program wants to be removed from the U.S. News listing, contact U.S. News directly.

Will CAHME ask programs if they want to opt out of rankings?

CAHME will not ask programs if they want to opt out of rankings. Our responsibility (“to serve the public purpose” in our mission statement) is to provide to the press the information they request that is publicly available, inform them of the source of information, and details of the information. This information is available on our website, with the exception of the secondary contact which we ask you to provide.

Why does U.S. News only select CAHME Accredited programs?

U.S. News recognizes that CAHME Accredited programs meet the high standards as created by leading academics and practitioners to seek to ensure that students are well prepared to lead in the challenging world of healthcare.

Only CAHME-accredited programs are available in U.S. News rankings.

Why is CAHME involved in this? Does CAHME support rankings?

U.S. News & World Report requested from CAHME the list of our publicly available accredited programs and two contacts per university. We provided this data to U.S. News since 2003. CAHME, as an entity that exists to “serve the public purpose” seeks to meet data requests from reputable media outlets.

What is the role of CAHME Management in the U.S. News & World Report rankings?

CAHME management will provide publicly available data to the media and not engage in any methodological discussions. Any methodological concerns from programs should be sent directly to U.S. News & World Report or to organizations committed to influencing media rankings such as the Institute for Higher Education Improvement.

For More Information:

Michelle Petruccelli
Manager, Accreditation Operations
301-298-1820 ext. 5
mpetruccelli@cahme.org