Forward thinking leads to an EMBA

Morris Chang

Morris Chang, Physician Sleep Specialist
Executive MBA (2016)

Problems with sleep are not uncommon, and an advanced medical degree is not a trivial endeavor, so you might wonder why Morris Chang is completing his MBA in Foster’s Executive MBA Program. He’s practiced for 14 years in his own practice, which has been very successful. But Chang has always been forward-thinking and he wanted a more sophisticated understanding of his finances and the evolving business environment in which he practices.

“The healthcare market is counterintuitive,” says Chang. “It’s highly regulated, it’s changing at an unbelievable rate, and some forecasters suggest an impending crisis. Learning more about management, accounting principles, operations, entrepreneurial management—and also just the language of business itself—gives me a little more control over my destiny.”

Healthcare delivery has become immensely complicated, which is one of the reasons why Chang doesn’t pander to the debate about whether medicine is really a business. “You can’t afford to get too philosophical about it,” he says. “The economics of health care are very unique and often misunderstood. You’ve got a patient need and a service provider, but now there are so many complexities that sit between them. Yet the physician retains more and more responsibility and liability.”

Halfway through his MBA studies, Chang has already changed the way he thinks and talks about his practice. “Contracts, billing, financial planning, executive boards…the material I’m learning is helping me in all of these settings,” he says.

He adds that it’s probably not for everybody, but believes that the two years he’s spending to earn his MBA are a small investment relative to the lifetime of return he’ll get applying better business principles. “Despite all the crazy changes,” says Chang, “knowledge is power.”

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